Wilco superintendent speaks candidly at millage rate meeting

Attendance was sparse, and roughly a half-dozen people signed up to speak at the first of three public meetings hosted by the Wilkinson County School Board.

The topic was the millage rate, more specifically an increase in the dollar amount that property owners will pay in “school” property taxes this year. The school board, by law, is required to host the three public meetings after previously opting not to approve the “recommended rollback rate,” a formula calculated by the state government.

Although the meeting was sparsely attended, a Facebook video of the entire meeting earlier this week approached 600 views, a relatively hearty number for a county of 8,800 people. David Hadarits, the school board’s new chairman, recorded the video and later uploaded it to his Facebook page.

Superintendent Angela James, on the job for less than a year, was candid when telling the audience that the plan certainly was not to “horde a pile of money so we can blow it on furniture, or blow it on whatever.” 

“To take the abuse that we’ve taken (in comments on Facebook) is not right, and it’s hurtful, because I’ve lived and worked in this community my whole life,” she said. “I love this community, and my heart is this community.”

Instead, James and the WCSD’s finance team spent the first half of the meeting going over specific aspects of the budget.

“Core economic inflation places significant pressure on the district,” said James, then rattling off examples such as “transportation, maintenance, utility costs and employee health benefits and insurance.”

There’s also the issue of unfunded mandates from the state, including computer science initiatives, counseling services and safety upgrades, according to the superintendent.

The WCSD also is anticipating a decrease in funding from the government for the 2026 fiscal year, due to the fact that the district’s enrollment continues to shrink. Overall student enrollment has been cut almost in half during the last three decades. In October 1994, for example, the Georgia Department of Education’s FTE “headcount” for the WCSD was 1,993 students. Fast forward to October 2024, and that number was 1,036 students. Back in the 1990s, there were always closer to 450-500 students at Wilkinson County Middle School. Now, it’s less than 250.

The WCSD’s presentation at the recent public meeting included a “talking point” on the subject of enrollment.

“Many assume that fewer students should mean lower taxes. However, costs like building maintenance, transportation, health insurance and teacher pensions remain the same, regardless of student population,” according to the presentation.

Also during the presentation, administrators crunched some numbers. The school board is expected to adopt a millage rate of 18.75, which is a decrease of .931 mills from its most recent millage rate of 19.681. Based on this, the owner of a property valued by the Tax Assessor’s Office at $150,000 (including the homestead exemption) will pay $1,106 in “school taxes” this year, which compares to the recommended rollback rate of $1,014.”

“This is actually the lowest that the millage rate has been since 2005,” said James.

Moving forward, the school board’s second and third public meetings are both scheduled for Feb. 10. The first will take place at the middle school/high school auditorium at 10 a.m., while the second meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the central office.