The Board of Supervisors will be holding a public hearing on the proposed 2015 Lincoln County budget, which includes an increased ad valorem tax for the Lincoln County School District.

The proposal calls for increasing the mileage 4.06 mills. The total proposed millage rate would be 105.48 mills, 52.67 mills for Lincoln County and 52.84 mills for the county schools. The ad valorem tax means paying more in taxes on residents’ homes, automobile tags, business fixtures and equipment and rental real property.

Millage is applied to the assessed value of real estate. One mill means you pay one dollar in tax for each  every thousand dollars worth of assessed property. With a 105.48 rate, for every $1,000 you would pay $10.54. So, if a property is assessed at $300,000 the tax would be $3,164. The 4.06 mill increase for someone with an assessed property value of $300,000 would mean paying $121 more in tax in 2015 than in 2014. The new mill rate is a 4 percent increase from 2014.

Lincoln County Administrator David Fields explained that last year the county school district lowered the millage rate because they had money in escrow from the year before. The proposed increase would bring the millage back to the previous mills.

According to the notice of the public hearing published by the county Board of Supervisors, the proposed budget is estimated to bring in $22,490,612 for the county and schools.

Lincoln County Board of Supervisors President Eddie Brown emphasized that the proposed millage increase is being asked for the schools specifically, not for the county.

The budget hearing will be Monday, Sept. 15, at 10 a.m. at the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Government Complex. Citizens are invited to attend and voice any concerns about the proposed ad valorem tax revenue increase in the budget.