The tax rate to fund the Rome City Schools next year will likely stay the same, although a slight decrease is still possible, city officials said.

School officials met with the city’s finance committee Tuesday to discuss the funding.

“Preliminarily, we’re about where we need to be with no millage (tax) rate increase, so we hope to maintain or rollback,” said Sheree Shore, finance director for Rome. “We’ve had approximately a 4.18 percent increase in the digest, so we may be able to adjust the millage a hair.”

The city’s funding of the school system’s $42.5 million budget is projected to increase by $637,509 to $16.6 million.

“I’m very impressed. They did a good job budgeting, with most of the increases mandatory,” said City Commissioner Wright Bagby Jr., who sits on the finance committee. “The paybacks for the city are terrific. The test results are excellent, and the areas they need improvement are what they spent the money on. It was tight and well presented.”

Bagby said the budget, along with a final tax digest, will be reviewed and presented to school Superintendent Gayland Cooper before final approval. The city will hold three public hearings next month before final approval.