The Clayton County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on September 15, 2026, to present and receive public comment on proposed increases to the maintenance and operations (M&O) and fire millage rates for fiscal year 2027. Chief Financial Officer Terry Jackson detailed the proposed rates, the rollback calculations, and the $7.8 million budget shortfall that the increases would address, primarily for public safety salaries and operational costs. Residents voiced both support and opposition, with several speakers raising concerns about the impact on fixed-income seniors and the need for economic development to offset residential taxes. No vote was taken; the board will hold two additional hearings before adopting the millage rate on September 24, 2026.
Let's stand for a moment of silence, please, following by followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under the indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, I would like a motion to approve the agenda, adoption of the agenda rather. So moved. Our second. We have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. Any questions? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposers? Motion passes. Our agenda items number one is the millage rate presentation, which will be followed by the public hearing. So we will have the presentation by our CFO Mr. Jackson. Good morning, Board of Commissioners. Uh, and good morning to uh our audience and our online viewers. Uh I want to encourage our online viewers to go to the uh county's website uh www.claytoncountyga.gov to obtain a copy of the uh notice for the current 2025 property tax digest and five-year history of levy form. Board, uh a notice of property tax increase for uh MO, which stands for maintenance and operations was posted in the Clayton County's newspaper on September 2nd, 2026. And so this notice of tax uh increase uh shows that our final MO rollback rate is 14.141. The 2026 MO Millage rate is 15.052, and this would be uh a percentage tax increase of 6.44%. Uh the PT 32.1 uh is a form that we use to compute uh to compute the millage rate uh and rollback as well as the percentage increase in property taxes. The notice of property tax increase for fire also is here. The final fire rollback rate is four point zero six eight. The 2026 FIRE Millage rate uh here is four point five zero zero, and we show a percentage tax increase of ten point six two percent. And again, we also used the PT 32.1 form to compute these rates. And so here we have uh examples of uh tax bills, and these are only uh illustrations at this point. And so these illustrations only show the homestead exemptions. Um we are aware that they are there are several additional exemptions out there to include the senior exemptions, the HB uh 70 exemption, as well as um exemptions for veterans as well. So looking at this uh homestead property tax bill uh for fiscal year 2026 versus fiscal year 2027. We have a home that has a fair market value of 250,000. Uh assessment factor for both is 40 percent. The assessed value is a hundred thousand dollars, less the homestead exemption for ten thousand, so the net uh taxable value is ninety thousand. So going into the the gross millage rates, uh we have uh seventeen point nine two six for fiscal year 2026 versus uh gross millage rate of 18.520 for fiscal year 2027. Uh and you see the respective uh the gross millage rates taxes payable. Um for fiscal year 2026, we have the fire protection rate at 4.146. For fiscal year 2027, we have the fire protection rate at 4.50. As you wait, as you make your way to the bottom uh of the of these um uh examples, we see the final uh M and O taxes payable is sixteen thousand six hundred eighty-two dollars and eighty cents for fiscal year 2026. 1600 versus versus the uh final millage um M and O uh taxes payable for fiscal year 2027, which is 1,759 and uh 68 cents. And so the difference of the two is 76 and eighty-six cents, which uh on a monthly breakdown would be six dollars and forty-one cents as far as the the tax increase to your bill monthly. Looking at uh the next slide, we have oh, I'm sorry. We have the example of the uh non-homestead property exemption, and so again, we have uh an example of the tax bills for fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027. And so in this scenario, we have uh a property that has a fair market value of 425 uh thousand dollars. Um the assessment factor is the same 40 percent. As we make our way to the bottom, the final M and O taxes payable is $3,178.66 for fiscal year 2026 versus the final MO taxable um payable for fiscal year 2027, which is $3,323.84 cents. The difference between the two is $145.18 cents. A monthly cost breakdown would be $12.10. And so based upon the fiscal year 2027 uh adopted budget uh which was adopted back in June of this year, um the board chose to adopt amendment number two. And so what this simply means is that the county needed uh the $7.8 million dollars in order to finance parts of uh the general fund operation. So uh those uh costs included salaries at $6.4 million, which included uh a one-time incentive pay to non-sworn personnel. Um it also included a 10% increase in pay to swarm personnel, uh, as well as a 2% cost of living adjustment for all employees countywide.