ATLANTA – Georgia cities, counties and school districts are scrambling to meet a March 1 deadline for deciding whether to opt out of offering a property tax break the state’s voters approved last fall in a constitutional amendment.
But legislation pending in the Georgia House of Representatives would extend that deadline by four years.
The constitutional amendment, which Georgians ratified with 63% of the vote, prohibits local governments from raising residential property assessments in a given year by more than the annual rate of inflation, even if a home’s market value has gone up more.
Last year’s legislation gave cities, counties and school districts until March 1 to opt out of the measure. To do so, they must file an opt-out resolution with the Georgia secretary of state’s office and hold at least three public hearings.
House Bill 92, which cleared the House Ways and Means Committee nearly two weeks ago, would extend that deadline to March 31, 2029.
Those additional four years could slow what has been a rush by local governments – particularly school districts – to opt out of the tax break in order to protect a key revenue source funding their operations, committee Chairman Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, the bill’s chief sponsor, told committee members before the Feb. 5 vote advancing the measure.
“Many of the conversations that I have had with local governments have indicated that if there was some sort of test period or trial period … they might be more inclined to try this out,” he said.
But Clint Mueller, executive director of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said no trial period is going to sway a local government that has initially opted to offer the tax break to later opt out because to do so would in effect be lifting a cap on homeowners’ tax liability.
“Can you imagine the political fallout of opting out if you’ve already given something?” he said. “That would be political suicide.”
Mueller said local governments’ fears of a looming property tax relief measure depleting their coffers are overblown.
“They can still make up lost revenues through the millage setting process,” he said. “This whole the-sky-is-falling mentality doesn’t wash.”
Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedartown, a cosponsor of House Bill 92, called it the most “taxpayer-friendly” legislation he has seen in the last two years.
“I don’t understand how any elected official in the state of Georgia who care about taxpayers could opt out of this legislation,” he said.
The bill now heads to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.