At its Thursday, May 11 meeting, the Clarke County Board of Education gave tentative approval to a fiscal year 2024 budget of $214,145,443, based on maintaining the current millage rate of 18.8 mills.

As required by state law, the school board will conduct three public hearings, starting May 23, due to the school district’s proposed millage rate being higher than the “rollback” rate — the rate that would be used to produce the same amount of taxes collected in FY2023. There is an expected increase of 15.83% for property taxes levied in 2022, and while the millage rate would remain the same under the tentative budget, that would in effect increase overall property-tax collections by 2.569 mills. 

All public presentations and hearings will be held in the Vernon Payne Meeting Hall of the Clarke County School District administrative building, located at 595 Prince Ave., Athens. Anyone who wishes to speak may contact Lisa Palmer, executive assistant to the superintendent and board manager, at [email protected] in advance, or sign up at the door before the meeting begins. The meeting schedule for the budget hearings and millage rate hearings is as follows:

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 23 – budget presentation and millage rate hearing
• 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 24 – budget presentation and millage rate hearing
• 5 p.m. Thursday, June 1 – millage rate hearing.

Each year, the assessed value for taxable property in Athens-Clarke County is recalculated, and the Board of Tax Assessors is required by law to reassess values based on fair market value. The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $300,000 is approximately $282.59, and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $375,000 is approximately $385.35.

The board is scheduled to give final approval to the proposed budget and millage rate at its next scheduled regular meeting on Thursday, June 1, at 6 p.m. in the Vernon Payne Meeting Hall.

More information on the proposed FY2024 budget is available here.