Friday, January 17, 2025–9:00 a.m.
-John Bailey, Rome News-Tribune-
This story is possible because of a news-sharing agreement with the Rome News-Tribune. More information can be found at northwestgeorgianews.com
There’s a lot of confusion about what House Bill 581 is and what it isn’t and that’s understandable. It’s complicated.
What does it actually do?
A lot, actually. The bill, championed by our state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, is multifaceted and complicated but here’s the gist. HB 581 mandates that each county enact what amounts to a tax cut for primary residences, called the homestead exemption.
Not to muddy things, but there are several things homestead exemptions can do but we’ll stick to the basics. Again, it’s complicated.
Homestead exemptions reduce the amount homeowners pay in property taxes on their primary residences. If you have two homes or multiple properties, you only get that exemption on the one you live in.
One of the things HB 581 does is it mandates the homestead exemption in Georgia include school taxes.
The existing homestead exemption in Rome and Floyd County is already greater than the one mandated by the state legislature, but the school systems were not been included. That means you didn’t get the benefit of the homestead exemption when it came to property taxes that pay for the schools.
Another thing HB 581 allows is a local vote to add a penny to the sales tax in a county to defray property tax revenues. What that means is that if voters choose to add that penny to the sales tax, then we all pay less property taxes.
When does that vote happen? Probably this fall, but a date hasn’t been set yet.
What may change
Now, if the Floyd County Board of Education opts out of HB 581, things stay the same. County homeowners won’t get the benefit of the homestead exemption when paying school taxes, but they don’t at this point anyway.
If the Floyd BOE does nothing, then county taxpayers will get the homestead exemption on their primary residence. That will cause revenue to the county schools to drop, to a degree. The Floyd County Board of Education can remedy that, if they need to, by raising the tax (millage) rate.
Here’s the primer on how that’s done: Your property tax bill is 40% of the assessed value of your property, multiplied by the millage rate minus any exemptions (like homestead).
Here’s the thing. If the Floyd BOE raises their millage rate, those people with a homestead exemption will likely still pay less property taxes. Businesses and folks who own more than one property will likely pay more because they don’t benefit from homestead.
The thing with revenue and tax cuts is this: When there are cuts, that revenue will be found somewhere else. That’s why SPLOST-style measures were enacted. They allow municipalities to pay for specifically designated projects without raising the millage rate.