FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Chief Financial Officer Marcus Turk presented the FY 2022 proposed millage rates at the first two of three required public hearings on Thursday morning. The second was held Thursday evening.

Marcus Turk

The county’s proposed rate is 7.896 mils, the same as last year. The proposed budget is $186,100,000, a 13.4 percent increase over last year’s adopted budget.

Turk said he anticipates revenue of $186,100,000 and expenditures of $180,566,670, with $5,533,330 available to be added to the county fund balance.

The tax digest that was finalized on May 26 showed a total increase from $16.7 billion last year to $20.38 billion this year.

But the county’s millage rate tells only a small part of the story. The school system has approved a millage rate more than double the size of the county’s at 18.718 mils, including bond pay back. Total millage rate for residents of Forsyth County: 27.614 mils.

Only one person spoke out against the county’s millage rate during the morning public hearing. Steven Schroeder, a resident of Vickery Village, said, “The millage rate should be discounted by 10-12 percent due to the exorbitant amount of assessed value that has been imposed by the (Tax) Assessor’s Office.”

Schroeder added, ” I know personally of 21 property owners in my community of Vickery Village that have filed appeals because their assessed value has been overstated.”

No one spoke in opposition to the millage rate in the evening session.