Starting October 1, 2026, every taxable purchase in Jenkins County carries one extra cent per dollar. Under Georgia's FLOST law, the property tax relief that penny pays for gets figured from money already collected in a prior year, so the savings should arrive on a later tax bill than the one you might expect. When the savings do arrive, they come through the millage rate, which means they reach more than just homeowners.
That timing matters most if you're writing an offer in Millen this fall. The annual property tax figure on a listing sheet comes from bills set before FLOST money existed. The statute delivers the relief by lowering a rate that applies to land, rentals and commercial parcels as well as homes. Below is how the mechanism actually runs.
What Changed On October 1
The Jenkins County Times reported that the countywide rate rose to 9 percent on Thursday, Oct. 1, and called FLOST "a measure designed to provide property tax relief by shifting a portion of local government revenue collections to sales taxes." Millen City Administrator Jeff Brantley gave residents notice at the June 2026 City Council meeting. The Jenkins County Times quoted him saying, "Countywide sales tax will increase to 9% following the FLOST referendum."
Voters passed it 796 to 371 in May, according to The Millen News. Before the referendum, the Jenkins County Board of Commissioners approved an 80 percent county, 20 percent City of Millen split of the proceeds and put the question on the May 19, 2026 ballot, as reported by Citizen Portal.
That split only covers two governments, Jenkins County and the City of Millen. Keep that in mind for later sections.
The Law Pays Relief Out Of Last Year's Money
FLOST comes from House Bill 581. The statute text is short on the question of how the money comes back to property owners:
"The roll-back rate for the political subdivision... shall be reduced annually by the millage equivalent of the net proceeds of the tax authorized under this article, which proceeds were received by the political subdivision during the prior taxable year."
The phrase that matters most is "prior taxable year." A government can't cut this year's millage with money it hasn't collected yet. Collection here began in October 2026, so the first FLOST dollars land in the county's and city's 2026 books. Read plainly, the statute says those dollars lower the rollback rate in the following year. We expect the first FLOST-driven reduction to show up on 2027 property tax bills. That's our reading of the statute and the start date. As of this writing, we haven't found a county or city official who has publicly confirmed the schedule.
Here is the sequence as the law lays it out:
| Step | What happens | Status as of Oct. 12, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Referendum | Voters approve FLOST, 796 to 371 | Done, May 2026 |
| Collection begins | Penny added to taxable sales | Done, Oct. 1, 2026 |
| Proceeds received | County gets 80%, Millen gets 20% | Underway for 2026 |
| Rollback rate reduced | Millage equivalent of prior-year proceeds is subtracted | Expected in the 2027 tax year, per the statute's timing |
| Bill shows savings | Each bill states the dollar reduction | Applies once a reduction takes effect |
There's an enforcement hook as well. If a government doesn't use the proceeds as required, the state revenue commissioner "shall not certify the tax digest" for that government until it complies. The law also says the money must be used "exclusively for tax relief."
Why The Relief Reaches More Than Homesteads
The Jenkins County Times described FLOST as tied to legislation "intended to provide property tax relief for eligible Georgia homeowners." HB 581 has two parts that touch property taxes, and they reach different properties.
The first part is the floating homestead exemption. It limits assessed-value increases on a qualifying owner-occupied home. A 2025 follow-up, HB 92, narrowed that exemption to the primary residence and qualifying surrounding land, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue's 2025 legislative summary. That exemption is a homeowner benefit, full stop.
The second part is FLOST, and it works differently. It lowers the millage rate itself, and the statute requires that "each taxpayer's ad valorem tax bill shall clearly state the dollar amount by which the property tax has been reduced." A lower county or city millage rate applies to every parcel taxed at that rate. That includes the hunting tract off a county road, the rental house in town and the commercial building downtown.
The homestead exemption does matter to FLOST in one way, as a gate. Before calling the referendum, the county and the cities that levy property taxes had to have a base-year or adjusted base-year homestead exemption in effect. No proceeds go to a government that doesn't. Since Jenkins County went ahead with the vote, it apparently met that requirement. The public records we reviewed don't say which specific exemption the county and city relied on to qualify.
A homesteaded house gets both protections. A rental or a timber tract gets only the millage cut, but it does get the millage cut.
Groceries And Gas Carry The Penny Too
What the penny applies to affects who funds the relief. The statute applies FLOST to food and food ingredients and to motor fuel. For fuel, the tax only covers the retail price up to $3.00 per gallon.
So a household that rents in Millen pays the penny at the grocery store starting this month, and it gets no property tax bill to show the savings. Some of that relief reaches renters only if a property owner's lower bill gets passed along in rent, and nothing in the law requires that. Anyone who buys gas or groceries in the county also pays the penny, including people driving through. We haven't found any estimate of how much Jenkins County sales tax comes from people who live outside the county.
School Taxes Run On A Separate Track
The 80/20 split goes to Jenkins County and the City of Millen. The Jenkins County Board of Education isn't part of it, so the school line on a property tax bill falls outside FLOST.
The schools are holding down their own rate through a different process. The Jenkins County Times reported that at its Sept. 14 meeting, the board tentatively set the Fiscal Year 2027 school millage at 12.888 mills, which is the full rollback rate. It was the second year in a row the board chose the full rollback, even though the county's net tax digest grew by about $7.8 million this year. Formal adoption was scheduled for a called meeting on Sept. 25.
On the county side, The Millen News reported in late September that commissioners proposed a budget with a millage rollback and no tax increase, with adoption scheduled for Oct. 7. That rollback comes from the normal digest process. FLOST money can't have played a part yet, because collections had barely started.
Put together, the 2026 numbers reflect ordinary rollback decisions. The FLOST reduction should be added on top, starting with the next cycle.
What This Means When You Read A Millen Listing
These questions keep coming up in our office, so here's how the mechanism plays out in a deal:
- The tax figure on a listing is a past number. It comes from bills set before any FLOST proceeds existed. For a buyer estimating long-term carrying costs, the county and city portions should trend lower once the reduction takes effect. Nobody has published a dollar estimate for Jenkins County, so treat any specific savings figure you hear as a guess.
- The dollar line on the bill is something to look for. Once a reduction takes effect, the statute requires each bill to show it. Asking a seller for recent bills will show whether that line has appeared yet.
- Homestead status affects things differently. A buyer planning to live in the home may qualify for the homestead exemption on top of the millage cut. A buyer purchasing a rental or acreage gets the millage cut only. How either applies to a specific property is a question for the Jenkins County tax assessor or a tax professional, not a listing sheet.
- The school portion moves separately. It follows the Board of Education's millage decisions, not FLOST.
A Few Questions We're Hearing
Is the 2027 date official? No. It's what the statute's "prior taxable year" language points to, given that collections started in October 2026. We haven't found a public statement from county or city officials confirming it. The Jenkins County Times has said it will keep reporting on how FLOST affects local property taxes.
How big will the reduction be? No one has published a revenue projection for Jenkins County that we could find. The size of the cut depends on how much the penny actually brings in, and that figure won't exist until the money is collected.
Does the City of Millen's share work the same way? Yes. The same statute governs the city's 20 percent. Its proceeds have to go to tax relief and reduce the city's rollback rate the same way.
If you're weighing a Millen home, a rental or a piece of land and want to see how the property tax numbers stack up before and after FLOST, the team at Southland Realty & Properties will go through the recent bills with you in our downtown Millen office. Search listings or ask for a free home valuation, and we'll show you which parts of the tax bill FLOST can change.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
