School Board, County to reduce millage rates

The Jeff Davis County Board of Education and the Jeff Davis County Board of Commissioners both plan to lower their 2026 millage rates because of the increased countywide tax digest.
According to advertisements published in last week’s and this week’s editions of the Ledger, the school board plans to lower the millage rate from 13.5 mills in 2025 to 12.8160 mills this year, a reduction of 0.684 mills.
The commission plans to lower its millage from 12.1750 last year to 11.561 this year, a reduction of 0.614 mill.
The total millage rate for the schools and county combine will drop 1.298 mills.
The City of Hazlehurst has not yet announced its plans.
The millage rate reductions come after the 2026 net digest value for school purposes increased to $602,973,671 — compared to the 2025 net digest value of $559,105,761 — an increase of almost $44 million.
Similarly, the net digest for county purposes increased to $606,666,208 – compared to the 2025 net digest value of $562,720,054 – also an increase of almost $44 million.
The net effect of the millage rate reduction is still a tax increase but a relatively small one — $179,783 for the school system (2.38%) and $162,551 for county operation (2.37%).
The 2026 property tax digest and 5 year history of both the Board of Education and the County Commission can be found inside this edition of the Ledger.
The Board of Education will meet Monday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. to set its millage rate and the County Commission will meet the same day at 5:30 p.m. to set its millage rate.
The Board meeting will be held at the new board office in the old Jeff Davis Primary School at 71 Burkett’s Ferry Road.
The Commission meeting will be held in the commission’s meeting room at the courthouse.