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Council drops millage rate

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizen.com

The Senoia City Council reluctantly dropped its millage rate from 6.0 mils to 5.9 Monday night.

The reluctance came from City Councilman Bill Wood, who said he would prefer waiting until October to get more information on the issue so the city could plan better. But City Clerk Debby Hogan said county officials wanted the information from Senoia by Tuesday, so property tax bills could be mailed out on time.

"It just concerns me because of all the different programs we're not funding this year," Wood said.

He wondered what would happen if the city decided just to keep the same millage as last year, but City Attorney Drew Whalen reminded the council of the law enacted by the General Assembly that calls for municipalities to stage public hearings if they decided not to roll back the millage rate to reflect the reassessments.

Whalen said the public hearings would cause the city to set the millage rate in October.

Hogan added the reason the city was in such a tight crunch this year is the county didn't finish the tax digest until August, when it's normally completed by July.

Wood agreed and voted with the rest of the council, but said the city needs to start the process earlier next year.