Demorest Drops Proposed Tax Increase, Adopts 6.593-Mill Rollback Rate

Demorest City Council unanimously adopted a 6.593-mill property-tax rate for 2025 at its Oct. 30 special called meeting, abandoning the higher 7.16-mill rate it had previously advanced tentatively. Councilman Allen made the motion, Councilman Davis seconded it, and the four members present approved it 4–0 after a public hearing at which no one spoke.

The rate helps determine city property-tax bills, making the change consequential for homeowners and other property owners. City notices described 6.593 mills as the rollback rate; the earlier 7.16-mill proposal was 0.567 mills higher and was projected to increase property taxes 8.60%, including an estimated $28.35 more on a $175,000 homestead property and $39.69 more on a similarly valued nonhomestead property.

The city first publicly noticed that council had tentatively adopted the 7.16-mill rate, though the notice does not specify when that tentative action occurred. The proposal then moved through hearings: Mayor Harkness opened an Oct. 21 public hearing on the 7.16-mill figure, with no comments recorded. By the Oct. 30 hearing, council agreed on Budget 4 Option 1 and its 6.593-mill rollback rate, setting up the final vote later in that meeting.

The city’s notices framed the earlier 7.16-mill proposal as a rate above rollback and quantified its projected effect on homestead and nonhomestead properties. At both documented hearings, the minutes record no public comments, so they do not identify organized support for or opposition to either rate. Council’s final position was unanimous: the members present chose the rollback-rate option rather than the tentatively proposed increase.

The 7.16-mill figure was a tentative proposal, not the enacted 2025 rate. The completed council action is the Oct. 30 approval of 6.593 mills. The city’s earlier estimates described the higher proposal’s effect, not a property-by-property calculation under the adopted rate; an owner’s final tax bill will still depend on assessed value and other tax-bill factors.

Council’s rate vote is complete. The next public follow-through is implementation through the city’s tax process and any later city record or resolution reflecting the enacted 2025 millage rate; the records reviewed end with the Oct. 30 action, so those steps and individual bills are not yet established here. One record also contains a clerical inconsistency: Oct. 21 hearing minutes refer to a next hearing on Oct. 6, while the city notice and Oct. 30 agenda identify Oct. 30 as the later hearing date documented by the final vote.