SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. – The preliminary budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year in Social Circle does not contemplate a property tax millage rate increase. Instead, as of now, it relies on a 3% growth in the tax digest – a listing of the value of all property within the city limits -- over the current fiscal year for that portion of projected municipal revenues.

That does not necessarily mean, however, that homeowners’ property tax bills will be lower. The millage rate, a fractional multiplier applied to the value of a piece of property to arrive at a tax bill, is only one component of the bill. The other component is the valuation of the property, as determined by the Walton County Tax Assessor’s Office. An increased property tax valuation could potentially negate any savings from an unchanged millage rate.

Overall, the proposed general fund budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which begins July 1 of this year, is $8,896,795, a decrease of $87,676, or slightly less than 1%, from the current fiscal year’s amended budget of $8,984,472, according to a presentation made Tuesday to the Social Circle City Council by the city’s finance director, Toni Jo Howard. The general fund budget covers municipal operations outside of utilities and solid waste services, which are funded by charges to users of those services.

According to Howard’s presentation, the proposed 2027 fiscal year budget for waters service is $5,626,567, an increase of slightly more than 1% over the current budget of $5,565,927. Solid waste service is projected at $568,000 for the upcoming fiscal year, a 4.31% increase, or $23,444, over the current-year amended budget of $544,556. Gas service will see the largest increase over the current fiscal year, rising by nearly $2 million from slightly less than $5.9 million to just over $7.8 million.

Overall, the city’s full proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year is $25,150,294, an increase of $1,935,753, or 8.34%, over the $23,214,541 budget for the current fiscal year.

Across all city government departments, the proposed 2027 budget does not fund any new personnel positions, and reflects a 12% increase in health insurance costs, as well as increases in the city’s property insurance and liability insurance costs.

The proposed spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year also contemplates funding a municipal pay study by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

On the revenue side of the city’s ledger, the proposed budget reflects an expectation that local option sales tax revenue “is projected to remain flat,” according to Howard’s presentation. Also forming the budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year is an anticipated decrease in revenues from the various permits issued by the city, Tuesday’s presentation noted.

At Tuesday’s meeting, City Manager Eric Taylor stressed to the council that Howard’s presentation was a broad overview of the current state of the municipal spending plan for the new fiscal year beginning July 1, designed to “kind of set the table” for the new fiscal year. Budget discussions are continuing at the department level across the city government, Taylor said.

The council is set to take a deeper dive into the budget proposal during a meeting set for 4 p.m. May 7, with a public hearing on the proposal scheduled for the council’s May 19 regular voting meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. in the City Community Room at 138 E. Hightower Trail. Final budget adoption is currently slated for the council’s June 16 meeting, also scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the City Community Room.