Wainwright No. 61 - Municipal Mill Rate

The Mill rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property. The mill rate is based on "mills"; as each mill is one-thousandth of a currency unit, one mill is equivalent to one-tenth of a cent or $0.001. Property tax in dollar terms is calculated by multiplying the assessed property value and the mill rate and dividing by 1,000. Mill rate or property assessment changes do not necessarily mean tax increases. As a property may be subject to tax by a number of different authorities, mill rates are set by each taxing authority so as to meet the revenue projections in their budgets.