The Board of Assessors recently released the 2018 Tax Digest, which indicated a 4.37% overall increase in property assessments throughout the City of Savannah.  State Law requires taxing entities that experience an increase in tax digest to calculate a “rollback rate,” which is a millage rate that will generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year’s millage rate minus new construction or annexation. 

Due to the higher Tax Digest, the City’s rollback rate for 2018 is 12.008 mills.  The proposed millage rate is 13.40 mills.  Although the millage rate represents an increase in the rate from the 2017 adopted rate of 12.48 mills, it still represents a 23% reduction in rate over the past two decades.  Below is Savannah’s millage rate since 1971.

It is recommended that City Council amend the Revenue Ordinance of 2018; adopt a tax rate on real and personal property of 13.40 mills on the dollar (0.0134) or $13.40 per $1,000 in assessed value; and adopt a special service district tax rate for the Water Transportation District of 0.200 mills on the dollar (.0002) or $0.20 per $1,000 in assessed value.

Approval