Cherokee County Starting Public Hearings on Property Taxes

Cherokee County is holding the first of three public hearings July 2 to discuss a potential millage rate increase for fiscal year 2025.

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 June 18 to advertise a tentative maintenance and operations millage rate of 5.224 mills, up from the current rate of 4.954.

If approved, a higher millage rate would result in an increase in property taxes . If the advertised rate is approved, it would result in an increase in property tax revenues for the county’s general fund of 7.45% over the rollback rate.

This is the highest rate commissioners can consider for the county’s M&O rate, according to the county. The board can approve this rate or any rate lower than that number.

Cherokee’s rollback M&O millage rate is 4.862 mills. This number is subject to changes in the tax digest.

The commissioners will additionally set two other millage rates determining property tax collections: one for fire service and one for the county’s parks bond.

The county is considering a potential fire millage rate of 2.887 mills, up 0.123 from this year, and a parks bond rate of 0.27 mills, down 0.049 from this year.

In addition to the 6 p.m. public hearing July 2, commissioners are scheduled to hold two more public hearings at 11 a.m. July 16 and 6 p.m. July 16. The board is expected to consider the rate July 16, after the third public hearing.

Meetings will take place at the Cherokee County Administration Building and Conference Center, 1130 Bluffs Parkway in Canton.

Commissioners are also scheduled to handle the following business July 2:

- Consider a request from Jerry Johnson for Kashif Rana to rezone 3.27 acres from single-family residential to general commercial to build a restaurant, retail, office or convenience store at 4080 Holly Springs Parkway. The applicant seeks to build commercial buildings with a total of 23,096 square feet, which would yield about 7,063 square feet per acre of building space between the various proposed uses, county documents show.

- Consider a request from the Saint Agnes Foundation of North Georgia Angel House Inc. to rezone about 0.51 acres of property from agriculture to office and institutional to build a reception center at 2256 Sam Nelson Road. The property is next to North Georgia Angel House, located at 2258 and 2260 Sam Nelson Road near Waleska. The applicant is also requesting to eliminate a required deceleration lane, as well as a variance to the minimum district development standards to reduce a required 65-foot front building setback to 31-feet.

- Consider a request from H. Michael Bray for Wilson Property Investments, LLC to rezone about 4.085 acres on Arnold Mill Road from office and institutional to general commercial to build a 6,400 square-foot convenience store and a separate 2,000 square-foot retail building. The applicant is also requesting a concurrent variance to allow for grading within the undisturbed zoning buffer.

- Consider a board-initiated rezoning of about 1.5 acres at 6699 Bells Ferry Road in addition to acquired right-of-way to light industrial for an existing and expanding auto-related business. The request is also for concurrent variances. A public hearing was held on May 21 and on June 18 the board voted to postpone a decision to July 2.

- Consider a development agreement for the Buice Avenue roadway improvement project. The Buice Lake mixed use development, which is under construction along Bells Ferry Road, is accessed by Buice Avenue (formerly known as West Pine Ridge). Improvements to a portion of this road will enhance the substandard roadway from its intersection with Bells Ferry Road to the start of Buice Lake, according to the county.

- Consider approval of a right-of-way demolition fee schedule with Atlas Technical Consultants for clearing of the right-of-way for the Bells Ferry Road Widening Project for up to $431,135.

- Consider a $478,575 professional services agreement with Wendel Architecture, P.C., for design and construction administration services for the new Cherokee Area Transit Services Facility. CATS currently shares the building at 884 Univeter Road with fire logistics and several other county departments. Office and warehouse space in the building, as well as parking for employees and buses, has exceeded capacity at this location. According to the county, the new site, to be located on the southwest corner of Univeter Road and Pinecrest Road, will provide adequate space for current needs as well as growth of CATS operations as needed for the next 20-plus years.

- Consider approving an agreement for the sale of 4.5 acres at 11135 Cumming Highway for $650,000, and authorization for the county manager to execute a sales agreement on behalf of Cherokee County. According to county documents, the parcel at the corner of Cumming Highway and Old Mill Road is no longer of use to the county, and funds from the sale will be designated to the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners meets for a work session at 3 p.m. July 2 followed by their regular meeting at 6 p.m. at the Cherokee County Conference Center, 1130 Bluffs Parkway in Canton. The meeting will also be streamed online at www.cherokeega.com.