Oconee County government will lose $9.8 million in property tax revenue if the legislation being considered by the Georgia House of Representatives is approved in its current form, while each of the county’s four cities will lose between $13,504 and $306,307, and Oconee County Schools will lose a whopping $32.2 million.
For the counties, Watkinsville, and Bogart, the loss likely can be offset by reallocating some of the revenue from the county’s 1 percent Local Option Sales Tax (LOST), if the legislation being considered is modified to allow that use of LOST funds.
Oconee County Schools will be allowed to add a 1 percent sales tax under the legislation as now written by Republican Party leadership in the Georgia House, but a new sales tax is projected to produce only $13.4 million annually.
Even if Oconee County Schools replaces its recently approved Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) when it expires in 2032 with a second sales tax, as is allowed by the proposed legislation, the $26.8 million will not cover the $32.2 million loss.
Oconee County Schools currently relies on ESPLOST for purchase of technology, school buses and other fleet vehicles, and for capital projects, and those costs will have to be covered by the by General Fund revenues if ESPLOST is allowed to expire in 2032.
In addition, Oconee County Schools is scheduled to make $7.7 million in bond payments in 2032 and 2033 for its massive building program undertaken during the current ESPLOST–payments that would have been covered by a renewed ESPLOST.
The estimates of revenue that will be lost due to the proposed legislation are for 2032, when the full effects of the plan to eliminate totally property taxes for the owners of homesteads go into effect. The legislation, as proposed, will phase in starting in 2027, when smaller cuts will have to be absorbed.
The estimates of the impact of the proposed legislation come from Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, who said on Friday he had used the most expansive estimates of a homesteaded property in his analysis of the impact of the proposed legislation. He also emphasized that he has been told the legislation will be revised over the weekend in ways that may lessen its impact on the county.
Source Of Data
At the Oconee County Board of Commissioners Town Hall meeting on Feb. 10, Daniell said he was working with the Tax Commissioner Jennifer Riddle and the county Property Appraisal Office “to get our numbers together so we can provide our representatives” with the “real dollars” showing the impact of the legislation on the county.
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| Daniell 2/20/2026 |
Daniell told that subcommittee that the county could manage the mandated removal of property taxes on homesteaded property if the law is changed to allow it to reallocate LOST revenue.
He also said the county should be allowed “by right” to assess property owners for the services provided by the Constitutional Officers, including the sheriff, to recover the revenue lost by the proposed complete homestead exemption.
Watkinsville Mayor Brian Brodrick also testified before the subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, saying it would have “catastrophic results” if “not implemented with caution and collaboration.”
Daniell released his analysis of the property tax records on Wednesday (Feb. 18) and met with me in his office on Friday to go over his data.
Daniell classified each of the properties in the incorporated areas of the county (Bishop, Bogart, North High Shoals, and Watkinsville) and in the unincorporated parts of the county.
He listed 71 homesteaded properties in Bishop, 141 in North High Shoals, 230 in Bogart, and 680 in Watkinsville.
The unincorporated parts of the county has 8,803 properties that are listed as homesteaded, bringing the total of homesteaded properties in the county to 9,925.
Legislation Basics
House Bill 1116 and House Resolution 1114 would eliminate all property taxes for “The owner of a homestead which is actually occupied by the owner as a residence.”
The property taxes would be reduced in phases, starting in 2027, with increments in 2029 and 2030 and again in 2031, leading up to full removal in 2032.
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| Blackmon Screen Capture 2/17/2026 |
The sales tax in the county at present is eight cents on the dollar, with the state getting four cents, the county getting three, and Oconee County Schools getting one cent on the dollar.
Oconee County Schools would be authorized by the legislation to levy a New Homestead Option Sales Tax (NHOST) of up to one cent on the dollar by adoption of a resolution by the Board of Education. Voter approval by referendum would not be required.
The tax would run for up to ten years before it would require renewal.
Once the ESPLOST approved by voters in November is completed, probably at the end of 2031, the Oconee County Board of Education could approve a second NHOST, but only as a replacement for ESPLOST, since sales taxes are capped at 9 percent.
Assessments And Restrictions
HR 1116 also allows the General Assembly, through local legislation, to approve the “issuance and collection of local finance assessments by counties, municipalities, consolidated governments, and local school systems on each parcel of real property located in each such local jurisdiction.”
For a county or municipality, the assessment can be use “for funding capital outlay projects and providing services.”
For a school system, the assessment “shall not exceed the actual cost to such local jurisdiction for funding capital outlay projects for educational purposes.”
HB 1116 states that the “ad valorem property taxes collected by a county, municipality, or consolidated government must be offset or rolled back in an amount equal to funds collected by such local government through one or more local finance assessments.”
That provision does not seem to apply to school districts.
The legislation also caps revenue growth at 3 percent for non-improved/non-exempt properties, that is, properties that are not homesteaded.
Implementation Of Legislation
For HB 1116 and HR 1114 to pass, they must have support of two-thirds of the 180 members of the House and two-thirds of the 56 members of the Senate.
For the legislation to take effect, voters must approve a change to the state Constitution via a referendum, planned for the November ballot of this year.
Rep. Shaw Blackmon, from Bonaire, sponsored both HB 1116 and HR 1114. Blackmon is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The second sponsor is House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, and the third sponsor is Chuck Efstration, of Mulberry, the Republican Majority Leader.
All six listed sponsors are Republicans.
Passage of the legislation will require Democratic votes in both the House and Senate.
Republican Houston Gaines, who represents Oconee County in the 120th House District is on the House Ways and Means Committee, as is Democrat Spencer Frye, from the 122nd House District, which falls entirely in Athens-Clarke County.
Republican Marcus Wiedower, who represented Oconee County in House District 121, served on the Ways and Means Committee and on the Public Finance and Local Policy until he stepped down in October.
Democrat Eric Gisler, elected to replace Wiedower in a Special Election on Dec. 9, serves on the Defense and Veterans Affairs, Health, and Intragovernmental Coordination committees.
Impact On County
In making his projections of the value of property taxes not collected due to HB 1116 and HR 1114, Daniell used the current tax records to identify homesteaded properties and create a Tax Digest of homesteaded properties. He did not make projections of the value in subsequent years.
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| Chart Created Based On Data From Daniell Click To Enlarge |
HB 1116 replaces the current state homestead exemption of $2,000 with $10,000 in years 2027 and 2028, $30,000 in 2029 and 2030, and $60,000 in 2031. In 2032, the exemption is the total value of the homesteaded property.
For the years leading up to 2032, Daniell used those total dollar values, multiplied them by the number of homesteads in the various jurisdictions, and then calculated the revenue those totals would generate with the millage rates in place in 2025.
Bishop, with 71 homesteaded properties, would lose $794 in property tax revenue in 2027 and 2028, $2,383 in 2029, and 2030, $4,767 in 2031, and $13,504 in 2032, when all homesteaded property is exempt from taxation.
Bogart, with 230 homesteads, would lose $4,462 in 2027 and 2028, $13,386 in 2029 and 2030, $26,772 in 2031, and $66,495 in 2032.
North High Shoals, with 141 homesteads, would lose $2,820 in 2027 and 2028, $8,460 in 2029 and 2030, and $16,920 in 2031. In 2032, North High Shoals would lose $53,137.
Watkinsville, with 680 homesteads, would lose $18,741 in 2027 and 2028, $56,222 in 2029 and 2030, $112,445 in 2031, and $306,307 in 2032.
The county collects taxes from 9,925 homesteaded properties, including the 1,122 in the four cities, and the 8,803 in the unincorporated parts of the county.
The county would lose $426,145 in property tax revenue in 2027 and 2028, $1,278,436 in 2029 and 2030, and $2,556,872 in 2031.
In 2032, the county would be $9,826,488, based on the current Tax Digest and the current millage rate.
The proposed legislation allows governments to repurpose a sales tax when it expires, but LOST does not have an expiration date, leading Board of Commissioners Chair Daniell to ask in his testimony last week that repurposing of LOST be allowed.
Bogart and Watkinsville share in county LOST revenue, but Bishop and North High Shoals do not.
I emailed the mayors of all four of the county’s cities on Monday of last week (Feb. 16), and Brodrick sent me two days later a copy of his comments before the Ways and Means subcommittee on Feb. 17. I also met with City Manager Sharyn E. Dickerson on Friday (Feb. 20) to review the data for the city.
Mayors Janet Jones from Bogart, Stephen Goad from North High Shoals, and Drew Kurtz from Bishop all wrote back shortly after I emailed them saying they still were trying to determine the impact of the legislation on their cities.
Impact On Oconee County Schools
Oconee County School Superintendent Melissa Butler said in a meeting in her office on Friday that she is reviewing data from Tax Commissioner Riddle and generated internally to determine the impact of the proposed legislation on Oconee County Schools.
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| Chart Created Based On Data From Butler Click To Enlarge |
According to data Butler provided, Oconee County Schools collected just more than $52 million in property taxes in 2025 ($52,034,263) and $13.4 million from the current ESPLOST ($13,352,533),
The property tax collection for 2025 represented an increase of 3.7 percent from 2024, while ESPLOST collections were up 5.9 percent from the year before.
Based on the 2025 figures, the new legislation, if approved, would allow Oconee County Schools to add in 2027 a new sales tax that would produce enough revenue to offset the estimated deficits through 2031, according to an analysis of the data gathered by Daniell.
Even conversion of the current ESPLOST to a second NHOST in 2032 would not be sufficient to cover the gap that year when the mandated full exemption of tax on homestead property would go into effect.
ESPLOST revenues can only be used for capital project, rather than salaries and other operational costs of the schools, so continuation of ESPLOST approved by voters in November beyond its current expiration in late 2031 or early 2032 would not be feasible. That tax revenue would have to be used for normal school operation.
In addition, Oconee County Schools must make $7.7 million in bond payments through 2033 to cover the costs of construction of Dove Creek Middle School, the Instructional Support Center, expansion and renovation of the system’s elementary schools, and other capital projects.
House Bill 1116 revises the method for calculating each local school district's 5 mill share for the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula by removing from the school tax digest the assessed value of property exempted by local homestead exemptions.
For the current budget year, the state withheld $13.7 million in funding for Oconee County Schools under the QBE formula, a figure that would be reduced, perhaps by as much as 50 percent, if HB 1116 and HR 1114 go into effect.
Butler’s Statement
Following our meeting on Friday, Butler issued a statement regarding the versions of HB 1116 and HR 1114 under consideration at that time.
“Oconee County Schools supports meaningful property tax relief for Georgia families,” she wrote, “and we understand why this issue matters to homeowners across our community. At the same time, HR 1114 and HB 1116 would represent a significant shift in how local school districts are funded.”
“Based on our preliminary analysis of the proposals as discussed to date,” according to the statement, “OCS would experience a substantial reduction in operating revenue. In Oconee County, one penny of additional sales tax revenue would not come close to replacing the homesteaded school property tax revenue that would be eliminated.”
“That net loss would directly affect our ability to sustain staffing levels, class sizes, and the day-to-day services our students and families expect from Oconee County Schools,” Butler continued.
“Because the legislation and potential amendments are evolving, we are continuing to review the most current language and working with our state and local leaders to ensure any final plan provides tax relief without destabilizing school funding,” according to the statement.
“Our priority is to ensure stable, equitable, and transparent funding to continue the OCS tradition of providing a world class education for all Oconee County students,” the statement concluded.
Daniell’s Testimony
Daniell, as one of the speakers representing the Association County Commissioners Georgia at the Feb. 17 meeting of the subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, noted that Oconee County did not opt out of the floating homestead exemption approved by voters in the county and across the state in 2024.
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| Daniell Screen Capture 2/17/2026 |
"We also instigated some homestead exemptions for our community,” he said, and from 2024 to 2025, our total exemptions increased by $288 million on our digest.”
“Our homesteaded properties, once they're fully exempt in 2032, will equal $9.8 million reduction in property taxes coming in,” he said, adding that 61 percent of the county’s property tax revenue “comes from homesteaded property.”
Daniell said that renewal of both SPLOST and TSPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) will be on the ballot this year, SPLOST in May and TSPLOST in November.
“We're trying to hit it on a year when the we have the big elections to get the biggest turnout,” he said, “And so those will not come up for renewal till after the 2032 date.”
Daniell said the county will have to reallocate funds from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST), which does not come up for renewal, in 2029 to be able to cover the revenue reduction from the proposed full homestead property tax elimination.
“So I request that the Committee could consider a mechanism to reallocate our Local Option Sales Tax penny that allows implementation to cover the 2029 homestead exemptions. And if that reallocation is allowed, there's a strong possibility we could actually accelerate and reach a full homestead exemption prior to 2032.”
“The other idea of assessments is very intriguing,” he said. “I'd encourage the Committee to look at considering allowing certain assessments by right by the local governing authority, which is the funding of Constitutional Offices as well as any public safety provided by local governing authorities."
“That will give us some flexibility,” he said. “It also will keep the legislature out of local funding disputes in the future and gives us a ability to respond quickly and to economic conditions.”
In response to a question from a Committee member, Daniell said that the county collections enough in Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenue “to cover the cities and the county's loss on homesteaded property. This doesn't include school system at all.”
Oconee County Schools does not receive any Local Option Sales Tax revenue and is prohibited at present from implementing such a tax.
Added Comments By Daniell
On Friday, during our meeting at his office, Daniell restated that the only option for the county to meet the requirements of HB 1116 and HR 1114 is to shift funds from LOST.
At present, the county is required to reduce property taxes equal to the amount of revenue from LOST, but the county will have to change that formula if the full homestead exemption is put into place to fund that homestead exemption. The countg will them use whatever money is left over to provide a reduction of the property tax of the nonhomesteaded property.
“It’s a shift,” Daniell said of the effect of the law. “If you have a nonhomesteaded property, you’re not going to get the full three mills reduction that you’re getting now. The homesteaded property is going to get all of their’s and then you may have a mill left reduction off the gross” for the nonhomesteaded properties.
Daniell said he understood the concerns of the legislators, who hear complaints about increased assessments and increased tax bills.
“They can fix some of this by just fixing the whole property assessment program,” he said. “All of that’s defined by state law and the (Georgia) Department of Revenue.”
Daniell said that the state could say “a piece of property is what you paid for it and it can only go up 3 percent a year or it doesn’t ever change.”
“That is the underlying problem is the huge increases that people are seeing, especially if you are retired on a fixed income,” he said. “All that can be handled by fixing the assessment part of it.”
“They are making us run these things up and keep them accurate,” he said of the assessments. The county gets penalized if it doesn’t used the prescribed procedures to assess property, he said.
“If the focus was more on property tax assessment and getting that fixed,” he said, “I think that would eliminate what we’re seeing.”
Brodrick’s Testimony
Watkinsville Mayor Brian Brodrick, representing the Georgia Municipal Association, told the Public Finance and Local Policy Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 17 that the legislation before it “restructures the fiscal foundation of 875 local governments across Georgia.”
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| Brodrick Screen Capture 2/17/2026 |
“There are many issues you'll hear about today,” he said, “but I'll highlight three that will affect Watkinsville.”
“First, it shifts the primary reliance from property tax, a stable and predictable revenue source, to sales tax, which is inherently cyclical,” Brodrick said. “When the economy contracts, sales tax declines quickly. At the same time, the demand for our services increases.”
“Stability matters in public finance,” he said. “As you all know, sales tax capacity varies dramatically across Georgia. What may work in a retail heavy county will not work in a bedroom community or a rural county like mine.”
“In Oconee County,” Brodrick said, “we will not be able to cover the revenue lost to the city, county, and schools without significant changes to our sales tax structure. There are not enough pennies to do it under state law, and many other rural counties have less than we do in terms of sales tax.”
“Secondly, we have to consider what happens to the remaining property tax base,” Brodrick said. “If homestead property taxes are phased out, the only property still subject to local property tax will be commercial, rental, industrial, agriculture, timber, and second home properties.”
“The cost of government doesn't go away, guys,” he said. “You all know that. It becomes concentrated on a smaller share of the taxpayers. In communities where sales tax can't replace the homestead revenue, that fiscal pressure shifts towards businesses, farmers, and working land.”
“Third, this proposal introduces structural uncertainty into municipal credit,” Brodrick said.
Closing Comments By Brodrick
“Lastly, please remember that elected officials are accountable to the taxpayers every two or every four years,” Brodrick said in ending his comments. “In the last two election cycles, approximately 93 percent of local incumbents were returned to office.”
“So, while some taxpayers may complain about property taxes,” he continued, “I would respectfully submit that most also understand what those tax dollars support: quality schools for their children, parks their families enjoy, first responders that keep them safe, improvements to the roads every day, and more.”
“Property taxes are not the government charging rent on your home,” he said. “They're not. They're an insurance policy, making certain that your home appreciates in value, that your neighborhood stays safe, and that the community you love is able to take care of itself.”
“Georgia's success has been built on fiscal stability, incremental change, and local flexibility,” he said. “I urge caution before we fundamentally alter that foundation.”
Video
The video below is on the General Assembly YouTube channel and includes the entire Feb. 17 meeting of the Public Finance and Local Policy Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Brodrick began his comments at 14:03 in the video.
Daniell began his comments at 1:56:50.
1 comment:
A tale as old as time...
The Georgia State House and State Senate trying to make themselves look good while sticking it to cities, counties and school systems. It's a shell game.
And it's all for show.
The basics have to be paid for (schools, teachers & staff, roads & bridges, public safety, ambulances, parks & rec., senior centers, etc., etc.)...the State House & State Senate are just passing the buck to cities, counties & school systems. There are no savings here...just Rep's and Senators trying to play the hero.
And remember how they stuck it to counties when they took away annual property taxes on cars:
https://tiftongazette.com/2017/10/09/car-tax-shift-shortchanging-most-counties/
Houston Gaines, stop being an empty suit and stick up for the cities and counties you represent. Stand for something...Lord knows you never have before in your calculating, precise plan to methodically move up the political ladder.
Glad to see John Daniell and Brian Brodrick be vocal on this. Brodrick says it well: “I would respectfully submit that most also understand what those tax dollars support: quality schools for their children, parks their families enjoy, first responders that keep them safe, improvements to the roads every day, and more.”
Many people focus on national politics, and sometimes the city they live in and their local school system. Not enough pay attention to the happenings down at the Gold Dome. State Rep's and Senators act with impunity as they have high re-election rates; they're rarely voted out of office. Their too safe seats allow junk this like.
And that's all it is...junk.
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