The Roundabout — Milton, GA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2026 · Issue No. 48 · 5 min read

Milton 30, North Cobb 29

Plus: your school tax bill just moved, the Chang vote is Monday night, and Milton opens the trails fight Thursday.

Top of Mind

Milton 30, North Cobb 29. The Eagles opened at home Friday night and kept it by a single point. We told you Tuesday to circle it. If you went, you got your money's worth.

Cambridge had a harder start, losing its opener to Brookwood 52 to 7 the week before, though Brookwood does that to people. The Bears got a better Saturday: softball won 3 to 1 at Mill Creek.

Ahead this week, Milton travels to Blessed Trinity on Friday and Cambridge hosts Woodstock the same night. The two schools meet Tuesday in softball at Milton, which is the warm-up. The real one is September 4, Cambridge at Milton under the lights, the date you voted onto our calendar.

Every game, both schools, updated the night it finishes: our sports page.

Source: MaxPreps

Your School Tax Bill

We said Thursday that this issue would carry the result, so here it is: the Fulton County school board gave tentative approval to a one mill increase. The rate goes from 17.08 to 18.08, about 5.85 percent, and it is the first increase the district has proposed in seven years. On a median Milton home that is roughly $200 a year, using the math we ran in issue 44.

Tentative is the operative word. Three public hearings must happen before the board takes final action, and the district has not posted those dates. We will print them the moment it does, because the hearings are the only part of this where a resident gets a microphone. (Zones, scores and boundaries for every Milton school live in our schools guide.)

We also asked you to sit in the board's chair, and eighteen of you did. Thirteen said don't raise it, three said it depends on the hearings, two said raise it. The board has not taken its final vote either.

Source: Fulton County Schools Board Bulletin

Council Watch

The Chang vote is Monday night. The council meets in special session Monday, August 24 at 6 p.m. at City Hall to vote on the $10 million settlement that would end the nine-year case. Milton's share is $3.33 million from fund balance; GIRMA, the city's insurance pool, covers the other $6.67 million. The city puts the exposure it faced at roughly $44.09 million, verdict plus accrued interest, and the agreement carries no admission of wrongdoing by anyone.

We published the full story Friday, including Mayor Jamison's statement to us and why an insurance pool would pay several times its own coverage limit. Read it here. The meeting is open to the public, and we will be there.

The Trails Question

Milton opens a public conversation about trails Thursday, and how the city wrote the invitation tells you as much as the invitation does. The Trails Advisory Committee meets August 27 at 4:45 p.m. in Council Chambers, with most of the meeting given to listening rather than presenting.

The city says it has received "considerable public input about trails from people representing a wide range of viewpoints." Thursday is "the first of many" sessions. Comments may be time-limited depending on turnout. It is explicitly not a question-and-answer period and not a debate, and nothing gets decided that night. That is how a city writes about a subject it knows is contested. Whatever side you are on, and there are more than two, Thursday is where it starts. Open to the public and livestreamed, and it is on our calendar.

Source: City of Milton

Building Milton

We mentioned Thursday that the Equestrian Committee was briefed on April's AG-1 code changes. Here is what those changes actually say, because they have not been laid out plainly anywhere and AG-1 is not niche. It is the one-acre-and-up zoning covering most of the land in Milton, and it is the rule set behind nearly every listing in our homes directory.

Lot coverage is now capped at 20 percent for parcels touching a public right-of-way, and 25 percent for parcels of three acres or more. "Impervious cover" finally has a single definition in city code, which is the thing that decides whether your gravel drive counts against you. Any new minor plat must leave a 20-foot natural area along the road, the rule most responsible for a road still looking rural after something gets built on it. Build close to the limits and you now trigger a foundation survey mid-build and an as-built survey before a certificate of occupancy.

The council also lifted the moratorium on certain AG-1 subdivision applications, and deferred several other proposals for more study rather than rejecting them, so this is not finished. The surveys the city mailed to horse farm and large-lot households are the open channel on what comes next.

Source: City of Milton

The Roundtable

  • →The city handed out Core Value Awards last Friday at Milton City Park and Preserve to a dozen employees across departments, recognizing teamwork, leadership, service, ownership, and commitment to rural heritage. Per the city's announcement.

Calendar

Every meeting below is at City Hall and open to the public.

This Week in Milton

Now put the fall on your calendar. Last Splash Puppy Bash September 9, Touch a Truck September 12, Milton Restaurant Week September 14 to 20, Crabapple Fest October 3, and Carvin' in Crabapple October 24. Those are the ones that fill up.

See the full Milton calendar → · Got an event? Send it to us and we will run it.

One More Thing

If you have a kid between 5 and 12 who performs in your kitchen whether or not anyone asked, the city's youth theatre season is open for registration. Two productions run Wednesdays at Community Place from August 26 through November 11: K-Pop Demon Hunters at 5:30 and Wicked at 6:30. Non-competitive, ends in a performance. Register under Youth Programs on the Parks and Rec page. First meeting is Wednesday, so it is a this-week decision. More for the kids on our things-to-do page.

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