The Oconee County Board of Education was following the procedures set out in law when it announced on Jan. 2 that it intended to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption, Board Member Ryan Hammock said on Monday evening.
“In reality, what we are doing is trying to make a decision on do we want to opt out or not,” Hammock said.
Hammock said the three hearings the Board scheduled on its stated intent to opt out are part of the process required by law.
The final hearing will be at 4 p.m. on Feb. 3 at the Instructional Support Center, 71 North Main Street, Watkinsville,
After that hearing, Hammock said, the Board will have to consider “whether its in the best interest to opt out or to do nothing and remain in the legislation.”
Hammock made his comments to the Oconee County Republican Party meeting on Monday at the invitation of Party Chair Kathy Hurley, who said she asked Hammock to provide a briefing on the decision before the Board.
The featured speaker of the evening was Phil Kent, CEO of Insider Advantage/James Magazine, who gave the group an overview of the issues he feels are going to be prominent in the General Assembly deliberations underway.
Kent also offered his commentary on the 2026 Georgia elections, saying Democrats “really do not have a good gubernatorial candidate” for that race and that he thinks incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff “can be beaten.”
Hammock’s Overview
Voters in Oconee County and statewide passed an Amendment to the State Constitution in November to allows for the initiation of a floating homestead exemption enacted by House Bill 581, which had been approved by the legislature in anticipation of a positive outcome on the Amendment vote.
Hammock 1/27/2025 |
The language that the Board used in its notice on Jan. 2 stating that it intends to opt out of the floating exemption was what was required by House Bill 581, Hammock said.
Under the law, any increase in assessed value of property over the inflation rate will become exempted from property taxes if the property is a homestead, provided no improvements have been made to the property.
Hammock emphasized that the Board’s decision to participate in the exemption or to opt out–as is allowed by House Bill 581–will have no impact on the changes in homestead exemption approved by Oconee County voters in May of last year.
Voters approved 10 items on the May ballot that increased the size of the homestead exemption from $2,000 for all home owners this year and to $10,000 in 2035.
The 10 items also added an additional $10,000 exemption for those 75 years old and older in 2025 and froze property tax assessments automatically for those 65 years old and older.
These exemptions are unchanged by the decision the School Board has to make by March 1 on the floating exemption, Hammock told the 50 persons meeting at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus Lobby Meeting Room on Jennings Mill Road.
Hammock and all of the other four members of the School Board are Republicans, and all were in attendance at the meeting on Monday.
Hammock On Impact
Hammock said House Bill 581 will have impact on Oconee County Schools in two ways.
The first is local control, he said. “Does our school system and our Board of Education have the ability to make decisions on property tax and the revenue that comes in to the school system.”
He said he also is concerned about what he called a “bifurcation of our property tax rolls.”
The state funds local education using what is called a Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, which allocates money based on such criteria as the level of education and the special needs of the student.
Before distributing that amount to the school district, the state subtracts out what is called the Local Fair Share, that is, the amount the state determines a district must contribute from its own funds to the QBE funding.
That Local Fair Share is standard across all districts: the amount of money that 5 mills in property tax generates in the district. The actual dollar amount differs, of course, based on the size of the tax digest in the district, with richer districts having a larger tax base than poor ones.
The tax digest is the total of all the assessed values, after exemptions, of properties taxed in the school district.
Hammock said his objection is that the QBE Local Fair Share will be calculated on the tax digest before the exemptions are withdrawn while the tax digest minus the floating exemption would be used in calculating the taxes received by the district unless the school system votes to opt out.
Hammock said the “thing I want to say is that, if the School Board opts out and you are over the age of 65, it doesn’t really impact you.”
Status Of Decision
Hammock told those gathered at the meeting that “I want to emphasize that no decision has been made on whether we’re going to opt in or opt out.” Younger people will be affected, he said.
Hammock said that “we had nearly 65 percent of the county say that wanted this to come into place,” referring to the vote in May.
Across the state, 62.9 percent of the voters approved the Amendment. In Oconee County, the percentage of voters approving was 64.3 percent.
“If the school system opts out, this is a huge decision, because we’re going counter to what the voters in the county said,” Hammock said.
Hammock said, however, that he concluded after talking with “a lot of people” that they “did not necessarily understand the intricacies of the bill when they voted on it.”
Hammock said while the Board should have talked about the implications of the Amendment before the vote, “we should continue to talk about it, continue to educate people, so we can understand the long term impacts.”
Questions From Audience
The first person to ask a question wanted to know if, at the scheduled hearings, the taxpayers will “be able to ask questions and get answers and have some dialogue?”
Hammock said taxpayers would be able to ask questions, but “you may or may not get a response on it.”
“What I hear is we have local control by an oligarchy on the School Board,” the questioner responded. “The voters have spoken.”
Another questioner asked if the lost revenue from the floating homestead exemption could be recovered via an increase in the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST)
Hammock said it could not because school districts cannot ask voters to approve a LOST. Voters can approve a single one cent Education Local Option Sales Tax to raise revenue for capital projects, and such a tax already is in place in Oconee County.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, who was in the audience, said the county could pass a second LOST under House Bill 581, but the revenue would not be used to offset the loss from the floating exemption.
If voters approved a second LOST, he said, the property tax would be reduced equal to the amount of revenue generated from the LOST, unrelated to the revenue lost from the floating homestead exemption.
Former State Rep. Chuck Williams said the tax digest in Oconee County is increasing “and you all keep generating more and more revenue from taxpayers at the same time bragging that you’re reducing the millage rate.”
“The millage rate for most of us is immaterial,” he said. “It’s how big of a check do we have to write and handover to cover our tax bill every year.”
Start Of Meeting
Board Chair Hurley began the meeting by stating she wanted to remind attendees that “We have a policy that we do not allow video taping or audio taping of our meetings.” She said this is done so those present “feel free to ask questions.”
Hurley 1/27/2025 |
She then said she had started to “put together a comprehensive list of everything that occurred in the last seven days” since the inauguration of President Donald Trump but she “got tired” because so much has taken place.
She listed accomplishments including a number of “pardons and commutations.” She added that “Biden went with a few we could have done without.”
At the local level, Hurley said, “One item that you all need to be aware of is the precinct consolidation.”
The county reduced 13 precincts to 12 in 2019, and 12 to eight in 2021. The Board of Elections and Registration is now proposing to reduce those eight to four. A meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 6 at the County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, Watkinsville, to make that decision.
Hurley said the Board is accepting comments from those who want to voice an opinion, but she said her own view, given that election day voting has declined, is that consolidation from eight to four is appropriate.
In the Nov. 5 election, 21,272 voters (76.9 percent) cast a ballot in advance in person voting, 1,595 (5.8 percent) used an absentee ballot, and 4,769 (17.2 percent) voted on election day.
Four of the five members of the Board of Elections and Registration are Republicans, and two, Kirk Shook and Shami Jones, were present at the meeting on Monday.
Shook said after Hurley made her comments that the county has two to five elections every year and “the savings would add up over time” from consolidation.
Kent’s List
Kent said he wanted to present a “laundry list of what’s going on in the Gold Dome with our tax money.”
Kent 1/27/2025 |
“The hard left overreach has really helped us,” he said, “whether it is with permissiveness and crime in Athens-Clarke County, or whether it’s the sports issue with females, or whether its with raging inflation. Whether its with open borders. I think the momentum is on our side.”
He said he expects the legislature to pass legislation that says there should be “No boys in girls sports and then locker rooms.”
He said the legislature will grant a “billion dollars worth of tax cuts.” He also said that Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones wants to eliminate the state income tax, and Kent said he thinks the tax refunds will be a move in that direction.
Kent said the state has serious problems in its prisons, and “Gov. Kemp and the Republicans are going to throw some money at it. I don’t think its enough.”
Kent said he thinks there should be an armed police resource officer in every school and he thinks the governor and legislature “will try to get there.”
He said he expects addition funding for mental health.
Gov. Kemp has called for tort reform legislation, even saying he will call the legislature back for a special session if it doesn’t pass reform in the regular session. Kent said the legislature will respond.
He also expects sports betting legislation to pass, maybe by “being snuck onto another bill at the end of the session.”
He anticipates additional funding for transportation infrastructure and additional effort to improve oversight of district attorneys.
Kent said “We’ve got three good conservative Republicans” on the state Elections Board “that constantly get smeared in the mainstream corporate media.” The Board needs “to be funded properly.”
Kent On Politics
Kent said he wasn’t sure how much resistance Athens-Clarke County would provide to illegal immigrants, but “Wouldn’t it be fun to see Mayor Kelly Girtz taken away in handcuffs by ICE?”
“We’re going to have some fun with the Democrats,” he said.
“They’re in trouble,” he said, and “they really do not have a good gubernatorial candidate” for 2026.
He said that he thinks Jason Carter probably would be the most competitive Democrat, but he isn’t sure Carter could win a Democratic Party primary.
“They are at a crossroads. I think they are trapped,” he said. “Of course, we want to eat popcorn, sit back, and enjoy this.”
Kent said he thinks Ossoff can be beaten, and that Kemp is the strongest candidate, if Kemp decides he wants to run. “It could be a crowded GOP primary for the U.S. Senate” if Kemp does not run, he said.
Kent said the party has a number of “rising rock stars,” and he listed Brian Jack, the newly elected member of Congress from the Third District, and Houston Gaines, who represents parts of Oconee County in the Georgia House District 120.
“The Democrat Party is really at a crossroads,” Kent said, “whereas we have built a coalition.”
“I’m optimistic. You should be too,” he said. “It is going to be a fun two years.”
In response to a question from Hurley, Kent said he didn’t think there should be any age limits on elected officials.
He said former president Joe Biden was not able to do his job at 82, and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, also 82, has problems, but former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is “on the top of his game” at 81.
President Donald Trump turns 79 in June.
1 comment:
My Dad's GOP would've been outraged at giving a pass to those who assaulted law enforcement. Some have permanent injuries. So much for "Back the Blue"
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