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.
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Before You Dismiss This Article…
We live in a time when information feels overwhelming, but here’s what hasn’t changed: facts exist whether they comfort us or not.
When A&W launched their third-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder in the 1980s, it failed spectacularly. Not because it tasted worse, but because customers thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If basic math can trip us up, imagine how easily we can misread complex news.
The press isn’t against you when it reports something you don’t want to hear. Reporters are thermometers, not the fever itself. They’re telling you what verified sources are saying, not taking sides. Good reporting should challenge you — that’s literally the job.
Next time a story makes you angry, pause. Ask yourself: What evidence backs this up? Am I reacting with my brain or my gut? What would actually change my mind? And most importantly, am I assuming bias just because the story doesn’t match what I hoped to hear.
Smart readers choose verified information over their own comfort zone.
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.
