Dawsonville officials voted Monday night to uphold one of the entity’s longest-standing traditions — no property tax for city residents.

The city council voted 4-0 on Monday to set the millage rate at 9.058 mills and then to roll the rate back to zero, meaning Dawsonville will not levy any property tax for the next year.

On Tuesday, Mayor Joe Lane Cox said the city “feels like people could not really afford to pay [an increase] now if we had it, and we’re getting by without it.”

“We’re going to try to squeeze through again without it,” he said.

The population of the city is about 2,500. City residents still must pay county property taxes. The county’s millage rate is 22.184 mills, the same as it has been for the last six years.

Governments determine millage rates by calculating the dollar amount needed to fund general operations for the year.

A mill is equal to $1 for each $1,000 in assessed property value. Assessed value is 40 percent of actual market value.

Dawsonville’s last tax increase was more than 30 years ago, according to city council meeting minutes.

Records show there has not been a tax hike for city residents since then, aside from the slight increases property owners have experienced after their property values were reassessed.