The City of Guyton sent out a press release last week announcing that a decision has been made to increase the 2017 property taxes it will levy by 25.29 percent over the rollback millage rate.

There will be three public hearings for all those concerned with the increase to attend in August. Those hearings will take place on Aug. 8 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and a third hearing on Aug. 15 at 6:30 p.m.

The following is the press release from the City of Guyton: “The City of Guyton City Council today announces its intention to increase the 2017 property taxes it will levy this year by 25.29 percentage over the rollback millage rate. Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the city. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and adjust the assessment. This is called a reassessment. When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. The budget tentatively adopted by the Guyton City Council requires that a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate, therefore, before the Guyton City Council may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Guyton City Hall, 310 Central Blvd, Guyton, Georgia on Aug. 8, 2017 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and on Aug. 15, 2017 at 6:30 p.m.”