Fulton County

is staging three public hearings in June to get public input on this year's

millage rates.

The hearings

are necessary after the Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved

tentative millage rates for 2002 at last week's meeting.

The proposed

2002 millage rates are less than the previous year, but do not totally

compensate for the increased assessments of property in the county. The

board approved 12.88 mills for the General Fund, a reduction of .16 mills;

.28 mills for the Bond Fund, a reduction of .02 mills; and 4.59 mills

for the Special Services District Fund, a reduction of .11 mills.

Since the board

did not totally roll back the rate, three public hearings are set to discuss

the tax increase.

Citizens are

invited to the public hearings in the Fulton County Government Center

Assembly Hall, 141 Pryor Street, S.W., Atlanta, on the following dates:

June 5 at 10 a.m.; June 5 at 6 p.m.; and June 19 at 10 a.m.

Citizens may

also participate in the public hearings via video-conferencing. All three

sessions will be video-conferenced from the North Service Center, 7741

Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, and the South Service Center, 5600 Stonewall

Tell Road, College Park.

While the millage

rates are less than 2001, the county's tax digest, excluding the value

of new residential and commercial properties, increased from the previous

year. If the tentative millage rates are approved, this is considered

a tax increase under the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights."

Consequently,

the 2002 millage rates would increase property taxes in the General Fund

by 2.82 percent over the rollback millage rate, and increase the SSD Fund

by 2.71 percent over the rollback millage rate.

Each year,

the Board of Assessors is required to review the assessed value of county

residential and commercial properties for property tax purposes.

When the trend

of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicates

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

the Board of Assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of

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

When the total

digest of taxable properties 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 reassessment occurred.

Georgia law

requires that three public hearings be held to allow the public opportunities

to express opinions on the proposed increase in property taxes.