Thank you, Mayor.

We're recording.

All right.

We are having our second public hearing for the setting of the millage rate for fiscal year 26.

And we have our finance director with us who is going to give us a brief presentation before we open the public hearing.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Hi, thank you.

So this is the second public hearing of the three public hearings for our 2026 millage rate.

We are required to advertise and hold these three meetings based on the preliminary digest that we typically receive from Fulton County by this time of the year.

However, this year we have not yet received the detailed preliminary digest, hence the numbers that you will see on later slides in this presentation are all estimates.

Fulton County and not the city is responsible for assessing the value of all real and personal property in Johns Creek.

That assessed value is set at 40% of fair market value, and the sum of all assessed values citywide is what we refer to as the tax digest.

Reassessment, which for residential property is capped by state law at a maximum increase of 3% per year.

And then the second component growth, which comes from new homes and new businesses being added to the tax digest.

Three separate taxing jurisdictions levy millage rate millage against the same tax digest, the school board, the county, and the city, and each sets its own rate independently.

And we've provided an example on this slide, you know, for a home with an um home value of like let's say 500,000.

Uh for that the assessed value would be 200,000, which is 40% of that market value.

Uh and at a millage rate of assuming five mils, uh, that's 200,000 uh divided by the 1,000 times 5, which will give you uh $1,000 in property taxes uh for a property uh with that value.

Uh and this is just an illustrative example.

Our actual combined uh rate is shown on the next slide.

Uh and this slide uh shows exactly how the total tax bill breaks down.

Uh and as you see on the pie chart, the city's portion is the smallest uh slice of the pie.

School millage is 17.080, which is by far the largest component.

Uh county is 8.870, county bond is 0.169, city MNO is 3.492, and city bond is at 0.250.

Uh added together, the total overall 2025 millage rate paid by a Johns Creek property owner was uh 29.861 mills.

The city's combined MNO and bond millage is a small sliver compared to the school and county portions, as you can see on the pie chart.

Uh this chart here benchmarks our city MNO Millage rate against other cities within Fulton County.

Uh and as you can see, uh John's Creek rate of 3.492 is the lowest, and that's the uh light blue bar uh represents Johns Creek.

And this chart shows Johns Creek's own historical MNO mileage rate from 2006 through 2020.

And then this chart layers uh two things together.

Uh we have the city's historical property tax levy, which is the actual um dollars collected shown in the blue bars, uh, and then the millage rate, uh which is shown as a trend line from and it is in green from 2007 uh through 2025.

Property tax revenue uh makes up approximately 27% of the general fund revenue base, uh so it's a significant funding source for the city.

Uh this revenue funds core city services and priorities, public safety meaning uh police and fire departments, as well as uh general administration.

It also supports capital projects and enhancements, uh council identified strategic priorities and the adopted capital plan.

Uh property tax directly funds the services that residents uh rely on every day.

For 2026, uh the city, as I said, has not received the detailed preliminary tax digest from Fulton County, hence uh the digest numbers represented on this slide are estimates based on prior years.

Uh our overall net tax digest is estimated to be 6.58 billion dollars.

Uh this is an estimated increase of 190 million or 2.15% uh over 2025.

Of the 190 million dollar increase, the increase from reassessment is estimated at 158 million, and the increase from new growth is estimated at 32 million.

Uh this is the advertised MNO millage rate, uh, the maintenance and operations rate that funds the day-to-day city operations, and it is separate from the bond rate.

Uh the rate is 3.492 MILS, which is the same as the 2025 adopted uh rate.

So uh no proposed increase to this rate here.

Um that equals 3.492 per thousand dollars of assessed value.

Uh the advertised rate of 3.492 MILLs is the maximum the city council can adopt without having to re-advertise and restart uh this public hearing process.

Uh on this slide, we talk about the rollback rate concept, uh, which is required under Georgia law whenever the tax digest grows uh from reassessment.

Uh, because the city uh received the 2026 preliminary gross tax digers total, uh which does not include uh any exemptions yet.

Uh staff had to estimate the exemptions based on prior years uh to calculate the estimated rollback rate.

Uh and the estimated 2026 rollback rate for MNO is uh 3.470.

Uh that's your $3.47 per thousand dollars of uh assessed value.

Uh on this slide we cover the second component of the millage rate, uh, which is the Parks Bond Millage, uh, and this is separate from the MNO and dedicated solely to covering the annual debt service payment on the Parks Bond.

Uh the advertised 2026 rate is 0.250 MLs, the same as the 2025 adopted uh slash current rate or uh 0.250 uh per thousand dollars of assessed value.

Uh this is the amount necessary to cover the annual debt payment.

Uh it isn't a discretionary rate the way the MNO can be.

Also note the 2026 estimated rollback rate for the bond is uh 0.248 mils or 0.248 per thousand dollars.

Again, this is an estimate uh since the full uh the city hasn't yet received the um first the final preliminary tax digest from Fulton County.

And here uh we have the remaining hearing schedule for the millage process.

Uh so this is the second hearing of the three hearings that we are required to hold.

Um the third and final hearing will be on uh July 27th at 7 p.m.

Uh and the July 27 hearing is when the council will actually vote to adopt the 2026 millage rate.