Finance Department

Bulloch County Schools' Finance Department is managed by the district's chief financial officer. The department manages all aspects of the school district's financial operations that include the following: financial management and efficiency, budgets for all funds, state audits, tax levies and public hearings, employee payroll and pay scales, vendor services and procurement, and capital projects and education special purpose local option sales tax reports and audits.

2024 Tax Digest & Five-Year History of Tax Levy

Fiscal Year 2025 Budget

Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

The Bulloch County Board of Education approved its Fiscal Year 2024 Budget on Thursday, June 8, 2023 during its regular session. The budget, which is linked above, is comprised of five funds: General Fund, Special Revenue Fund, School Nutrition Fund, Capital Projects Fund, and Debt Service Fund.

Previous Fiscal Year Budget

Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

Financial Efficiency

Efficiency Rating

Efficiency Rating

Visit the Governor's Office of Student Achievement's Financial Efficiency Ratings dashboard for the most recently reported rates for our district and each of our schools.

Ratings are reported on a scale of one to five stars. A five-star district can be described as having strong academic outcomes and lower levels of expenditures (proportionate to the district’s size) in comparison with other districts.

Centralized Financial Information

Centralized Website

Centralized Website

Centralized website for the aggregation and publication of financial information for school districts and schools.

House Bill 139 requires the aggregation and publication of a variety of financial information for all school districts, such as revenue and expenditure data, capital construction costs, recent audits, and similar reports. All of information on this site consists of data and other information which the Georgia Department of Education already collects and in most cases published in some existing form, or which is collected and published by another department within state government such as the Department of Audits and Accounts. The website linked above is the required centralization of this information into a single web site.

Millage Rate

What is a millage rate?

The millage rate, made up of mills, is a tax rate. It is multiplied against the assessed value of taxable property in an area to calculate the amount of property tax to be paid.
Georgia law (OCGA 20-2-165) requires school systems to maintain a minimum equivalent millage rate of 14 mills of maintenance & operations property tax or otherwise lose Equalization Funding which is part of the state funding formula for school systems.
The proposed millage rate of 8.478, which is a 1.174 mill increase over the rollback rate (7.304 mills), will increase school maintenance and operations property taxes on a homestead property with a fair market value of $225,000 by approximately $103.31 and on a non-homestead property with a fair market value of $200,000 by approximately $93.92.
Updated 2023 Millage Rate Presentation
Updated Five-Year History of Levy
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Notice of Property Tax Increase

Board of Education Delays Millage Rate Vote; Schedules second series of public hearings

All concerned citizens were invited to a series of six public hearings on this tax increase:

Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 12:00 noon
Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.
Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
Friday, September 8, 2023 at 12 noon - Board of Education's Called Session to vote on the 2023 Millage Rate

The Board originally announced on July 21, its intention to increase the 2023 property taxes it would levy by 16.07 percent over the rollback millage rate of 7.304 mills. It then tentatively adopted a millage rate of 8.478 mills at its July 27 work session, an increase of 1.174 mills over its previous rate of 8.263 mills. This was followed by three original public hearings on August 10 and 17.

The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $225,000 is approximately $103.31 and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $200,000 is approximately $93.92.

Public Notice of Tax Increase
Each year, the Bulloch County Board of Assessors is required to review the assessed value of 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 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 to 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 reassessments occurred.

In accordance with Georgia Code 20-2-165, boards of education must maintain an equivalent millage rate of at least 14 mills to prevent a loss of their state equalization grant funding. Currently, Bulloch County Schools’ state equalization grant funding totals more than $7.4 million. Due to the reassessment of property values in Bulloch County, the rollback millage rate required by Georgia law would cause Bulloch County Schools’ equivalent millage rate to fall below 14 mills, thus causing loss of the school district’s equalization funding. Therefore, the Bulloch County Board of Education intends to adopt an equivalent millage that is at least 14 mills and secure the school district’s equalization funding.

The 14-mill calculation requirement is composed of the property tax millage rate that the board must adopt annually along with the equivalent mills produced by the Local Option Sales Tax that the school district collects for maintenance and operations purposes. Based upon the value of the 2023 tax digest, per the Bulloch County Board of Assessors’ reassessment, a complete rollback of the district’s millage rate would be 7.304 mills, which when combined with the imputed value of Local Option Sales Tax collections of 5.522 mills, equates to only 12.826 mills, which is below the legal threshold.

In order to maintain the minimum 14 mills of property tax required under Georgia Code 20-2-165, the superintendent is proposing that the Bulloch County Board of Education adopt a property tax millage rate of 8.478 mills, bringing the total effective millage rate to 14.000 mills. Due to the nature of the millage rate rollback process, this action will effectively constitute an increase in property taxes.

Sales tax is a portion of millage rate

Bulloch County is one of seven counties in Georgia whose county commission gives all or a portion of the local option sales tax revenue to the school district.
Bulloch County Schools receives all of Bulloch County's sales tax and it satisfies a portion of the state's required 14 mills of tax.
The state required 14-mill millage rate less the imputed value of the local option sales tax millage rate equals the school district’s maintenance and operations property tax millage rate.
For 2023, the imputed local option sales tax millage rate is 5.522 mills as determined from 2022 revenues. 14 mills less 5.522 mills = 8.478 mills. This remaining 8.478 mills is the maintenance and operations millage rate for Bulloch County Schools for 2023.

Public Notice of Tax Increase for 2024

The Bulloch County Board of Education has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 4.95 percent.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Bulloch County Board of Education at the following dates and times:

Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 9:00 a.m.
Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.
Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 6:00 p.m.

This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 7.932 mills, an increase of .374 mills. Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 7.558 mills. The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $250,000 is approximately $36.65 and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $250,000 is approximately $37.40.

Millage Rate History

Fiscal Year 2025 (Tentative) 7.932 (partial rollback)
Fiscal Year 2024 8.478 (rate increase)
Fiscal Year 2023 8.263 (partial rollback)
Fiscal Year 2022 8.568 (full rollback of rate)
Fiscal Year 2021 8.918 (full rollback)
Fiscal Year 2020 9.038 (full rollback)
Fiscal Year 2019 9.427 (full rollback)
Fiscal Year 2018 9.685 (full rollback)
Fiscal Year 2017 9.804 (full rollback)
Fiscal Year 2016 9.848 (no change)
Fiscal Year 2015 9.848 (full rollback)
Fiscal Year 2014 9.950 (no change)

Audit Reports

Audit History

Bulloch County Schools plans strategically in order to best optimize the use of school district resources. The school district is transparent about how its local, state, and federal funds are spent.

The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts is an independent state agency that exists to provide independent, credible audit services promoting improvement in government. These are reports from their annual reviews of the Bulloch County Board of Education's financial stewardship.

Five-Year Audit History

Schedule of Approved Local Option Sales Tax Projects

Compliance & Performance Review of Special Local Option Sales Tax

Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST)

Referrendums
E-SPLOST Audit Reports

Referrendums

Since 2003, the Board of Education has leveraged Bulloch County’s growth as a regional retail sales and tourism hub to fund capital improvement needs for local public schools. This is done by requesting that an Education Special Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST) referendum be placed on an election ballot for voters. This practice reduces the extent of property taxes or future millage rate increases. E-SPLOSTs also allow the tax burden to be shared more fairly among property and non-property owners.

E-SPLOST Audit Reports

Fiscal Year 2023 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2022 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2021 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2020 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2019 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2018 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2017 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2016 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2015 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2014 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2013 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2012 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2011 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2010 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2009 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2008 Audit Report
Fiscal Years '05, FY '06, FY '07 Audit Reports

Payroll & Pay Scales

Employee Pay Scales
Pay Scales for Substitutes

Employee Pay Scales

Pay Scales for Substitutes

Substitute Salary Scales
- Teachers (with teaching certification) = $145 per day
- Teachers (no teaching certification) = $135 per day
- Long Term Substitute Teacher = $180 per day
  - What is a Long Term Substitute Teacher? A long term substitute teacher is one who is substituting for 10 or more consecutive days for the same classroom teacher. (Extended rate starts on the 10th day) If a substitute subs for a portion of a day, the salary will be prorated accordingly. For example, if a substitute works for four (4) hours, they will be paid ½ (half) of the daily rate.
  - Paraprofessional sub = $105 per day
  - Clerical Sub = $105 per day
  - Custodian Sub = $105 per day
  - Bus Driver Sub = $90 per day
  - Bus Monitor Sub = $65 per day
  - Registered Nurse Sub = $24.38 per hour
  - Licensed Practical Nurse Sub= $18.13 per hour
  - School Food Service Sub = $13.13 per hour

Finance Department News

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Excellence in Financial Reporting

The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts has honored the Bulloch County Board of Education multiple times with the Award of Distinction for Excellent Financial Reporting for the district’s annual fiscal year financial audits.The award is presented annually to qualifying public school systems and two-year and four-year colleges and universities in Georgia, who strive not just for best financial practices but better. Annually fewer than 35 school systems receive the award out of the state’s 181 public school districts, so this is strong evidence of the school district's commitment to accountability and transparency.

This award was created in 2014 to recognize excellence in financial reporting and controls. It encourages governmental organizations to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles and recognizes individual organizations that are successful in achieving this goal.

To receive the award, organizations must meet the following criteria:

Provide full supporting documentation to substantiate financial statements;
Provide financial statements in a timely manner;
Ensure all evidence is easy to locate and use for audit;
Have responsive managers that resolve all accounting standards and presentation issues in a timely manner;
Have key staff readily available and cooperative during the audit and not delay finalizing the audit;
Have no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses noted during the audit.
Must have no more than three to five control deficiencies reported within the management letter;
Have a clear, unmodified audit opinion; and
Comply with all Transparency in Government requirements.

Contact Us

Bulloch County Schools

Finance Department

150 Williams Road, Suite A

Statesboro, GA 30458

912.212.8546

912.212.8549 (Fax)

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