The Fayette County Board of Education will hold its third and final public hearing on the millage rate Thursday. The rate will be adopted at the conclusion of the hearing.

The Maintenance & Operation (M&O) millage rate will increase by 1.154 mills from 18.596 mills to 19.75 mills. The bond debt millage will increase from 3.55 mills to 4.17 mills. The total increase is 1.754 mills, or $8.2 million.

What was to have been an M&O increase of .754 mills to accommodate the recently passed $197 million budget changed when board members learned that cuts to state education funding were a certainty. Those cuts amounted to $2.25 million for the Fayette school system, said Superintendent John DeCotis.

The vote to re-advertise the higher rate came after the board had already agreed to internal cost-cutting measures such as having employees responsible for a co-pay on medical and dental premiums beginning in January, a savings of $1.3 million for the half-year period.

Contributing to the overall millage increase by the school board is the debt service millage, increasing from 3.55 mills to 4.17 mills, a .6 mill or $2.899 million increase.

Comptroller Laura Brock told board members recently that the bond amortization schedule for 2008-2009 calls for payments totaling $20.71 million. If left at the current rate of 3.55 mills, the resulting revenue would bring in $17.31 million, leaving a revenue shortfall of $2.899 million.

That amount, she said, could be made up by increasing the bond millage by 0.6 mills. The debt service millage will begin to decrease significantly in the next two years.

The public hearing will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the school board office on Stonewall Avenue in Fayetteville.