Three public hearings to allow for public input on County M&O, Bond and Fire Millage Rates

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners has announced its intention to maintain the County’s combined current millage rate which includes Maintenance & Operations (M&O), Bond and Fire millage. Due to the growth in the tax digest, M&O property taxes levied by the County this year will increase by a net 5.88% over the rollback millage rate.

Homestead Exempted properties will not see a property tax increase with County M&O and will see a net decrease with County Bond and Fire combined. Additional details regarding property taxes can be found at www.forsythco.com/property-taxes.  

The proposed County M&O rate remains unchanged at 4.791 mills. The proposed Fire rate has increased from 2.505 mills to 2.805 mills. The proposed Bond rate has decreased from 0.600 mills to 0.300 mills. The combined County millage of the three rates remains at 7.896 combined mills. These rates will fund the County’s 2026 General Operating Budget, which is currently in the proposed stages of development.

Forsyth County continues to have millage rates among the lowest in metro Atlanta. 

A growth of 9.54% in Forsyth County’s tax digest means that the anticipated total collections will increase. Of the 9.54% growth, 3.46% is due to new construction in 2025 and the remaining 6.08% is the result of increased values from reassessments.

All concerned citizens are invited and encouraged to attend the public hearings:

July 22, 2025, at 5 p.m.

August 7, 2025, at 11 a.m.

August 7, 2025, at 6 p.m.

All three public hearings will be held at the Forsyth County Administration Building located at 110 E. Main Street, Suite 220, in Cumming. Adoption of the millage rates is slated for Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting.

Any change in an individual tax bill will depend on the change in assessed valuation for that property, and the value of any Homestead Exemption, which may also change with the assessed value.

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 or growth occurred.

The proposed 2026 budget presented to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is based on a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate, therefore before the Board of Commissioners may set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.