Residential property taxes in Georgia can be confusing. So, apparently, can property tax relief.
That was again made clear during the Bryan County Commission’s January meeting, as commissioners approved a resolution “to not opt out,” of a statewide floating homestead exemption known as HB 581.
The commissioners’ unanimous approval of such a resolution followed decisions by city councils in Pembroke and Richmond Hill to do exactly the same thing, only, in Richmond Hill’s case at least, it didn’t include a formal vote but merely a brief discussion on the city’s intention to “opt in” to HB 581.
Regardless of language, HB 581 essentially seeks to limit “annual increases in assessed values for residential properties to the inflationary rate, providing critical protection for homeowners from unpredictable property tax increases,” the county’s resolution states.
Shortly after commissioners adopted the resolution at their Jan. 14 meeting, District 5 Commissioner Dr. Gene Wallace, the commission’s new vice chairman, said HB 581’s passage in November represented a mandate from voters to provide property tax relief.
“(HB 581) passed with 66 percent of the vote, and in today’s political landscape where a landslide is winning by 51 percent, that is a mandate,” he said.
But HB 581 also provides cities and counties that opt in to the floating homestead exemption a way to make up for revenue they may lose – though only if local voters say yes.
That option, a floating local option sales tax, or FLOST, is a penny sales tax available only if all the municipalities in a county, and the county itself, decide to opt in to HB 581, as has happened in Bryan County.
The FLOST then must be put before voters to decide in a referendum, according to both the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.
But the option of a FLOST isn’t available to school boards, one likely reason many around the state, including the one in Bryan County, are reportedly opting out.
Though local governments have until March 1 to decide, the Bryan County Board of Education in January began advertising its intention to opt out, a measure which requires three public hearings before a vote is taken and, once taken, is permanent. There is no opting back in, officials say.
The last of the BOE’s three hearings was moved back due to the weather and is now set for 9 a.m. Feb. 6 at the BOE’s central office in Black Creek. Among the reasons the BOE is saying it will opt out is a loss of revenue, which would result in a shortage of teachers at a time when the fast-growing system needs more, not less. Another is that because HB 581 is permanent, it will impact “future school boards, staff, students and the community,” according to the Bryan County Schools webpage.
The BOE says had HB 581 been in effect in 2024 the system would have lost over $3.5 million in revenue, a shortfall which would’ve meant the system would’ve lost funding for 35 teachers at a time when the schools need more teachers, not less. That’s because the BOE says it costs approximately $100,000 in salary and benefits per teacher.
In addition, Bryan County’s school system has been one of the fastest growing in the state for decades, and under school funding guidelines the district generally doesn’t get additional state funding for additional students until after they arrive, sometimes that funding is up to 12 months later.
The BOE also said HB 581 over time could “lead to larger class sizes, deteriorating facilities, fewer safety personnel and resources and a decline in overall educational resources,” again according to the system’s web page, which also notes “while (Bill 581) aims to ease the tax burden on homeowners, Bryan County Schools would be forced to explore alternative funding strategies, such as increased millage rates, to address any shortfall in revenue if electing not to opt out.”
The school system’s current millage rate is 15.075, though there’s also a 1.5 mills going to pay off a $100 million in bonds for school construction that was approved IN 2017 by voters as part of a referendum on renewing ESPLOST. State law caps school board millage rates at 20 mills.
By contrast, Richmond Hill’s millage rate is 4.132, the county’s is 6.655 and Pembroke’s is 10 mills.