Suwanee Prepares To Cut Taxes -- Again

The City Of Suwanee is poised to lower the millage rate (which is used to set property taxes) in 2012. It would be the third straight year the city has lowered the benchmark property rate.

A public hearing will be held at on Thursday, Aug. 16, at 5:30 p.m. so that residents can express themselves on the proposed rate of 4.93 mills. That would be a drop of 0.72 from the current rate of 5.65.

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Jessica Roth, assistant to the Suwanee city manager, noted that the rate in 2010 dropped from 5.77 to 5.70, and in 2011 it went to 5.65.

Several factors have been credited in Suwanee's continued smooth financial situation. In 2012, the city received a $664,000 settlement from Gwinnett County as a result of the Service Delivery Strategy agreement. Also, the city has an unemployment rate of about 4 percent, far lower than Gwinnett and metro Atlanta averages. And the city never got overly dependent on residential real estate, which took a sharp downturn in 2008 and still has not fully recovered.

Another public hearing on the 2012 millage rate will be held Aug. 28, and the rate will go up for adoption on that date at the City Council meeting.

According to wikipedia.org, to calculate the property tax, the governing authority (the city in this case) will multiply the assessed value of the property by the millage rate and then divide by 1,000. That would mean a house with an assessed value of $200,000 would haved an annual tax bill of $986.

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