Meriwether County commissioners approve 2025 rollback millage rates after public hearing

Meriwether County commissioners held a special-called public hearing Sept. 20 and approved certified rollback millage rates for 2025, including a countywide general government rate of 12.391 mills and ratification of the Meriwether County Board of Education’s 16.818-mill rate, county staff said.

The hearing, required under Georgia law and documented on the Department of Revenue PT-32-1 form, gave residents an opportunity to comment before the board adopted the rollback rates later in the meeting. County staff told the board that because the proposed rates are rollback rates, adopting them does not constitute a property tax increase under state law.

During public comment, Pat Williams of 1494 Cobham Creek Circle, Luthersville, questioned several figures in the county’s five-year tax-digest summary, focusing on the personal property categories for heavy-duty equipment and mobile homes. "So if I could just how could we get to $13.01 54 of heavy duty equipment?" Williams asked, noting the heavy-equipment line showed a consolidated value listed as $13,001.54 and calling that amount "an awful small number" given local businesses.

County staff and commissioners responded that the figures on the consolidation sheets came from the tax assessor’s office and that some listed values reflect assessed value percentages rather than tax amounts. Staff said the $13,001.54 figure represented the reported consolidated value at 40 percent assessed value. The tax assessment information also showed 1,699 mobile homes with a consolidated value of $17,000,006.38 for 2025, compared with $6,000,004.23 the prior year, which prompted additional questions from commissioners about whether new units were added to the digest or whether prior underreporting had been corrected.

Commissioners and staff said they would investigate the apparent variations. A county official offered to arrange for the tax assessor or other assessor office staff to attend a future meeting to answer detailed questions about the consolidation sheets and how personal property and mobile-home values were calculated. Staff noted the digest can be amended if errors are found and that statutory procedures for advertising and certification of the digest remain separate from the commission’s millage adoption.

The board also approved a resolution authorizing the chairman and others to sign the PT-32-1 form and associated documents needed to levy and collect the adopted rates, county staff said. No changes to the certified rollback rates were made during the meeting.

What happened — decisions and next steps: the board approved the Meriwether County Board of Education’s 16.818-mill rate (the school board adopted that rate on Aug. 29, 2025) and approved the county’s certified rollback millage schedule, including the 12.391-mill county general-government rate, a 2.325-mill fire district rate and a 0.652-mill fire bond rate. Commissioners said they would follow up with the tax assessor’s office to clarify the personal-property and mobile-home figures raised in public comment.

The board’s approvals were procedural actions tied to statutory certification; any technical errors discovered later in the digest can be corrected through established amendment procedures and by working with the tax assessor and tax commissioner.

(Reporting note: Quotes and figures above are taken from the public hearing and the county staff presentation during the Sept. 20 special-called meeting.)