Over the past weeks, local councils and commissions have been going through the annual motions of determining what to charge for local property tax bills in setting millage rates for the cities, county and school board.

The last of those was determined on Wednesday evening during a special session of the Polk County Commission held online via Zoom at 6 p.m., which put the rate at 9.95mills for 2020 tax bills, and approved of the school board’s 14.139 mills that they approved during their regular session back on August 11.

During that meeting, School Board member Britt Madden Jr. said that the millage rate was set lower than what the district required of local taxpayers for the year from last year’s 15.664 mills, and combined with cuts of state funding amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic that it meant the board was utilizing fund balance to cover the difference in the needs of the district’s FY 2021 budget.

This evening’s session saw commissioner’s having a final discussion over where to set the millage rate this year which lasted only a few moments as clarification was needed over the rate, which was set more than 2.6 mills less.

Previously, the City of Cedartown is looking to set their millage rate at 10.949 mills for this year, the City of Rockmart has yet to advertise their rate as September approaches, and the City of Aragon voted to approve an unchanged rate of 8.884 for 2020 tax bills in recent days and weeks.

With the millage rate set Wednesday evening, that allows county tax officials to start working on property tax bills for the year, which will be due before the beginning of 2021. The City of Cedartown and Rockmart will still have to approve their rates for 2020 tax bills before they can go out.