NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. – The Newton County Board of Commissioners announced Monday its intention to increase the 2018 property taxes it will levy this year by 12.43 percent above the rollback millage rate.

Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property tax within the county. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and increase the assessment. This is called a reassessment.

When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed 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 budget tentatively adopted by the Newton County Board of Commissioners requires that a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate, therefore, the Newton County Board of Commissioners may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinion on the increase.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held in the Boardroom of the Newton County Historic Courthouse, 1124 Clark St., Covington, Georgia on July 23 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and on July 30 at 6 p.m.