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The Commerce News
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Commentary
Picture emerges on this year’s property taxation
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
As the dust begins to set
tle on the 2023 property tax
season, a clearer picture is
starting to emerge on how
local governments dealt
with a large jump in proper
ty assessments this year.
Most local governments
rolled their millage rates
back at least some as an
offset to the higher assess
ments, but only two govern
ments did a “full rollback
rate” based on state guide
lines. Both the Jackson
County government and the
City of Jefferson adopted
full rollback rates this year.
At the other end of the
spectrum, two local govern
ments kept their 2023 mill-
age rates the same as 2022
rates. The City of Com
merce and City of Pender
grass both kept their millage
rates the same.
Despite that, both towns
have the lowest per capita
net tax levy dollars of any
local government studied
for this article (the City of
Maysville isn’t calculated
since it overlaps two coun
ties which would make such
a comparison unfair. The
towns of Talmo, Braselton,
Arcade and Nicholson don’t
levy any property tax.)
It’s important to note that
property taxes are only one
source of revenue for lo
cal governments. They are
critical for local school sys
tems, however, since school
systems don’t have any oth
er source of local revenues
to supplement state funding.
By contrast, city and
county governments do
have a variety of other reve
nue sources, including sales
taxes, fines, fees, service
charges, among others.
A few notes about the fol
lowing property tax chart:
• The county govern
ment’s higher per capital
amount reflects its broad
reach across the county, in
cluding being responsible
for the largest public safety
departments (sheriff, jail,
EMS, etc.) and the fact that
is is responsible for the larg
est geographic area, a situa
tion that affects road main
tenance, among other items.
• While the Commerce
City School System has
the highest school millage
rate this year, on a per-stu-
dent basis it nets the lowest
amount. That’s in part be
cause of the town’s lower
tax digest relative to the
number of students in the
system and the fact that the
SK Battery PILOT payment
isn’t included in the to
tal. If that PILOT payment
See Taxes, page 2A
Millage & Property Taxation
Jackson County — 2023
Location
District
2022
Mills
2023
Mills
Tax Amt.
2023 Tax$
Per Capita*
2023 Dollars
Uninc. JC
7.8
6.171
$39.6 mill.
$476
Inc. JC
9.138
7.748
(Uninc & Inc. combined)
Municipal
Jefferson
5.262
4.522
$5.5 mill.
$370
Commerce
4.36
4.36
$1.88 mill.
$248
Hoschton
3.5
2.954
$1 mill.
$257
Pendergrass
3.0
3.0
$642,000
$212
School Systems
JCSS
16.576
15.495
$60.5 mill.
$5,707
Jeff. SS
14.549
13.549
$17.1 mill.
$4,275
Comm. SS
16.928
15,.5
$6.6 mill.
$3,473
*(Per capita is based on population, except for school systems which is based on student
population in that system.)
Election
Homecoming
Jefferson
Bob Carter
Carter wins
Pendergrass
special
election
Bob Carter will take a
seat on the Pendergrass City
Council following a special
election on Sept. 19.
Carter defeated Mallory
Danner in the race with 61
votes to Danner’s 34.
Voter turnout was low at
5.81%.
Meanwhile, the town is
gearing up for its Nov. 7
municipal election. Four
people have qualified for
three council seats in that
race, including Gabriel Go
mez (incumbent), Joshua
Auten, Tara Bonner (in
cumbent) and Sylvia Basak.
The mayoral race is un
contested with Nick Gei-
man as the lone qualifier.
MAILING LABEL
Photo by Amy Flint
CHS HOMECOMING QUEEN
Commerce High School crowned its 2023 homecoming queen last Friday
night. Shown are: (L to R) Miss Freshman Jasmine Diaz-Aguirre; Miss Ju
nior Sarah English; Miss CHS Homecoming Queen Carli Fowler; and Miss
Sophomore Jayla Collins. See a photo of the CHS King and Queen on page
2A.
Jefferson approves
zoning changes,
tax rate, budget
The Jefferson City
Council gave a green
light Sept. 25 to modi
fy some conditions for a
townhome development
between Storey Ln. and
Business Hwy. 129 North.
The controversial proj
ect drew a slew of neigh
bors at the council’s meet
ing earlier in September,
most opposed to modify
ing various aspects of the
project.
Since that meeting,
members of the council,
nearby citizens and the de
velopers have reportedly
met to hammer out a deal
for the project.
“A significant compro
mise has been made,”
said Mayor Jon Howell at
Monday night’s council
meeting.
The council approved
lifting a 55+ resident age
condition that had been
put on the property years
ago, but limited the town-
homes to two stories and
banned the units as rental
property. The developers
had also agreed to com
pensate nearby homeown
ers where a natural buffer
See Jefferson, page 2A
JCHS HOMECOMING QUEEN
Chandler Blake was named Jackson County High School’s Homecom
ing Queen during halftime of the Panther football team’s 35-17 win over
Apalachee Friday (Sept. 22). See photo of JCHS Homecoming King on 2A.
Education
Commerce, East
Jackson below state
average on SAT
Commerce and East
Jackson Comprehensive
high schools scored below
the state average on the
SAT.
The Georgia Depart
ment of Education re
leased the graduating
class of 2023 SAT results
on Sept. 25.
Commerce students
scored far below the state
average with a mean score
of 1005, compared to the
state average of 1045.
Commerce straggled in
both evidence-based read
ing/writing and in math,
falling below the state
average in both catego
ries. Commerce was only
slightly higher than the
national average mean
score of 1003.
East Jackson Compre
hensive High School was
just below the state aver
age at 1044. EJCHS fell
below the state only in the
math category.
Details for each school
include:
See SAT, page 2A
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HOME OF THE SLUSHEES
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