Whitfield Co. Commission addresses millage rate

Chairman wants to see property taxes throughout county

WHITFIELD COUNTY, Georgia — Thursday night in Whitfield County, the local Board of Commissioners held a Millage Rate Public Hearing.

Board Chairman Jevin Jensen wants to see property taxes reduced in the county.

To better explain to our viewers at home, a mill is the according rate that property owners have to pay per every thousand dollars of taxable value.

Whitfield County’s current rate stands at 10.75.

Residents were invited to attend and share their feedback.

Tonight was just meeting number one of three, with the third being key — it’s when the vote will be decided.

Should the millage rate increase, it wouldn’t be the only property trend on the rise in Whitfield County.

According to Rocket Homes, the average home price is currently listed at just below $230,000 — that’s a near $50,000 rise in price since July 2021.

“My recommendation is to reduce it by 1.1 mills,” Jensen said. “That would be a reduction to the average person. Of course, some people had an assessment higher, some people had lower. But the average person would see a slight decrease in their value. We have a lot of new revenue coming in from other sources outside of property tax — that was my reasoning for doing a property tax reduction. We’re trying to diversify our economy and our finances at the county, so I feel like we should be able to roll back a little bit more than the minimum reduction in property tax.”

When compared to their neighbors, Catoosa County’s millage rate currently sits at 7.348, Wade County is at 8 even, and Walker County sits at 7.2.