The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Board of Education plans to opt out of Georgia House Bill 581, which was approved by the state’s voters in November.
The BOE will hold three public hearings this month before it can hold an official vote. The first one is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14 at the BOE’s office at 735 Athens Road.
In an effort to provide tax relief to Georgians, this bill could lead to major decreases in funding for school districts across the state. For Oglethorpe County schools, it could mean a $2 million budget cut.
“As the school (system) has noted in recent articles in The Echo on HB 581, the effects on the school budget could be damaging to the education of the kids of our county,” commissioner Tracy Norman stated in an email.
HB 581 provides a statewide “floating” homestead exemption that will limit annual assessment increases on a homesteaded property to the rate of inflation.
However, Becky Soto, chair of the Oglethorpe County BOE, said she thinks the law is vague and poorly written. Additionally, she said it benefits Metro Atlanta counties instead of rural counties.
“We believe, and what our attorneys believe, and what has been said to us at trainings that the Board of Education has attended, is that it’s going to end up basically transferring the tax liability from homeowners on those small little plots of land to larger landowners and commercial property,” Soto said.
The base year assessed value for a home will be initially set at the 2024 value of a home and resets whenever a home is sold or receives a substantial property change. A rate of inflation based on the consumer price index is set annually by the Georgia Department of Revenue.
“There are people who would initially benefit from this bill that would see their home value capped and would not see it grow higher than it currently is,” Soto said. “However, what they don’t have in that law is what they will do if they have it set and capped and the economy tanks and home values drop.”
This means a homestead could be taxed at a higher rate than its actual value.
The Oconee County Board of Education and the Clarke County Board of Education have both announced they plan to opt out of HB 581.
The school system is required by the state to offer set salaries and state health costs that have increased exponentially in the last 3-5 years. With a major deficit in the budget, the BOE would potentially have to look at cutting employees and programs.
Of the school system’s budget, 86% is salary, benefits and retirement.
“They’re looking at ways of capping the revenue sources, but they’re not looking and exploring ways to help cap the required expenses coming from the state,” Soto said.
With the state giving counties the option to opt-out, the BOE hopes to make decisions at a local level that best fit the schools and the community.
Soto said a goal for the BOE in 2025 is to propose a local tax relief bill that would protect senior adults.
“In my discussions with members of the BOC, I believe the county should take the same action and seek ways to provide more relief to seniors and long-term residents of the county,” Norman wrote. “Additionally, there is an option for an additional 1 cent sales tax that would be used to reduce the property taxes to all property owners in our county. The BOC and the city councils of Crawford, Lexington, Arnoldsville and Maxeys must all agree and take the same action for this be the path forward in our county.”