Because the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners proposes a partial millage-rate rollback but not a full reduction to the official “rollback rate,” the board must hold three public hearings for a tax increase. The first two hearings are being held Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The third hearing will be held next week, at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18, which is also the start time of the regular meeting in which commissioners may take a final vote to set the millage. All three hearings will be held in the commissioners’ usual meeting room at the county’s North Main Annex, 115 North Main St., Statesboro.

In keeping with their fiscal year 2027 budget, already in effect from July 1, the elected commissioners and county manager proposed a reduction in the rate for the county government portion of property taxes from last year’s 11.35 mills to a new rate of 10.26 mills. However, the separate, appointed Board of Tax Assessors’ staff had determined that a “rollback rate” of 9.485 mills would be needed to fully offset inflation in assessed real estate values as reflected in the tax digest.

The 0.775-mill difference between the proposed rate and the full rollback rate results in a projected 8.17% tax increase, as advertised in notices the county placed in the Statesboro Herald. But that is a projection of the overall, average increase, and actual increases may vary among property types and locations.

A mill is $1 tax on each $1,000 of assessed property value, and most property in Georgia is assessed at 40% of its county-appraised “fair market value.”

The marginal levy of 0.775-mills above the full rollback rate would result in $100.13 additional tax on a home with a fair market value of $325,000 and the standard homestead exemption, or $93 additional tax on a non-homestead property with a $300,000 fair market value, according to examples given in the county notices.

During the hearings, citizens can hear county officials’ reasons, ask questions and comment on the tax rate.