Clarke County board previews $255 million FY26 budget, keeps millage at 18.8 mills and adds school security staff

Clarke County School Board finance staff on Monday presented a balanced FY26 general fund budget of about $255,000,000 and recommended holding the tentative millage rate at 18.8 mills, while proposing new security and program line items that the board discussed but did not formally approve.

The budget presentation by Mr. Griner, district finance staff, said the district’s tax digest grew 8.66% and the proposed budget is “balanced” for FY26. “We are presenting a balanced budget, this year for the general fund,” Griner said. He told the board the package shows about a $13,000,000 increase over FY25 and that the district’s reserves are “around $55,000,000,” which he said equates to roughly 2.59 months of operating reserves (three months would be about $64,000,000).

Why it matters: keeping the millage rate steady does not guarantee every homeowner’s bill will remain the same because assessed values change. Griner said, “the tentative millage rate was set at 18.8 mils,” and explained that under state property-tax rules the same millage can still produce higher bills where property values rose; to collect the same total taxes as last year the millage would need to be about 17.659 mills, he said. The board did not vote on the millage or the budget at…