Archived story
As originally published
Franklin Springs City Council approved a rollback of the city’s millage rate from 4.7 mills to 3.5 mills at its Aug. 14, 2025 meeting, according to the meeting minutes. The minutes say a motion to set the lower rate was seconded and carried, turning a proposal discussed in July into council action.
The decision matters to property owners because the millage rate is a central part of the calculation used for city property taxes. City officials had presented the rollback as a way to avoid a property-tax increase, so the reduction resolves the main question left by the earlier discussion: whether the council would formally set a lower rate.
At the council’s July 17 meeting, Mayor Moore said Franklin Springs planned to roll back the millage rate after receiving the tax digest and pointed to Aug. 14 for action. The July minutes documented planning rather than an adopted rate, leaving the proposal contingent on the later meeting. On Aug. 14, the council acted on that plan and approved the reduction to 3.5 mills.
Mayor Moore framed the proposed rollback in July as protection against a property-tax increase, a position with direct implications for city taxpayers. The council’s Aug. 14 vote aligned with that stated goal by lowering the rate from 4.7 to 3.5 mills. The minutes identify the motion as seconded and carried, but the information provided does not specify individual council members’ votes or record competing public positions.
The rollback is no longer only a proposal: the Aug. 14 minutes record council approval of a 3.5-mill rate. The July record, however, contained differing statements about whether a public hearing was needed. The provided minutes establish the vote but do not clarify that procedural question or detail any subsequent administrative steps used to apply the new rate to tax bills.
Residents seeking to understand the effect on their own bills will need the city’s final tax notices and any follow-up rate-setting or implementation records. What remains unresolved here is the practical application of the approved 3.5-mill rate, including how the city addressed the public-hearing question raised in July and the resulting tax calculation for individual properties.