This story has been updated. 

DeKalb County, GA — DeKalb County has announced the millage rate for 2023 will remain at 20.81, which is the same rate as last year, according to a press release from the county.

The rate, however, is 8.56% higher than the rollback millage rate, prompting the county to advertise an increase in property taxes.

“The 2023 millage rate increase tentatively adopted by the DeKalb County Governing Authority would result in a property tax increase of 8.5 percent, or $113.40, for a home with a fair market value of $375,000,” a spokesperson for the county said. “This would result in a total tax liability of $1,438 for the countywide millage rate. However, qualified DeKalb County homeowners with a homestead exemption will receive an Equalized Homestead Option Sales Tax (EHOST) credit that reduces or offsets property tax liability. The amount of property tax relief received by a qualified homeowner is based on the assessed value of the homesteaded property and sales tax revenue generated by EHOST. On average, the hypothetical DeKalb County owner of a qualified home valued at $375,000 would receive a 100 percent tax credit of $1,438, effectively eliminating the projected 2023 property tax increase.”

DeKalb County has six separate tax levies, the press release says. Two of those levies – the general and hospital funds – are used in the required calculation for the rollback rate. The other tax levies – police, fire, designated, and the special tax district bond fund – when combined with the general and hospital levies, produce a same millage rate of 20.81, according to the press release.

The combined millage rate for the general and hospital funds will exceed the rollback millage rate. The method used to calculate the rollback millage rate doesn’t account for offsets in those rates or factor in the equalized homestead option sales tax.

State law requires that a rollback rate be computed that would produce the same level of revenue on the current year’s tax digest that last year’s millage rate would’ve produced had no reassessments occurred.

The county’s 2023 tentatively adopted budget requires a millage rate higher than the rollback rate. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners will hold three public hearings before setting the final millage rate. The hearings will be held on Tuesday, June 27, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and on Tuesday, July 11, at 10 a.m. at the Manuel J. Maloof Auditorium, located at 1300 Commerce Drive in Decatur.

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