Most Peachtree City homeowners can expect a slight break on their property taxes this year as the city council voted Thursday to keep the same millage rate for maintenance and operations.
The city will also be decreasing its bond millage rate by .09 mills because the city is no longer paying on the airport general obligation bonds which were paid off this year.
The millage rates will raise $11.76 million in property taxes for the general fund and $578,613 for the general obligation bond debt service fund, City Finance Director Paul Salvatore reported to council in a memo published in advance of Thursday’s meeting.
Salvatore noted that the city’s tax digest dropped by approximately $14.8 million due to reassessments, but the decline was offset by new “added growth” in the digest. Once all was calculated, the digest actually increased by 1.9 percent, Salvatore said.
Despite that increase, city staff expects no additional tax revenue based on the pending property tax appeals filed by local businesses and residents, Salvatore said in the memo.
Property taxes paid by homeowners and commercial property owners account for less than half the city’s total tax income. A big chunk comes via the city’s portion of a county-wide local option sales tax (LOST), which generates about $6.8 million for the city.
Getting 47 percent of the budget ($13.924 million) is the public safety sector — police, fire and emergency medical services.
A distant second is public works at $5.6 million (19 percent).
In third, recreation and special events get about $2.4 million, or about 8 percent of the total budget.
