Columbia County committee certifies estimated rollback rate for property notices amid new state bills

Columbia County staff asked the county committee on June 10 to certify an estimated rollback rate to be included on the annual notice of assessment after changes enacted by state legislation. Staff said the county must provide the tax commissioner the notice no less than 15 days before mailing and asked the committee to approve placing the estimate on the mailed notices.

Staff described the new statutory framework as difficult to interpret and said the changes come from House Bill 581 and House Bill 92, which county staff and local government associations are still interpreting. The committee discussed the mechanics: certification of an estimated rollback rate does not fix the final millage, which will be set when the commission adopts rates later in the summer. County staff indicated an estimated rollback rate of about 4.36 mills and noted the county’s current maintenance-and-operations (M&O) rate is 4.568 mills.

Committee members agreed to move the certification to the consent agenda so the tax assessor could proceed with preparing and mailing notices on the timeline required by state law. Staff emphasized that certifying the estimate is procedural and does not bind the commission to that final rate.

The committee action directs county staff to provide the estimated rollback rate to the tax commissioner so notices can be printed and mailed per statutory deadlines.