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ZEBULON - The Board of Education and Board of Commissioners will be holding hearings on raising the millage rate during the month of August. Citizens are encouraged to ask questions and voice their opinions to their representatives about this process for both entities.

Board of Education (School) Meetings and FY26 Millage Hearings

Due to requirements for setting our FY26 Millage Rate, our scheduled August board meetings will be moved from Tuesday, August 12, 2025, to Wednesday, August 20, 2025. What is usually our Work Session (the 5:00 p.m. meeting) will now be one of the required millage hearings, and the Regular Meeting (at 6:00 p.m.) will serve as both our regular meeting and the millage adoption.

Here’s a complete list of the millage hearings and August board meetings:

Millage Hearing #1: Wednesday 8/13/25 – 12:00 p.m.
Millage Hearing #2: Wednesday 8/13/25 – 6:00 p.m.
Millage Hearing #3: Wednesday 8/20/25 – 5:00 p.m.
Regular Meeting & Millage Adoption: Wednesday 8/20/25 – 6:00 p.m.

All meetings will be held in the Pike County Schools Auditorium located at 7362 Hwy. 19 South in Zebulon. The public is invited to attend these meetings.

Explanation of the changes is as follows: The August board meetings have been moved from Tuesday 8/12/25 to Wednesday 8/20/25. There will be two additional millage hearings on Wednesday 8/13/25.

The Board of Education has its maintenance and operations budget online at https://build.pike.k12.ga.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FY26-Approved-Budget-.pdf.

More information about the school's finances can be found at https://build.pike.k12.ga.us/finance/. Documents and links are at the bottom of the page.

Board of Commissioners (County) FY26 Millage Hearings

The Pike County Board of Commissioners today announces its intentions to increase the 2025 property taxes it will levy this year by 23.70 percent over the rollback millage rate.

Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the county. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and adjust the assessment. This is called a reassessment.

When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires a rollback millage rate be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessment occurred.

The budget tentatively adopted by the Pike County Board of Commissioners requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, before the Pike County Board of Commissions may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Pike County Courthouse, 16001 Barnesville St, Zebulon, GA, on August 13, 2025 at 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM and on August 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM.

All meetings will be held in the Main Courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse (up the stairs or by elevator) located at 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, in Zebulon. The public is invited to attend these meetings.

The Pike County Board of Commissioners has its approved annual budget online at https://www.pikecoga.com/uploads/1/3/3/6/133643513/final_adopted_06112025_--_2025-2026_approved_budget.pdf.

More information about the county's finances can be found at https://www.pikecoga.com/resources.html.

Closing

Pike County Times will try to broadcast some of these meetings by Facebook Live but will not be able to cover everything. (The sound is NOT fantastic even with wireless mics.)

It is STRONGLY recommended that citizens voice their opinions on these matters to the Board of Education and the Pike County Board of Commissioners by contacting your representatives, sending letters and emails, and showing up at meetings.

Information for the Pike County Board of Education can be found here: https://build.pike.k12.ga.us/board-members/.

Information for the Pike County Board of Commissioners can be found here: https://www.pikecoga.com/board-of-commissioners.html.

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