Gwinnett County will lower their portion of property taxes for the typical homeowner by 1.9 percent this year. Since 1996, the County’s portion of the millage rate has decreased by 26 percent overall with the only increase during that time coming from a voter-approved bond issue for the expansion of the Gwinnett County Pre-Trial Detention Center.  The County, Gwinnett County School Board and Cities all have the option to rollback their respective millage rate to offset the revenue gain from required property reassessments.  The decreases in the County’s portion of property tax are a direct result of the Board of Commissioners’ decisions to rollback the millage rate to offset the increased revenue from the required property reassessments.

“The County is committed to making property reassessments easier on the homeowner by reducing the County’s share of the millage rate accordingly,” said Chairman Bannister. “The typical homeowner will see the County’s share of their bill go from $1,024 to $1,004.” The remainder of the tax bill will be based on rates charged by the state of Georgia, the Gwinnett County School Board and, where applicable, a city.

Gwinnett County’s portion of the new overall tax rate will be 11.08 mills, down from 11.30 mills in 2006.  For 2007, the County’s share is 34.8 percent of the total millage rate, while the Gwinnett County School Board’s portion is 64.4 percent and the state of Georgia’s is 0.8 percent.

“Last year, the rollback amount was 17 cents (0.17 mills). This year it is at 22 cents,” said Lisa Johnsa, Director of Financial Services. “This rollback is on top of any additional reductions homeowners gain from the value offset exemption, which affects the County portion only.” Gwinnett County started rolling back the millage rate to offset reassessments even before it was required by state law. The County has also rolled back the millage rate in response to voter approval of SPLOST. Those rollbacks remain in place.

“Gwinnett County government taxes are a bargain for the typical homeowner,” said Johnsa. “Not only has the County rolled back taxes over the past decade, but we have been able to expand crucial services such as police officers, ambulance crews and staffing at the detention center.” Public safety staffing has grown by 13.8 percent since 2005 with the addition of 315 positions, primarily in the Sheriff, Fire and Police Departments. So far, the County’s population growth, although beginning to slow somewhat, has expanded the tax base enough to handle these additional service expansions.