FORSYTH COUNTY — The Forsyth County commission and school board signed off on their respective millage rates for 2015 during separate meetings Thursday. Both government entities also held a third and final public hearing on the rates, prior to the votes. As with the first two hearings, no one spoke at the Board of Education’s final session, while the county’s drew one speaker who said he was in favor of the millage rate, which will remain the same as it has since 2011. The millage rate is part of a formula used to calculate property taxes, where one mill equals $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value. County commissioners voted 5-0 to set the maintenance and operations millage at 4.812 mills, fire millage at 1.975 mills and bond rate at 0.869 mills, for a total of 7.656 mills. The school board’s vote, which also was unanimous, set the school system’s maintenance and operations rate at 16.3 mills and bond rate at 2.418 mills, for a total school millage rate of 18.718 mills. Together with a state millage rate of .10, that brings the total Forsyth tax rate for 2015 to 26.474 mills, down slightly from the 2014 rate of 26.524. At that rate, according to County Finance Director David Gruen, a $250,000 home would see a tax bill of about $2,642. The overall tax digest is projected to be 5.2 percent higher than in 2014, with about 3.4 percent of that coming from new construction. Commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed budget Oct. 16 and adopt a tentative spending plan Nov. 6. Last month, the school board approved its 2015 budget of about $309 million.
FORSYTH COUNTY — The Forsyth County commission and school board signed off on their respective millage rates for 2015 during separate meetings Thursday. Both government entities also held a third and final public hearing on the rates, prior to the votes. As with the first two hearings, no one spoke at the Board of Education’s final session, while the county’s drew one speaker who said he was in favor of the millage rate, which will remain the same as it has since 2011. The millage rate is part of a formula used to calculate property taxes, where one mill equals $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value. County commissioners voted 5-0 to set the maintenance and operations millage at 4.812 mills, fire millage at 1.975 mills and bond rate at 0.869 mills, for a total of 7.656 mills. The school board’s vote, which also was unanimous, set the school system’s maintenance and operations rate at 16.3 mills and bond rate at 2.418 mills, for a total school millage rate of 18.718 mills. Together with a state millage rate of .10, that brings the total Forsyth tax rate for 2015 to 26.474 mills, down slightly from the 2014 rate of 26.524. At that rate, according to County Finance Director David Gruen, a $250,000 home would see a tax bill of about $2,642. The overall tax digest is projected to be 5.2 percent higher than in 2014, with about 3.4 percent of that coming from new construction. Commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed budget Oct. 16 and adopt a tentative spending plan Nov. 6. Last month, the school board approved its 2015 budget of about $309 million.