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Cherokee County board declines to provide rollback rate, opts to show estimated tax on assessment notices
Summary
After debate about a new state reporting option, the Board of Commissioners voted not to submit a rollback rate and instead directed assessment notices to include an estimated tax amount based on last year’s rate.
The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted May 6 not to provide a formal rollback tax rate for the 2025 assessment notices and instead directed that the notices include an estimated tax amount based on last year's rate.
Chairman Harry B. Johnston framed the issue as a statutory choice under recent state law, saying the county did not yet have the data needed to compute an accurate rollback rate. "So it's not even necessarily an accurate rate," Johnston said, describing why the board was considering alternatives. The initial motion to submit a 5.153 rate failed on a 3–2 voice division. The board then passed, unanimously, an alternative motion to decline providing a rollback rate and have the assessor include estimated taxes on the notices.
Supporters of submitting a rate said the state and county associations encouraged a positive response; opponents said the estimated-amount approach gives property owners clearer visibility. Commissioner Corey Ragsdale said showing an estimate would allow residents "to see their estimated property taxes on their tax assessment." The board recorded the procedural votes during the meeting and the clerk will transmit the chosen approach to the tax assessor as required by House Bill 92 and related legislation.
The board's action means the assessment mailings expected later this spring will show an estimated tax amount rather than an administratively filed rollback rate; the board did not set a final millage in this meeting and may act later in the FY budget process.
