Putnam County School Board adopts $473 million budget, cites bond debt for millage increase as residents voice tax concerns

The Putnam County School Board adopted its final budget for fiscal year 2025–26 and set a total millage rate of 6.865 mills after a public hearing and unanimous roll-call votes, the board announced at its meeting.

Director of finance Kimberly Mann told the board she would transmit the district’s annual financial report (ESE 348) to Tallahassee that night and summarized the accounting changes that were included in the final numbers. "The ESE 348 ... is very much like Jonathan's budget document. It's gonna show the revenues and expenditures and then the long term liabilities for the school district," Mann said.

The final budget totals and millage decisions followed a presentation by budget staff explaining how state-set components of the millage and voter-approved bond debt affect local property taxes. "Our rollback millage rate is 5.3291. The proposed millage rate ignoring debt service is 5.289 and will generate only 98.89% of the same tax revenue from 2024 to 2025," presenter Jonathan Odom said. He said the district’s total proposed millage (6.865 mills) is higher than last year’s 6.13 mills because of a state-required adjustment and debt service tied to the November 2022 $300 million bond referendum; the district received a second bond issuance of $100 million in June 2025.

Why it matters: The board said most of the added tax…