Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Tuesday, August 18, 2026Official site

The Rockdale Board of Commissioners approved a 2026 millage rate of 18.190, a reduction from the previous year and the rollback rate, following a presentation by the Department of Finance. The resolution passed with a 2-1 vote, with the Chair opposing.

About this meeting

Government Body
Board of Commissioners
Meeting Type
Board Of Commissioners
Location
Rockdale County, GA
Meeting Date
August 18, 2026

Published excerpts

Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.

15 sections (from 18 segments)

6:14 – 6:30•JaNice Van Ness

For our millage rate called meeting, Director Majid, good to see you today. At this time, I'd like to call the meeting to order and welcome you to do the 2026 millage rate presentation.

15:37 – 16:31•JaNice Van Ness

Yes, thank you very much for the presentation. I know your team, along with the Tax Commissioner and with Director Barclay, have put a lot of time and effort into working collaboratively to come up with these numbers. i was hoping we'd get to 17.99 that was a goal that i really wanted to hit because i feel like it certainly would help citizens in our community as well as the businesses i also know that we've been very good stewards of the tax dollars over the last couple of years and we have been able to make some great achievements through the budget savings that you mentioned over seven mill

18:19 – 19:04•JaNice Van Ness

Yes, I think it certainly helps. So as those values trend down, I mean, this is nationwide that we're seeing a lot of the similar trends. So, you know, it's not directly related to just Rockdale. This is across the state, across the nation that we're seeing these trends. So, can you talk a little bit, the increase in the tax digest, that's something that I know all of us have been working on improving so that we can shift the balance from 67% residential to a lower number. I'd love to see 50% one day. And so we do have projects, economic development projects on the way that should hit this nex

20:10•JaNice Van Ness

Right. And Commissioner Washington, did you want to add something?

20:58 – 21:10•JaNice Van Ness

And can you talk about any other opportunities for our community as far as collections and this next year? Do you have any predictions of

23:33 – 23:49•JaNice Van Ness

Yes. Well, thank you for the job that you and your team do. We appreciate it. And I think with clarity, so you have a collection rate each year, and the reason that you can collect more than that is because there are those revenues that come in. From prior years.

24:31•JaNice Van Ness

And can you talk about the different streams of revenue that the county receives?

25:30 – 25:42•JaNice Van Ness

And can you talk about what personal property entails? Because I have a lot of people that ask and they're like, oh, I threw that away. Yes, back to the tax assessor. Yes, thank you.

26:39•JaNice Van Ness

Can you talk about, just use Georgia Power, for example, and how that would apply to them?

27:38 – 27:55•JaNice Van Ness

Yes, absolutely. Commissioner Williams, do you have any questions? I don't. Okay. And Commissioner Smith? Hi. Hello. Thank you. Okay. Very good. All right. Then at this point, we will move to item four.

29:08 – 29:20•JaNice Van Ness

OK. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. OK. I have two ayes and one opposed. So you're opposed? Yes. Thank you.

29:23•JaNice Van Ness

Thank you for your hard work. I appreciate it. I appreciate everybody. Yes. All right. Thank you. Is there any additional board comment?

29:57 – 30:15•Tuwanya Smith

Yes, I would love to have it lower, but I am a type of a person who wants to use what I have and not what I'm expecting. So I think it would be safe for us to stay where we are right now. But ideally, yes, I would love for it to be lower. But right now, I don't think that that would be a great idea.

30:16 – 31:02•JaNice Van Ness

very good and I certainly respect both of you tremendously and so I've taken an aggressive stance on this and I understand and I you know understand recommendations that have been made as well so I appreciate very much our collaborative relationship thank you all right madam clerk is there a need for any other executive session okay all right at this time I'll call the meeting to adjournment thank you for attending today did you Commissioner do you want to come in sorry just wanted to share one more thing that I think residents should be aware of this year if you have a homestead exemption in

31:27•JaNice Van Ness

Wonderful. Thank you. I know our taxpayers will appreciate that. All right. Thank you. This meeting is now called to adjournment. Thank you.

These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.