Public Hearing on FY25 Millage Rate - July 14, 2025
Public Hearing on FY25 Millage Rate - July 14, 2025
On July 14, 2025, the Johns Creek City Council held a public hearing at 6:00 PM to discuss the proposed FY25 millage rate. The hearing included a presentation from Assistant City Manager Kay, public comments, and council discussion. The city is considering maintaining or rolling back the millage rate to be revenue neutral. A third public hearing and adoption are scheduled for July 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM.
Presentation Overview
- The current M&O millage rate is 3.646 mills; the parks bond rate is 0.250 mills.
- The rollback rate (revenue neutral) would be 3.492 mills for M&O and 0.242 mills for parks bond.
- The total millage rate in Fulton County for all jurisdictions is 30.016 mills, with the school board at 17.080, county at 8.870, county bond at 0.170, city M&O at 3.646, and city bond at 0.250.
- The tax digest grew by $326 million (2.25%) over 2024, consisting of $276 million from reassessment of existing properties and $50 million from new growth.
- Property tax revenue accounts for 27% of the city’s general fund and funds services including police, fire, capital projects, and council priorities.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Speaker 1 (woman): Asked for clarification on the term “rollback,” expressing concern that the millage rate might be increasing. Staff explained that the rollback rate is a decrease to make the tax revenue neutral for existing properties, not a tax cut. The speaker also mentioned her property assessment increased significantly and she is appealing.
- Bob Arnold: Asked whether the city is proposing a millage rate increase. Council clarified that the advertised rate is the current rate, and the council may adopt a lower (rollback) rate. He also asked about the city’s actions regarding Fulton County’s proposed tax increase; a council member mentioned a pending resolution opposing that increase.
- Third speaker (woman): Noted confusion about the 5.25% and 4.41% percentages in the advertisement. Staff clarified that 5.25% is the growth in the digest, and 4.41% is the difference between the current rate and the rollback rate—not a guaranteed tax increase for individual property owners.
Discussion Items
- Council members and staff discussed the mechanics of the rollback rate, the floating homestead exemption, and how individual property tax bills may change based on reassessment and exemptions.
- A council member asked about the revenue impact of adopting the rollback rate for M&O: it would reduce property tax revenue by approximately $597,000 compared to the current revised budget.
- For the parks bond rate, staff explained that holding it steady at 0.250 mills is necessary to service existing debt; a rollback to 0.242 would not provide sufficient funds. Council noted that previous councils chose to keep the parks bond rate steady for this reason.
- A council member expressed intent to bring a motion to adopt the rollback rate at the July 28 meeting, pending verification of assumptions by staff.
Key Outcomes
- No vote was taken; the public hearing was informational.
- The third and final public hearing on the FY25 millage rate will be held on July 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM, in conjunction with the regular city council meeting, where the council will vote to adopt the millage rate.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. We're recording. Okay. All right. So we need a motion to come out of work session. No, sir. We do not. You're in you're in recess. Okay. All right. All right. So we are here for a public hearing for the 2025 millage rate. And we will have a presentation from our assistant city manager who is also covering as our finance department chair. Director. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. This is our second public hearing today. We have a public hearing today at 11 a.m. on the 2025 millage rate is where we are required. This public hearing has been advertised as required by the state law. A little bit of background about the about the millage rate. Fulton County assesses the value of real and personal property in the city. The assessed value is 40% of the fair market value. And the assessed value of all the properties in the city is called the tax digest. That's what we refer to it as. The city council sets the millage rate annually. Millage rates levied against the tax digest by each taxing jurisdiction, which the city is just one of. So there's the school board, there's the county, and the city. And millage rates are stated in dollars per 1,000 of net assessed value. So for example, if a home is $100,000 value, then 40% of that, the 40,000 is its assessed value. And if we had a millage rate of five mills, then the pri the city property taxes would be 200 dollars. And on the screen you can see the current rates. School is 17.080. The county is 8.870. The county bond is 0.170. The city's MO rate is 3.646, and the city's bond rate is 0.250. The total overall millage rate is 30.016. This slide depicts the city's MO, which stands for maintenance and operations millage rate within Fulton County, all the cities within Fulton County, and you can see Johns Creek is in the middle. It's the bluish color, and it is the lowest. Johns Creek typically has the lowest rate of all the cities in the county. This chart depicts the city's historical millage rate starting from 2006 through 2024. You can see in 2023 and 2024, the millage rate was the same at 3.646 mills. This chart layers in the amount of property tax revenue that we receive from that millage rate. So the green line, kind of lime green line going across the top there, shows the amount of property taxes that the city receives based on that millage rate. That's levied. That's the revenues that we receive. Property tax revenue is about 27% of the general fund base, and it provides the funding for the city's current extended level of service, such as police and fire service, her capital projects and enhancements, all the other departments of the city. And then providing funding for council initiated strategic priorities as well as our adopted capital plan. This is an increase of $326 million over 2024 or $2.25%. That growth comes from the $326 million.
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