Statesboro's mayor and council are proposing an increase in the city's property tax rate stated as producing an almost 34% tax increase, with three public hearings to be held Sept. 8 and Sept. 15. City Manager Charles Penny says the increase is needed to fund the Statesboro Fire Department after the loss of other sources. All three hearings will be held in the council chambers at City Hall. The first two are scheduled for noon and 6 p.m. on Sept. 8. The last hearing is set for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 15, also the start time of the regular meeting at which council can act to set the millage rate. In the city government's explanations, the main reason for the tax increase was last year's split with the county over funding the fire service. Since July 1, 2025, the county government has used the revenue from its own fire service property tax exclusively to fund the Bulloch County Fire Department, expanded to serve the entire county outside Statesboro. So the county no longer pays a share to the city, whose SFD previously provided primary response into the unincorporated area for five miles from the two long-established Statesboro fire stations. "All of that is because of the cost of fire. …," Penny said in a phone interview Monday. "We added no new employees (in any department), and the cost of the fire (service) was almost $3 million." As shown in Penny's budget presentation in May, the loss of the rural fire tax district funding alone was estimated at $2,755,000.…
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