The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners has announced its intention to increase the prop­erty taxes it will levy this year by 11.78 per cent unincorporated over the rollback millage rate.

Each year, the Board of Tax Assessors is required to review the assessed value of taxable property in the county for prop­erty tax purposes. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indi­cates there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property in the county, the Board of Tax Assessors is required by law to redetermine the value of such property and increase 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 new digest that last year’s millage would have produced had no reassess­ments occurred.

The fiscal year 2018-2019 bud­get of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners requires a millage rate higher that the roll­back millage rate. Therefore, be­fore the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners may set a final millage rate sufficient to fund the budget, Georgia law requires that three (3) public hearings be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on this increase.

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners finds it necessary to increase the millage rate for the following reasons:

1. The increased cost of health insurance.

2. The decrease of funds from the Lincoln County jail.

3. Cost of living increase for employees.

4. The increased cost of main­tenance.

All concerned citizens are in­vited to public hearings on this increase to be held in the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners Conference Room, Room 104 in the courthouse, 210 Humphrey Street, on September 17 at 10 a.m. and again at 6 p.m., and also on September 21 at 11 a.m.

Citizens will be able to ask questions and make comments at those hearings.