Cobb School Board Approves Flat Millage Rate

The Cobb County Board of Education voted to keep its millage rate flat at 18.7 mills Thursday night.

It was a 6-0-1 vote, with Republican David Banks voting present.

Though the tax rate will not increase, a rise in property values throughout the county is expected to bring the district an extra $54.96 million in tax revenue, an increase of 7.32% over last year.

That means the owner of a home valued at $450,000 will see roughly $255 in additional taxes, according to the district.

In order to collect the same amount in property taxes as last year, the school board would have needed to roll back the millage rate to 17.199 mills.

Democrat Leroy Tre’ Hutchins said if the board voted to do that rollback, it would have led to grave consequences for the district.

“We would have to lay off people. We would have to significantly change operations,” Hutchins said.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale told the board that a flat millage rate was not the only thing required to avoid layoffs and ensure employees can remain on their salary step schedules.

Because the projected tax digest growth came in to be 0.24% lower than previously anticipated, at 7.32% instead of 7.56%, the board voted to pull $1.25 million from the district’s general fund reserve at Ragsdale’s request, ensuring the budget could remain balanced and “employee centric.”

“I made a pledge to employees that I would not balance the budget on the backs of the employees,” the superintendent said.

That dip into the reserve fund was approved by the board in the same vote it passed the millage rate.

Ragsdale reminded the board that Cobb has one of the lowest millage rates in the metro area, compared to the DeKalb County School District (22.98 mills), Atlanta Public Schools (20.5 mills) and Gwinnett County Public Schools (19.2 mills).

Both neighboring Marietta City Schools and Fulton County School District have lower millage rates than Cobb, at 17.97 mills and 17.24 mills, respectively.