Though Peachtree City is keeping its millage rate the same this year, it will still result in a property tax increase, netting the city an additional $17,000 for the 2008-2009 budget.

The millage rate and the $27.5 million 2008-09 budget were approved by the city council Thursday night.

The move drew an attaboy from resident Robert Brown, who lauded city staff and the council for “keeping the millage rate under control.”

Brown said he wished the Fayette County Board of Education could do the same.

For a property valued at $245,000, the tax increase calculates to approximately 88 cents, said City Finance Director Paul Salvatore. That equals 36 cents a year for each $100,000 in value of a given home, he added.

Because the millage rate is applied to the value of a given property, if the property assessment increases, the property’s tax bill increases.

Property taxes equal 42 percent of the total taxes the city expects to collect for the coming year at $9.12 million. The local option sales tax accounts for 31 percent of the city tax revenue at an expected $7.02 million. All told the city expects to levy $22.43 million in taxes across all categories.

The city’s tax digest, which encompasses all taxable properties, grew by 2.5 percent from last year, but 93 percent of that was due to new growth, with only 3 percent due to property reassessments, Salvatore has said.

This year, Peachtree City “split up” its millage rate to show residents how much of their tax bill was due to financing that had previously been approved by voters. The total 5.533 mills breaks down to 5.122 for maintenance and operation (the regular budget), .411 mills for the bond millage rate and an additional .019 mills that is dedicated to funding the Development Authority of Peachtree City.

Ironically, splitting up the millage rate has kept the city from rolling back the M&O millage rate because it would have required too much of a hit on the city’s upcoming budget, almost $300,000, according to Salvatore.

That’s because the city would have to roll back .146 mills from its “maintenance and operation” budget back to last year’s rate, Salvatore explained. The way the law is written, if any local government plans to adopt a millage rate that would bring in more money than last year’s budget, they have to advertise a tax increase in three public hearings.

The bond portion of the millage rate is equal to .411 mills or roughly $779,471 in the current year budget. That money is going to pay off three previous bond issues: one for the library expansion/renovation, one for work at Falcon Field and the other a refunding of previous bonds approved by voters.

The .019 mills dedicated to the development authority equals $35,000.

Resident Lynda Wojcik said she’d rather the city not use any of its cash reserves and instead pay for its needs with cash.

City Manager Bernie McMullen said the funds the city is using from the reserves still allows the city to have plenty

“There’s no sense in taking money from the citizens if we don’t need it,” McMullen said.