NEWTON COUNTY — At Tuesday night’s Newton County Board of Commissioners meeting, Finance Director Brittany White sought the board’s approval to submit an estimated millage rate for the 2026 Fiscal Year (FY26) budget at 10 mills. 

After discussion by multiple commissioners, the estimated millage rate was passed unanimously, with the condition that the final millage rate could be changed when it is set before the beginning of the new fiscal year.

According to White, the board is required to provide an estimated millage rate for the Tax Assessor to put on the tax digest, but this submission is not a final number. 

“The millage rate that we are seeking approval at tonight does not necessarily mean that that will be our final millage rate,” White said.

Currently, the 2025 Fiscal Year millage rate is set at 8.242 mills, so this would mark an increase in county taxes.

The millage rate has been a topic of discussion since January as the board opted to allow House Bill 581, a floating homestead property tax exemption, to go into effect in the county.

Without property taxes rising each year, the board will likely need to seek other avenues of making up revenue to keep county operations intact. One of the main ways for a county to increase revenue is by raising the millage rate.

“I about fainted when you gave me that number this morning, but I understand what we’re trying to do here,” said District 5 Commissioner LeAnne Long. “We’re in uncharted territory with all this House Bill 581, that we have no idea what to expect. We have talked to a lot of the department heads about, we’ve got to keep these numbers low.

“We also did talk about all of these new projects that we have that SPLOST has paid for. Well, guess what, those require maintenance by the county once those become online. Everybody wants big parks, everybody wants, you know, these different things, but we have to have somebody maintain those items and we have a pretty big list of SPLOST projects that are out there.”

District 2 Commissioner Demond Mason reiterated the board’s commitment to keeping the millage rate as low as they can while still generating the necessary revenue.

“I believe that what the intent from this particular board is to do well, to do good, and of course, during our briefings I remember when I first came into office back in 2019 we were at 13.44 [mills] for our millage rate,” Mason said. “This board has done an amazing job with ensuring that we have looked at every line in every budget in every department to ensure that we can run and operate from a responsible, fiscal place.”

Mason, too, added that House Bill 581 is going to prompt the board to relook at how to best fund the services the county provides.

District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards weighed in as well, reminding the county that setting a preliminary, estimated rate at this time is a requirement of the board.

“I think it’s important to note that we’re covering ourselves on two issues here, one of meeting a deadline, and two of making sure we have enough revenue generated to cover our budget,” Edwards said. “...Hopefully we’re going to be able to bust that down a little more.”

This hope was echoed by District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson.

“We’re not bound by this millage rate,” Henderson said. “We can come back at a later date and change it.”

The final FY26 millage rate is expected to be set by the board around July/August.