After holding two “tax increase” hearings where a total of two citizens spoke, Statesboro’s mayor and council are set to hold a final hearing during their 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 regular meeting.
Then the council can vote to keep its property tax rate unchanged, as advertised, at 8.625 mills, which does involve an 8.5% average tax rise for many kinds of property because of inflation in assessed values.
On a $250,000 house with the standard homestead exemption, the city tax would increase about $66.25 a year, to $845.25 total, because of the lack of a rate rollback, according to the tax office estimates. However, a one-year offset in valuations is in effect for many homestead properties this year while a new state law limiting future inflationary rises goes into effect.
A mill is 1/1000th the value of property as assessed for taxes, and most in Georgia is assessed at 40% of estimated market value.
In the city’s fiscal year 2026 budget, already in progress since July 1, general fund spending is projected to increase 8%, from about $25.24 million last year to $27.37 million. But the city’s total expenditures, including fee-funded service budgets and special funds as well as the general fund, are budgeted to decrease by 6%, from $93.5 million to roughly $88 million.
In his slide show presentation, City Manager Charles Penny noted a chart showing that Statesboro’s millage rate is neither highest nor lowest among a selection of similar-size and nearby Georgia cities. The latest version of this chart also included the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners’ property tax rate for funding county government operations, recently held unchanged at 11.35 mills, and the Bulloch County Board of Education’s rate, recently raised almost 3 mills to 10.4 mills.
Penny further noted that each 1 mill of tax is projected to bring the city only about $1.22 million revenue this year, compared to the almost $3.8 million that a mill of tax is expected to net for the county government, and likewise almost $3.8 million to the school system.
This is because the county has a much larger area to tax, while Statesboro’s city government can levy a property tax only within the city limits. As the city’s presentation also asserted, about 25% of Statesboro’s area is tax-exempt, including churches and government buildings, with Georgia Southern University’s state-owned property being the largest and most valuable tax-exempt area.
No citizens spoke during the city’s first tax increase hearing, held during the council meeting at 9 a.m. Sept. 2, and two citizens spoke during the stand-alone second hearing at 6:30 p.m. that day.