The recession and a falling tax digest notwithstanding, the Coweta County Board of Education voted Aug. 9 to hold steady on the school system’s millage rate at 18.59 mills.
School system spokesman Dean Jackson said maintaining last year’s tax rate makes this the eighth year that Coweta County property owners have paid taxes at the 18.59 mill rate. The school board also voted to keep the school system’s bonded indebtedness tax rate at 0 mills, as it has for the past 10 years, Jackson said.
The move by the board came on the heels of news that the county’s tax digest numbers fell by 4.87 percent for 2011. The tax digest represents the overall monetary value of the county.
Funding for the maintenance and operation of Georgia schools comes from two main sources. One of those is from local property tax dollars while the other, known as QBE (Quality Basic Education) funds, come from state tax revenues. Funding for the Coweta County School System comes from a near equal percentage of the two funding sources.
The school board in June approved a general fund budget of $165,483,455 for the 2011-2012 school year that ends June 30. The budget was approximately $200,000 less than the school system budget of $165.7 million adopted in June, 2010, Jackson said.
