UPDATE:  The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved 2-0 setting the county millage rate at the rollback rate of 20.7 mills during a called meeting on Tuesday. Commissioner JaNice Van Ness was not present.

Finance Director Roselyn Miller said HOST collections increased for this year by 5 percent, allowing the exemption to go from 98 percent to 100 percent exemption. 

She also pointed out that when the county set the 2013 budget last December, they had anticipated not increasing the millage rate and had anticipated needing to dip into the county's reserves by $2.4 million to balance the budget. 

However, due to using the rollback rate, the county will only need to dip into fund balance by $1.7 million, she said.

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IN BRIEF: The Board of Commissioners will meet today at 10 a.m. at 901 Main Street to set the millage rate up to the rollback rate of 20.7 mills, or the rate that would bring in the same amount as last year. This would be a 3.79 mill increase in the rate which is currently 16.91 mills. However, this year, the county portion of the property tax for homesteaded homeowners will be completely exempt due to the Homestead Option Sales Tax. The HOST, a one-penny sales tax collected on all sales in Rockdale, is fully funded for this year. In previous years, the HOST had dropped to less than 100 percent coverage of the county property tax. This sales tax pays for and exempts the county portion of the property tax for homeowners who have declared a homestead, or primary residence.