Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to this our regularly scheduled council meeting for Monday, 3rd of August 2026.

We're delighted that you're here.

And uh if you would please rise for the invoction and uh followed by the pledge.

Andrew, will you do the pledge and Carlene?

And if anyone will be speaking tonight, would you please uh remain standing or and

then be sworn in by Sam?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, if you'll be making any kind of comment or presentation before this council this evening, please raise your right hand.

Do you swear or affirm that the comment or presentation you'll be making before this body tonight will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

If so, say I do.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

Okay, thank you again for being here.

And uh before I open the floor for public comment, uh I want to read the statement.

As required by Georgia Law, the City of Kennesaw is holding this public hearing regarding the proposed millage rate.

I want to take a moment to explain an important point that can often be confusing.

State law requires this hearing to be advertised as a tax increase because of the way the rollback rate is calculated.

However, maintaining the city's current millage rate does not automatically mean that Kennesaw homeowners will be will pay higher city property taxes.

This is because of the city's floating homestead exemption.

This exemption was specifically designed to protect homeowners who live in and homesteaded their primary residents from pri paying higher city property taxes simply because their property's taxable value has increased.

For homeowners who have a homestead exemption on their primary residence, the assessed value used for calculating city property tax does not increase due to market appreciation.

In other words, as property values rise, the exemption floats to offset those increases, helping to keep the city's assessed value for that home essentially the same from year to year, unless there are improvements made to the property or other qualifying changes.

Property owners who do not qualify for the homestead exemption, such as commercial properties, rental properties, second homes, or vacant land may see changes in their city property taxes if their assessed value values increase.

And with that, the floor is open for public comment on any item that is on the agenda.

Which brings us to our public hearings, item 10 A Alpha, which is the third and final public hearing for the maintenance and operation millage rate.

So I will be reading item um 10A.

This is the third and final public hearing on the proposed resolution to adopt the maintenance and operation M and O millage rate.

The City of Kennesaw is proposing a millage rate of 7.75 mills for MO, which is the same as last year.

The dates of the public hearings were properly advertised in the Marietta Daily Journal on July 18th and the 25th of 2026, whereas the current 2026 tax digest in the five-year history of levy was published once on July 18, 2026 in concurrence with OCGA.

Um section 48-5-32.

The first and second public hearings were held July 27th, 2026 at 6 p.m.

and August 3rd, 2026 at 1030 a.m.

respectively.

And at this time, I'd like to introduce Jennifer Gordy, the finance director, who will give a brief presentation.

Good evening.

I

wanted to do a brief presentation to reiterate the statement that the mayor read for us earlier.

As required by Georgia Law, the City of Kennesaw is holding this public hearing regarding the proposed millage rate.

Residents who have a floating homestead exemption on their primary residence will not pay higher taxes.

The exemption is designed to float to offset increases in property value, keeping the assessed value the same from year to year.

As a result, maintaining the current millage rate does not constitute a tax increase for the vast majority of Kennesaw homeowners who have homesteaded their primary residence.

And I have an example.

And these homeowners, these owners may see changes in their city property taxes as their assessed values change.

So in this example, if you look at the same 2025 tax bill without a homestead exemption, the fair market value is 260,510.

The taxable value, which is 40%, is 104,204.

Without the homestead exemption, there's no float.

So your assessed value is the same as the taxable value, 104,204.

That's multiplied by the City of Kennesaw MO millage rate of 7.75 mills, meaning you owe $807.58 in taxes.

If you want to compare that to your 2024 tax bill, the fair market value of you home of your home might be slightly different.

So in this example, it's 255,810.

Your taxable value, which is 40% of that, is 102,324.

Since you don't have the homestead exemption, there's no float.

The assessed value is the 102,324.

Multiplied by the City of Kennesaw's MO millage rate of 7.75 mills, you would owe $793 in one cent.

So you can see without the homestead exemption, property tax bills in the city of Kennesaw may fluctuate depending on the fair market value of the home as determined by the Cobb County Tax Assessor's Office.

Okay.

Thank you, Jennifer.

All right.