The fiscal year 2024 budget includes maintenance of the millage rate at its current 5.750 level through the 2023 tax year/2024 fiscal year. The City has maintained that rate since 2009 while providing additional tax relief to citizens through a portfolio of homestead exemptions (discussed below) that rank among the highest in the State.
The City’s millage rate is composed of two separate levies that total 5.75 mills: the maintenance & operations (M&O) levy provides funding for essential city services and capital investment and is proposed at a rate of 4.951 mills; the bond levy provides funding for the City’s voter-approved general obligation debt and is proposed at a rate of 0.799 mills.
Due to the forecasted impact of property tax reassessments, the City is advertising a property tax increase of 11.38% for the M&O millage levy (the larger of the two levies).
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires the computation of a rollback millage rate that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. The proposed M&O millage rate exceeds the rollback millage rate, therefore, before the City Council can set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires the advertisements discussed above as well as three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.
The public hearings will be held on the following dates and times in the Council Chambers at Alpharetta City Hall located at 2 Park Plaza:
- * August 21, 2023, at 6:30 PM
- * August 28, 2023, at 11:30 AM
- * August 28, 2023, at 6:30 PM
The City is investing revenue growth to cover, among other things, law enforcement initiatives, cyber security technological improvements, inflationary demands on salary and contractual obligations, and increases in capital infrastructure maintenance.
Citizens are also encouraged to view the adopted budget on the City of Alpharetta website, www.alpharetta.ga.us and through the financial transparency portal https://cleargov.com/georgia/fulton/city/alpharetta.
Review The 2024 Adopted Budget
TAXPAYER SAVINGS (Homestead Exemptions)
The FY 2024 millage rate, coupled with the city’s substantial Homestead Exemptions, goes great lengths in keeping Alpharetta an affordable place to live and strategically position us relative to neighboring areas.
The City’s multiple homestead exemptions are estimated to save our homeowners over $6.7 million annually and include:
- * Floating Homestead exemption that caps the taxable value growth of homesteaded properties to the lesser of 3% or Consumer Price Index (CPI);
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- * Basic Homestead exemption of $45,000 off the assessed value of homesteaded properties which is among the highest in the State;
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- * Senior Basic Homestead exemption of $25,000 off the assessed value of homesteaded properties for residents aged 65 and older;
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- * Senior full-value exemption available to residents aged 70 and older who meet certain income requirements.
TAXPAYER SAVINGS (HTRG)
On March 13, 2023, House Bill 18 was signed into law and is reflected in the State of Georgia’s Amended Fiscal Year 2023 budget. HB 18 was a proposal by Governor Brian Kemp to refund $950 million in property taxes back to homesteaded property owners in 2023. Specifically, HB 13 authorizes the HTRG Program (Homeowners Tax Relief Grant) which provides one-time tax relief to homesteaded property owners by reducing the assessed value of their property by up to $18,000. The estimated tax savings to our homesteaded property owners through the HTRG Program total $1.1 million.
The City will add the HTRG exemption to its current homestead exemption offerings, which are among the highest in the State, resulting in additional savings estimated at $1.1 million to our homeowners.