MOULTRIE — The Moultrie City Council approved a tax rate of 7.9 mills Tuesday night after the third of three public hearings.

The millage rate is less than last year’s rate of 8.08 — and it’s significantly less than the 12.828 mills enacted in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The reduction in the millage rate is fueled by an increase in property values.

Property taxes are calculated by multiplying the millage rate by the taxable value of property. As property values rise, taxing entities like the city council can charge a lower rate but bring in the same revenue.

The tax rate that will bring in exactly the same revenue as the previous year is called the rollback rate, and the state requires public hearings if the city (or other entity) plans to set a millage rate higher than the rollback rate.

At Tuesday evening’s public hearing, only one person addressed the council.

“I’m not here to fuss,” Brent Chitty said. Instead, he had two questions:

— How far back would you have to go to find a tax increase of as many dollars as this year? This question was never answered, but City Manager Pete Dillard said the city’s budget is within 1% of the budget for 2015-16.

— Chitty acknowledged that the cost of everything has gone up, but he asked if there was any one thing that drove the need for the city to bring in more money.

Both Dillard and Councilman Daniel Dunn pointed out a number of things the city buys that cost more than they did a few years ago. Dillard said the city could once equip a police car for $50,000; today, he said, it’s closer to $80,000.

But the real reason for setting the millage above the rollback rate had little to do with that, city attorney Mickey Waller said.

According to previous reporting in The Observer, 800 Colquitt Countians appealed their property valuations this year. As of late August, more than 400 of those appeals had yet to be considered; some that had been considered had been resolved, but others were slated for Board of Equalization meetings that are planned to start this month.

Waller said the county had a similar large number of appeals in 2021, and at that time many of the cases were resolved with a “split the difference” approach: The landowner’s property value went up from the previous year, but by only a fraction of the increase proposed by the tax assessors.

The state rollback rate is set based on the idea that no one would appeal or the county would win all the appeals. With so many appeals left unresolved, the city couldn’t afford to set the millage at the rollback rate then deal with the consequences when the appeals process results in lower property values — and thus lower tax revenue, Waller said.

The difference between the revenue from the rollback rate and the millage rate that was set isn’t to cover higher expenses, Waller, Dillard and others implied. It’s to provide a cushion that ensures the revenue will be enough to fund a normal budget.