The Oconee County Board of Education, in a 4 to 1 vote Monday evening, passed a resolution to opt out of the statewide homestead exemption approved by voters in November to rein in the impact of increases in assessments on property taxes.
The Board voted in its regular work session following the third of the required public hearings two hours earlier, with only Post 4 Board Member Adam Hammond voting against the decision.
The Board of Education has used increased assessments to lower the millage rate and still increase revenue from property taxes in recent years, and this vote will allow the Board to continue to use that tactic.
School Superintendent Jason Branch asked the Board to pass the resolution opting out of the floating homestead exemption. A copy of that resolution has to be filed with the Georgia Secretary of State by March 1 for it to have effect.
Eight citizens spoke against opting out of the exemption in the final hearing on Monday, and four citizens spoke against opting out in each of the two earlier hearings.
Across the three hearings, only 10 people spoke at the public hearings, all in opposition to the opt out decision. Two citizens spoke at all three hearings, and two spoke at two of them.
None of the other five governing bodies in the county has announced plans to opt out of the homestead exemption, and the Oconee County Board of Commissioners stated explicitly in its strategic planning session last week that it will not do so.
As a result of the action by the Board of Education on Monday, Oconee County Tax Commissioner Jennifer Riddle will have to create two separate tax digests for the county, one with the voter approved floating homestead exemption in place and the other–for the Board of Education–without that exemption.
What Exemption Would Have Done
The Georgia General Assembly overwhelmingly passed two pieces of legislation in its session a year ago in response to citizen complaints about the impact increased property assessments are having on local property taxes.
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| Hammond Votes No 2/3/2025 |
The first piece of legislation put on the ballot across the state a Constitutional Amendment allowing the legislature to create a “state wide homestead exemption that serves to limit increases in the assessed value of homesteads.”
The amendment stated that counties, unified governments, municipalities, and school boards can opt out “upon the completion of certain procedures.”
Across the state, 62.9 percent of the voters approved the amendment. In Oconee County, the percentage of voters approving was 64.3 percent.
The General Assembly in March also passed House Bill 581 setting up the actual exemption, on the condition voters approved the Constitutional Amendment.
Under House Bill 581, the taxable part of increased assessments of homesteaded property that has not been improved will be limited by the inflation rate, with any increase in assessment beyond the inflation rate exempted from taxation. The exemption is not fixed, but "floats" based on the calculation of inflation.
The law required school boards and other governing authorities wishing to opt out of the exemption to state that intent and then hold three hearings before making a final decision.
Administration’s Case For Opting Out
Oconee County Schools Chief Finance Officer Peter Adams spoke first at each of the three hearings, making the case for opting out of the homestead exemption provided by House Bill 581.
On Monday (Feb. 3) he said what opting out means is “local control, customized for our community,” while what opting in means is “state control, one size fits all.”
He also said he has estimated that Oconee County Schools would have lost $13.9 million over the last seven years had the floating homestead exemption been in place.
“The changes made in HB 581 would significantly impact property tax revenues for the Oconee County School system,” he said. “The change would impact flexibility to meet local needs and maintain competitive salaries and benefits.”
Adams said that the decision to opt out would have no impact on the increases in the homestead exemption proposed by the Board of Commissioners and approved by voters last May. Included is a freezing of assessments for homeowners once they turn 65.
Board Response
When Adams had finished, Post 3 Board Member Ryan Hammock asked Adams if the opt out decision “would affect any of the homestead changes that the local voters approved in 2024.” Adams repeated his statement that it would not.
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| Hammock, Adams (Back To Camera) Parrish 2/3/2025 |
Hammock then returned to a concern he has stated at each of the hearings about the impact of not opting out on the calculation of what is called the Local Fair Share of state funding using the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula. The Local Fair Share is the local system’s contribution to QBE funding and is calculated based on the revenue 5 mills produces in each of the state's 180 school districts.
Adams told Hammock that the state would use the non-exempted tax base for the calculation of the Local Fair Share, but Oconee County Schools would have to use the tax base with exemptions for calculations of the taxes it imposes on citizens unless the Board voted to opt out.
“Those first five mills are then used to reduce state allocated monies that come to Oconee County because Oconee County is not receiving Fair Share Allocations?” Hammock asked. “But there are other systems that do receive Fair Share allocations that are funded in part by those first five mills?”
“That is correct,” Adams responded rather than correct Hammock. The state does not fund the Local Fair Share for any system. It is the amount the local system contributes to the QBE.
Post 4 Board Member Adam Hammond then asked Adams if tax revenue during the time of recent millage rate decreases “has steadily increased or stayed the same?”
“I would have to go back and look at it,” Adams responded.
The Final Budget Reports for the last four Fiscal Years, on the Oconee County Schools website, show that:
In 2021, with a millage rate of 16.5, Oconee County Schools received $36.7 million in ad valorem taxes.
In 2022, with a millage rate of 15.5, Oconee County Schools received $39.6 million in ad valorem taxes.
In 2023, with a millage rate of 15.0, Oconee County Schools received 42.6 million in ad valorem taxes.
In 2024, with a millage rate of 14.25, Oconee County Schools received $47.7 million in ad valorem taxes.
Citizen Comment
Ed Wiezorek was the first of the citizens who spoke on Monday, and when he said he voted for the Constitutional Amendment in November “I voted with some level of confidence that I understood the issue and made an informed decision.”
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| Wiezorek 2/3/2025 |
“I admit that I was either not aware of the opt out provision or that I mistakenly assumed that those who would eventually make that decision would do so with the constituents preference of mind,” he said.
“What I did not understand, if the Board of Education members at the time were not in favor of the bill, you did not do more to explain your position to the voters and/or encourage opposition for the bill,” he said.
Board Chair Kim Argo refused to take a position on the Amendment before it was voted on and referred the question to Superintendent Jason Branch, who did not respond.
Ian Taylor, who had spoken at both of the earlier hearings, followed Wiezorek and continued his refutation of the promotional assertions in a document available as a handout at the beginning of the hearings.
That document states that by opting out the Board will retain local control over property tax revenues, and Taylor said by not opting out “you still maintain the control. You just might have just a little bit less money to do it with.”
Roy Baerne, who also has spoken at all three of the hearings, said “everybody I've heard speak here, there's no one in favor of opting out.”
“I think that the young and the old voted for this bill because we all thought it was going to be tax relief,” he said. “And we need tax relief.”
More Comments
Chuck Hunt, who also spoke at the second hearing, said that the commercial growth in the county “is taking a little burden off our shoulders. And this opt in would take a little bit more.”
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| Baerne 2/3/2025 |
“I think the increase by way of the inflation rate is more realistic than the fair market value that jumps up and down and went sideways,” he said.
Former State House Representative Bob Smith spoke next, mostly criticizing the Board of Commissioners and the current Rep. Marcus Wiedower for writing 10 ballot items to change the local homestead exemptions in May of last year.
When Smith finished, however, he said he wanted the Board “to follow the law.”
Pam Hendrix, who has been a persistent critic of School Board budgets, said “You are not listening to us.”
“I feel like this legislation might be a response to the fact that people don't feel like their school board representatives are listening, and the state decided to step in,” she said.
Victoria Cruz, who also spoke at the second hearing, said “I just look at the School Board as this bottomless pit--or the school system is a bottomless pit.”
“You say, we've kept the millage rate down,” she said. “The revenues have gone up.”
The final speaker, Stephen Aleshire, said “I'd like to call this the school administrator and teacher revenue protection bill.”
Aleshire then turned to a critique of the recent decision by the Board to approve a memorandum of understanding for 16 school resource officers, arguing that “this is an example of the elasticity of expenditures” by the Board.
Board Comments And Vote
At the end of the work session on Monday, Board Chair Michael Ransom turned to Superintendent Branch, offering him a chance to speak.
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| Parrish 2/3/2025 |
“We would recommend the Board vote to approve the ratification of opting out of House Bill 581,” Branch said.
Ransom asked for comments from the Board, and Post 2 Board Member and Vice Chair Amy Parrish asked to be allowed to speak.
“I believe in the near future we'll be okay whether we opt out or if we don't opt out,” she said. “What I'm not sure about is the long term future.”
“And that gives me pause because we only have this one time to opt out,” she said. “I've taken a lot of time to think about this.”
Parrish then said she wanted to “go back to and just comment on the time line.”
“The opt out discussion really started because of the Board,” she said. “We brought that to the superintendent's attention and wanted to go down that path.”
Parrish was confirming Board Chair Ransom’s statement that he, Parrish, and Hammock made the decision to declare the intent to opt out without holding a public meeting and before newly elected Board members Hammond and Brock Toole had joined the Board.
The decision was announced on Jan. 2.
Parrish said the Board made the decision to state the intent to opt out, “but none of us had yet formed--fully formed--an opinion in one way or the other.”
“I certainly believe in tightening your belt when it's required,” she said, “but when 90 percent of our funding is for people, I believe it's difficult to make cuts that don't impact our teachers and our services delivered to our students.”
“I also believe this legislation will limit options in the future if state funding is decreased,” she said.
Hammond Followed
Hammond followed Parrish, saying “I tried to go into the hearing process with an open mind.”
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| Hammond 2/3/2025 |
“I knew I could not set aside the fact that 64 percent of the public voted for this,” he said.
“I find value in the homestead exemption,” he said. “I think we have a great opportunity here to provide protection and a little relief for our homeowners and our residential taxpayers out there.”
“That includes our teachers,” he continued. “Our teachers will benefit and see a savings from this.”
Hammond said he had confidence in Chief Finance Officer Adams and Superintendent Branch.
“We can figure out how to meet what the taxpayers and the voters want to see while also staying within a budget that they want to see as well,” he said.
Next Up: Toole
Post 5 Board Member Brock Toole, who, like Hammond, only joined the Board on Jan. 13, followed Hammond and said “going through this process, we had a whole lot of discussions, some for, some against, respectfully of course.”
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| Toole 2/3/2025 |
Those discussions did not take place in public. Any time a quorum of the Board meets, state law requires that it be in public.
“I'm here to take care of the school system and to do my best to understand, to make certain that it's good for future generations to come,” he said.
Toole said that there are “too many unknowns that we don’t know right now. And rather than taking just an educated guess, I would rather have those variables known.”
When Toole had finished, Ransom called for a motion.
Toole made the motion to opt out, with Hammock seconding.
Hammond was alone in voting against the motion.
Video
The video below combines the 4 p.m. hearing and the 6 p.m. work session of the Board.
As required by Oconee County Communications Director Steven Colquitt, I was recording from the rear of the room.
Both meetings were held in the Commission Chamber of the Instructional Support Center on Main Street in Watkinsville.
Adams came to the podium as soon as the hearing began, at the beginning of the video.
Citizen comment at the hearing began at 9:24 in the video.
The hearing ends and the work session begins at 37:13 in the video
Branch made his recommendation on the opt out vote at 1:00:31 in the video.
The comments of Parrish, Hammond, and Toole follow.
3 comments:
Awesome! A school board member finally dissented from the usual unanimous 5-0 vote!
I do not understand why people are pushing for this. Are they so short sighted they only see the short-term benefit to themselves? or are the selfish and old and don't care about any one else?
Proposition 13 out of California has been widely widely studied by academia. There are many economic analyses and papers on the impacts of it. Almost across the board, the conclusions are negative. The analyses of the enduring impact of Proposition 13, the 1978 California initiative that voters passed as a backlash against rising property taxes, concluded it has contributed to a widening wealth gap, a severe housing shortage and, for decades, inadequate funding for public schools.
In the short term it is only good for current homeowners. In the long term, it is only good for current homeowners who are never going to move nor experience catastrophic damage to their homes (like a fire, flood, car crashing into it, or tree falling through it, etc). In both the mid-term and the long term, it is a large negative impact on municipalities, the services they provide, and school systems. It is also bad for the renters, businesses, and industries that will take up the slack. Every taxing authority should opt-out unless their area is inordinately tourism driven.
While I agree with the decision to opt out, I don't like the way it was done. Back room conversations and decisions about public policy is never a good thing, but that's what you get with an all Republican school board.
Keep voting in the same people, keep getting the same behaviors.
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