The Gilmer County Board of Education approved advertising a tentative millage rate of 9.121 mills, keeping the school system’s property tax rate unchanged from last year.
Board members had the option to roll the rate back to 8.788 mills at last Wednesday’s meeting, but chose to maintain the current rate because of uncertainty surrounding upcoming tax law changes, rising employee health insurance costs and inflationary pressures.
Because the rate exceeds the rollback rate, Georgia law considers it a tax increase even though the millage rate itself remains unchanged.
Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said the district is attempting to balance protecting taxpayers with maintaining financial stability amid rising expenses.
“We’re trying to be fair to our current taxpayers and still be able to pay our bills and avoid any potential large increases that might be necessary if we were to take the rollback,” Ridley said.
He later added, “Unfortunately the state has pushed down expenses to the local level and has spent the last decade doing it. They balance their budget by pushing expenses down to local counties and cities and that has increased our expenses.”
Health insurance costs for the district have risen from roughly $900 per employee per month a decade ago to about $2,000 per employee per month today. Rising inflation has increased fuel, supplies and material costs.
“With inflation it means we have to pay our employees more,” Ridley said. “We have to pay employees to come here and take these jobs. We’re caught in a little bit of a vicious cycle of increasing expenses.”
School systems develop their budgets first and then adjust the millage rate to match projected expenses. Ridley said about 90 percent of the district’s budget goes toward salaries, leaving limited flexibility to reduce spending.
Ridley noted the board has intentionally budgeted deficits in recent years to reduce the district’s unrestricted fund balance rather than accumulate excess reserves. He said the district originally budgeted a $4.5 million deficit for fiscal year 2027, but holding the current millage rate reduces that projected shortfall to roughly $3 million.
“We’re trying to hold steady to ensure continuity of services for our community without overburdening our taxpayers,” Ridley said.
