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Home baker turns passion into business By SARAH COYNE | sarah@appenmedia.com MILTON, Ga. — hile juggling the busy stay-at-home mom life with her three children, Karen Bates still finds time for her passion, baking. In her kitchen, Bates bakes up a storm, creating delicious art for friends, family and customers. Bates’s micro bakery, Karen B Cakes, sells custom-made cakes, cupcakes and loaves of sourdough. Soon, she will add muffins and macarons to the menu. Although Bates has been baking her whole life, the idea to share her gift with others started when her daughter had her second birthday while they lived abroad in China for her husband’s job. “I was really craving American cake,” she said. She found some ingredients to make the cake, and the rest is history.
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SARAH COYNE/APPEN MEDIA
At left, Karen Bates, owner of Karen B. Cakes, stands in her kitchen next to a custom-made cake she made for her nine-year-old daughter’s birthday.
See BAKER, Page 8
County commissioner blasts proposed property tax hike By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis said he is “vehemently opposed” to increasing the property tax rate above it current 8.87 mills.
The rate has remained flat since 2022. In a 4-3 vote June 18, the Board of Commissioners tentatively adopted a 2025 millage rate of 9.87 mills – a full mill higher. If formally adopted Aug. 6, the levy would represent a tax increase of 12.5 percent over the rollback rate. Georgia law requires that a rollback
millage rate be computed that will produce the same revenue as last year’s rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. Even if commissioners keep the rate flat, property owners will likely still pay more.
Chief wants additional officers in area schools ► PAGE 4
See ELLIS, Page 21
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