Gwinnett County holds public hearings on proposed millage rate: "We want to make sure that we're protecting our residents' assets"

Gwinnett County is letting the community share their thoughts on whether the county should keep its current millage rate.

The county's tax rate pays for public services like libraries, first responders, and the upkeep of parks. 

Gwinnett County's millage rate has been the same since 20-20, 6.95. The county says that if it keeps the rate, most homeowners wouldn't see an increase in their county property taxes. 

But others who don't qualify a tax exemption would. 

The current millage rate for Gwinnett County at 6.95 applies to every $1,000 of a property's taxable value. That is higher than what the state's rollback rate is at 6.782 mills. Keeping Gwinnett's millage rate where it is technically considered a tax increase, with the money going towards essential services.

"What we are focused on here is providing quality services for our residents, making sure if they need an ambulance, if they need a firefighter, if they need police, that they have those services…" said Russell Royal, the director of financial services for the county. 

County officials say most homeowners wouldn't see their county property tax bills go up.

"For many property owners, especially those who don't benefit from the VOE [value offset exemption], they want the back rate so that it will lower taxes. But as mentioned, most homeowners in Gwinnett County benefit from that value offset exemption."

That benefit or tax exemption is automatically applied when homeowners are granted a regular homestead exemption--typically for their primary residence. Pointing to an example of a house in Suwanee, county officials say that the current millage rate on a $440,900 house equates to about $487 in county taxes. 

"It's more about maintaining what we have," Royal said. "We want to make sure that we're protecting our residents' assets. In addition to that, we have a lot of the same impacts that we do in our personal homes. Inflation, rising fuel prices, and a huge part of our cost increases are related to health care, providing medical care. And so those are some of the big things that we have to try to cover."

Gwinnett's board of commissioners will hold its next public hearing and decide on whether to keep or roll back the rate on August 4. 

Several other counties and cities in Metro Atlanta are also talking about raising their millage rates. Dekalb County and the city of Brookhaven voted to increase their tax rates last month. 

Cobb County has plans to increase its tax rate once the board of commissioners vote on the matter early next week.