VALDOSTA — Lowndes County rolled back its millage rate Friday. 

County leaders approved a millage rate decrease, setting the millage at 8.814 at a Friday morning meeting.

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners adopted the rollback rate to align with property value reassessments, meaning property owners will not see across the board increases in their tax bills.  

The 2017 millage rate for property owners in county was 8.974 mills. 

The rollback rate is a decrease of 0.16 mills.

When counties or cities do not adopt the rollback rate in property reassessment years, leaving the millage rate unchanged ends up meaning a tax increase for residents. 

County leaders decided not to go that route and adopted the rollback. 

Stephanie Black, county finance director, explained a millage is a tax rate calculation per $1,000 of assessed property value. 

Chairman Bill Slaughter said the county is focused on what he called “fiscal responsibility” and said county leaders want to provide quality services for what those services should cost and not what they could cost.

“This year’s rollback is a result of careful planning and the conservative approach taken by those supported by the county’s budget,” Slaughter said.

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256