Tax digest numbers are in lower than expected, and the county, city and school system will have to decide whether to raise millage rates to the rollback amount to collect the same proportion of taxes or find other ways to make up the difference. 

According to Tax Commissioner Dan Ray, the net tax digest - or taxable value and property — in the county dropped by 8.4 percent from last year. This means if the county maintained the same millage rate, it would have about $3.4 million less than last year.

For the school system, the tax digest dropped by 8.7 percent.

The city’s tax digest dropped by 5.5 percent.

This year, the calculation of the tax digest, or the taxable property and value, was delayed due to additional work created by changes mandated by the legislature, said Ray, and his office filed for a 60-day extension.

Meetings to determine the county, city and school system’s portion the millage rate, or property tax rate, have been set for the first week of September.

The Rockdale County Board of Commissioners will meet Thursday, Sept. 8, 6 p.m. at 901 Main Street to set this year’s millage rate, which was advertised to remain the same rate as last year at 15.53 mils.

The Conyers city council will meet Wednesday, Sept. 7, 7 p.m., at 1194 Scott Street, to set this year’s millage for city residents, which was advertised at 10.13 mils or 0.72 mils higher than last year’s rate of 9.14 mils.

The Rockdale County Public Schools Board of Education will meet Tuesday, Sept. 6, 7 p.m., at 954 Main Street, to set the school portion of the millage rate, which was advertised at 24.5 mils or about 1.5 mils higher than last year’s rate of 22.99 mils. 

The meetings are open to the public and are set to allow the respective bodies to discuss the millage rate. They can then vote to set a rate up to the advertised rate or can decide to set a lower rate.

This year, an estimate of the tax bill was included with the assessments using the same property tax rate as last year. If a homeowner’s assessment did not change from the one received and if the governing bodies go with the rates advertised, their tax bill would be the same or more than the amount listed on their assessment. 

Tax bills will go out Sept. 15 and are due by Nov. 15.