At a called Aug. 26 meeting, the Villarrica City Council voted unanimously to adopt a millage rate of 5.588 following a presentation on the 2025 tax digest and a public hearing. The presentation was delivered by finance staff; the vote occurred after a brief public-comment period in which two residents pressed the council about Tax Allocation District (TAD) spending.

The presentation explained that Villarrica’s 2025 gross digest was $1.4 billion and that, after exemptions, the net digest was about $1.2 billion. Finance staff said gross digest rose 7.86% year over year while exemptions rose 93.21%, producing a net digest increase of 1.02%. The staff described digest growth as the sum of reassessment (inflationary) growth (2.6%) and new-growth/other changes (negative 1.58%). The city’s net digest is split roughly 40% Douglas County, 60% Carroll County.

Finance staff also explained the state rollback-millage calculation. Using the city’s inflationary growth and last year’s millage of 5.588, the computed rollback-equivalent rate was 5.444. Staff recommended maintaining the current 5.588 rate rather than adopting the rollback rate, saying keeping 5.588 would generate roughly $170,000 in additional revenue for the city to help cover debt-service and operating needs.

The staff discussed House Bill 581 and the incoming floating homestead exemption that begins applying to the 2026 digest. The presenter used hypothetical examples to show how the floating homestead exemption would cap a homestead owner’s taxable value to an announced inflation index each year and demonstrated how the exemption would adjust if assessed values rose faster than the index.

During the public hearing portion of the millage discussion, no one spoke in favor of raising the rate. Two residents spoke against raising taxes and called attention to the Eastside TAD, saying Ward 1 had not seen expected TAD-funded improvements. One resident said, “We’ve been paying into this tax allocation district for two years now, and we haven't received not a grain of dirt put in in the neighborhood.” Another resident representing Ward 1 listed streets (Jordan, Anderson, Claycorn, Ruby, McCullough) and said, “We are not seeing anything that benefits our community.” These comments were recorded during the public-hearing segment and were not presented as formal council findings.

A motion to adopt the resolution setting the millage rate at 5.588 was made from the dais and seconded; the transcript records the motion, a second, and a stated unanimous approval. The council then moved on to the FY2026 budget review; the council did not change the millage at this meeting.

The council’s formal adoption of 5.588 will govern the city’s property-tax levy for the coming year absent any later action. Staff noted that final tax bills are issued and administered by the county tax commissioners.