Dear Editor:

It is very apparent that the taxpayers are being played again with regards to the Board of Education and School Superintendent. So the Superintendent says he is giving us a tax break with a lower milage rate of 12.4. Perhaps their memory is very short when last fall because of our friends at GMASS we were looking at a major increase in our property values. The County and City did the right thing and rolled back the milage rates to offset the increases in property taxes. He stated that if we rolled back we would lose all of the equalization grant totally. I have found out that this statement was not totally true and we would lose some of it based upon a formula used by Georgia Dept. of Education but we ate the major increase.

Here are the facts:

Our 2023 Ad Valorem taxes were 7,990,322. With the property value increase with the milage rate the same (13.4) taxes were 10,971,398. An increase of almost 3 million that the taxpayers of Grady County absorbed. With the proposed new budget rate of 12.4 mills, our taxes are still 10,272,637 which is still 2.2 million above what they should have been with the rollback rate. So in essence, we are getting hit with a 28% increase in our property taxes and the so called lowering of the milage rate is “smoke and mirrors!”

SB 44 which was approved by the Georgia Legislature allows the milage rate for equalization grants to be lowered to 10 mills without penalty so that game can’t be played again.

So why haven’t we rolled back this tax to the existing levels? Why because they spend it? Every year we have new positions created and pay raises that go along with it and we can’t even come up with funding to help support our band! Why don’t we eliminate some and save money and move it to areas that really need it?

Our Band deserves the full support of our Board. They work just as hard as the football team. They spend long hours in the relentless heat and long hours on the road and we ignore them. Come on you can do better than that! They are always one of the best in the State.

The closing of Northside was supposed to save 4 million? Where?? When I look at and compare the budgets there are no decreases in any of the line items that would reflect this. They all basically remain the same or have actually increased some. I would like to see an exact copy of savings by operational categories where we have saved anything and not just shifted costs to other locations. One thing to note is our annual Debt service has increased by over 800K in one year!

Seniors, retirees, and families on fixed incomes have been hit by this unprecedented rise in property values. We have had enough! The rollback rate is a commonsense solution that is a no brainer. The BOE is reaping windfall from this dramatic increase in property values while making no effect to control costs and in many cases do nothing to benefit the taxpayers! The taxpayers deserve better! Roll back this unjustified increase, cut waste, prioritize spending needs and stop wasting taxpayer’s monies!

I would strongly advise that our citizens speak out and demand action! Do nothing and they will do nothing! Call your BOE member and demand action be taken. It’s just your money they are spending!

– Mike Bishop