The Columbia County Board of Commissioners held the first of four public hearings regarding House Bill 581 on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
At the start of the public hearing, Chairman Doug Duncan stated the commission has not decided whether to opt out or not, but state law requires the language in the advertisement for the public hearings stating the county intends to opt out. He added the commission still has questions that need to be answered before a decision can be made.
“I’ve received a few emails from folks that you’re going against the will of the people, and I just want to be real clear on what House Bill 581 says,” Duncan said at the hearing. “Anyone in here who voted for it, and I would be one of them, voted to give all the governing bodies the right to analyze and opt out. That came with a yes vote. The Board of Education, Grovetown, Harlem and the Board of Commissioners will all be hosting these meetings because when it passed, we were given the authority to opt out should it be the best interest of the county. I’ve gotten emails saying we’re eliminating the homestead exemption. That’s not true, it’s another homestead exemption.”
Duncan added that there are a lot of things to consider with whether to opt in or opt out, including the security, safety and quality of life of citizens. There is also a potential increase in cost when it comes to the software to implement the change if the county opts out.
County Manager Scott Johnson said House Bill 581 was passed by the general assembly in April 2024 and signed into law by Gov. Kemp last year. It was on the ballot in November and passed in Georgia with a majority of Columbia County residents voting for it.
“This is a floating statewide exemption that basically limits the annual assessment increases on your homestead property,” Johnson said. “It does not apply to businesses, it does not apply to non-homestead properties, this is for homestead properties only. It does set a lock in at the 2025 assess rate and that lock can, the base year can then only be increased based on the rate of inflation and that’s suggested to be based on CPI. When I say suggested there’s a lot of ambiguity in this law. But suggested to be based on the CPI but set annual by the commissioner of the Department of Revenue. The commissioner of the Department of Revenue will tell us each year how much that can go up.”
Johnson added that House Bill 581 would not affect the millage rate and that while Columbia County has rolled it back in the past years, it could be increased to help offset costs of opting in to House Bill 581. The bill also allows for an option sales tax if commissioners decide to opt in.
“It would have to be on a ballot for the citizens to vote on, so it would be November of this year, you could actually put a sales tax in place to help offset the revenue lost,” Johnson said. “There will be revenue lost with the county as a result of House Bill 581. But the up to 1% sales tax is eligible if you opt in. You can’t opt out and do the sales tax. A lot of people refer to that as the fair tax. So, we would have the opportunity to at least put that on the ballot to put in front of the citizens in November.
It was noted that the citizens could not approve the optional sales tax, so then the county would have to find some other way to make up the money. Johnson added that 100% of the funds from the optional sales tax would go to property tax relief.
District 1 Commissioner Connie Melear asked if they know a dollar value for how much the county could lose if they opt in. Scott said a preliminary estimate and using a CPI of 3% as a baseline, the county estimated losing $4-$5 million in revenue in year one, and that will compound.
District 2 Commissioner Trey Allen said House Bill 581 is “one of the worst written bills” he’s ever seen because of how complex and confusing it is. He also reiterated the county is not taking away the homestead exemption.
“I want to emphasize the board has not made a decision to opt out,” Duncan said. “Matter of fact, I would say we’re tettering on the opposite side of that. But we’re working out how do we do that and protect the county going forward.”
While only three meetings are required by law to discuss the possibility of opting out, the commissioners added a fourth hearing due to the inclement weather on the day of the first hearing.
The rest of the hearings will be held Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. and Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. All will be held in the auditorium at the Evans Government Center Complex located at 630 Ronald Reagan Drive, Building A in Evans. The meetings are also streamed live on the Columbia County YouTube page.
