The recent

round of property reassessments by Coweta County allows the school system

to roll back maintenance and operations millage rates from 17.87 mills

to 16.50 mills, and bonded indebtedness millage rates from 2.25 mills

to 1.60 mills (2.02 mills total rollback), and still meet its obligations.

The additional

revenue funds lower pupil-teacher ratios in Kindergarten through Third

Grade, and provides local matching funds of $2,201,340 for state-funded

classroom expansion projects at Poplar Road Elementary School and White

Oak Elementary School.

The budget

including these items was approved by the Coweta County Board of Education

in June 2001.

Each year,

the board of assessors is required to review the assessed value for property

tax purposes of taxable property in the county. When the trend of prices

on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has

been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the

board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of

such property and increase the assessment. This is called a reassessment.

When the total

digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia Law requires that a rollback

millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue

on the current year's new digest that last year's millage rate would have

produced had no reassessments occurred.

The budget

tentatively adopted by the Coweta County School System requires a millage

rate higher than the rollback millage rate.

Before the

Coweta County School System may finalize the tentative budget and set

a final millage rate, Georgia Law requires that three public hearings

be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on

their increase.

All concerned

citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be

held at the following locations at the indicated times: November 27, 2001

at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and December 4 at 6 p.m. at the at the Coweta County

School System Boardroom, 237 Jackson Street, Newnan, Georgia.