The Thomas County Board of Education has adopted a $65 million general fund budget for the current school year, and to partially fund this budget, approved a tentative rollback millage rate of 12.533 mills for tax year 2022. The rollback rate is a 9% decrease from the 2021 millage rate of 13.804.

The proposed millage rate marks the tenth year in a row that the county board of education has reduced the school property tax rate. Thomas County School’s 2021 millage rate of 13.804 was the 25th lowest out of 180 school districts that can levy a tax, placing it in the bottom 14% of districts in the state.

The state average school property tax rate for 2021 was 15.88 mills. Since school districts are in the process of adopting millage rates, comparison rates for 2022 are not yet available, but the school system’s proposed roll back rate is expected to move lower in the state ranking to at least the bottom 10% of the lowest property tax rates in the state.

Property values in the Thomas County School tax district increased 11.7% from 2021, but only 1.5% of the increase is in the form of real building growth. Over 10% of the property value increase was in the form of property reassessments, and by law, the school district is required to roll the millage rate back to yield the same amount of revenue that would have been collected had the reassessments not occurred.

By law, if a rollback is not adopted, the school system must declare a tax increase. Approximately $11.7 million of local property tax revenue is included in the system’s 2022-2023 budget.

Thomas County School System’s Deputy Superintendent for Finance, Joey Holland, commented, “It’s great that we can afford to roll back the millage rate again this year, but I’m concerned that we cannot continue rolling back the millage rate every year. The tax digest growth that the school district has received increased revenue from has averaged only 1.2% for the past seven years, and this will not keep up with inflation. While we historically fund our budget with less local tax revenue than other school districts, I’m not sure we can continue to balance our budget with the local revenue representing a smaller and smaller portion of total revenue.”

This year’s general fund budget includes revenues of $65.0 million and expenses of $64.8 million. Revenues are expected to increase $3.3 million from the prior year, with the largest increase of $2.1 from state education funding. Budgeted expenditures have increased $3.8 million, mainly due to cost of living salary increases to all staff members. Certified staff will realize a $2,000 increase, and support staff will receive between a 10% to 15% pay increase.

Thomas County School Superintendent Dr. Lisa Williams said, “I am very pleased that the school board is able to roll back the millage rate for the tenth consecutive year. We consistently strive to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This is very evident by the fact that our board has adopted a balanced fiscal year 2023 budget and most recently approved the reduced recommended tentative 2023 millage rate.”

The Thomas County Board of Education is expected to give final approval of the millage rate at its meeting on Aug. 9, at 7 p.m., at the school board’s administrative offices located at 200 N. Pinetree Blvd.