Crickets — MCSD board conducts public hearing doubleheader, but nobody speaks

The Muscogee County School Board on Tuesday conducted two of the three public hearings on its revised millage rate, but nobody took advantage of the opportunity to speak for or against the proposal.

The first hearing started at noon; the second hearing started at 6 p.m. Both lasted less than 5 minutes.

After keeping the millage rate at 23.37 for 21 straight years, the nine-member board voted 5-1 Aug. 25 to tentatively adopt the rollback rate of 23.321 – amounting to a decrease of $250,204 in the local revenue the Muscogee County School District could receive but actually being an increase of approximately $4.9 million in revenue because of the Columbus Consolidated Government’s controversial revaluations, which have increased tax assessments on some parcels by as much as tenfold.

The school board’s tentative rollback of the millage rate translates to a savings of $1.79 on the property tax bill for the owner of a parcel with a homestead exemption and a fair market value of $125,000 and a savings of $3.43 for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $175,000.

The third and final public hearing on this revised millage rate will be Sept. 12 at 9 a.m., immediately followed by the board’s called meeting to vote on its final adoption.

This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Crickets — MCSD board conducts public hearing doubleheader, but nobody speaks."