Gwinnett County votes to adopt same general fund millage rate as previous year

Three public hearing were held on proposed tax increase as rollback rate wasn’t adopted

On Aug. 4, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt a general fund millage rate of 6.95 mills, keeping the rate consistent for the seventh year in a row. However, property values have increased following this year’s reassessments and under Georgia’s Truth in Taxation law, local governments must calculate a rollback rate—the tax rate that would generate the same amount of revenue from existing property despite higher assessments.

As was the case with Walton County that also chose to keep the rate the same as the previous year, thus generating an increase in revenue, for Gwinnett County this is 0.158 mills above the rollback rate 6.792 mills. Gwinnett County therefore also had to advertise that it was a property tax increase and have three public hearings prior to its vote to adopt the 6.95 millage rate. 

Property taxes are based on millage rates set by county government, school systems, and cities. One mill equals a dollar tax per thousand dollars of assessed property value. Gwinnett County officials advised homeowners that those who qualify for the regular homestead exemption also qualify for the Value Offset Exemption, which keeps the assessed value of a property constant for the County portion of the homeowner’s tax bill by setting and holding a base year value. With the millage rate being held steady, this means that the County tax amount will not increase for a Gwinnett homeowner even if there was an increase in the property’s value. The VOE, which applies to a home and up to five acres of land, is specific to only the county government portion of the bill and does not apply to other taxing jurisdictions such as schools or cities.  

By choosing to maintain the general fund millage rate at 6.950 mills instead of adopting the calculated rollback rate of 6.792 mills, the general fund tax increase on a $400,000 home in Gwinnett County is $23.70 if the property has a basic homestead exemption, or $25.28 if it does not.