Hinesville City Council will conduct three upcoming meetings on its proposed millage rate.

While the city plans to cut the millage, the cut still does not bring the millage rate to what is calculated to be the rollback rate — the point at which property taxes are the same because of the growth in the tax digest.

The current millage rate of 10.15 is proposed to be trimmed to 10.1, a cut of .05, city chief financial officer Kim Ryon said.

The three hearings, she said, are required by state law because the city is not rolling back the millage by the full inflationary growth of the digest. The rollback rate is 9.468 mills, but that would not provide enough revenue for the city to fund its services, Ryon said.

“We are much larger in our digest,” Ryon said to council members, “but we provide a lot more services than we did in 1985.”

Ryon pointed out the planned cut was the eighth such reduction in the millage rate in the last 10 years. The millage rate in 1985 was 11 mills.

The city’s property tax digest stands at more than $1 billion. Over the last five years, Hinesville’s property tax digest has grown by more than $437 million, or by 68.5%. The 2019 millage rate was 10.5 mills.

At 10.1 mills, the proposed millage rate is expected to bring in $10.87 million in property taxes.

The first two public hearings are scheduled for today, at 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. in city council chambers. The third hearing will be held at the city council’s November 21 meeting, which begins at 3 p.m.

“After that, we would adopt the millage rate,” Ryon said.

The city’s general fund budget is $29.9 million for fiscal year 2025, and its total budget, including its enterprise funds such as water and sewer, is $54.4 million.