Your property tax bill is likely going up. Cobb County leaders voted to keep the tax rate the same, but rising home values mean you’ll probably pay more.
💰 Why It Matters: This decision affects your wallet. It also determines funding for essential services like police, fire departments, and road maintenance for the next year.
🗳️ What’s Happening: The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved a $1.3 billion budget for 2026. County officials say this plan includes pay raises of 2% to 5% for county employees.
📈 Between the Lines: Here’s how your taxes go up without a rate change. The county will apply the same 8.46 millage rate to higher property values, which means a larger tax bill for many homeowners. Georgia law requires this to be advertised as a tax increase.
What is the Millage Rate?: The millage rate is your property tax rate. Your city, county, and school system all set a millage rate. That combined number becomes your overall property tax rate. One mill represents $1 of tax on every $1,000 of taxable property.
🏙️ The Big Picture: Cobb County is growing, and fast. This budget reflects the rising costs of providing services to an expanding population. Higher property tax revenue, driven by a hot real estate market, helped the county avoid a projected $7 million deficit, according to officials.
How to Read and Understand the News
Truth doesn’t bend because we dislike it.
Facts don’t vanish when they make us uncomfortable.
Events happen whether we accept them or not.
Good reporting challenges us. The press isn’t choosing sides — it’s relaying what official, verified sources say. Blaming reporters for bad news is like blaming a thermometer for a fever.
Americans have a history of misunderstanding simple things. In the 1980s, A&W rolled out a 1/3-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. It failed because too many people thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If we can botch basic math, we can certainly misread the news.
Before dismissing a story, ask yourself:
- What evidence backs this?
- Am I reacting to facts or feelings?
- What would change my mind?
- Am I just shooting the messenger?
And one more: Am I assuming bias just because I don’t like the story?
Smart news consumers seek truth, not comfort.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
