Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell took a pause in his summary of county finances in his State of the County address on Wednesday (March 18) to comment on property tax legislation passed by the Georgia House of Representatives and now before the Senate.
Daniell said the current version of House Bill 1116 would impact the county in three ways.
First, it would change how the county uses monies collected through its Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).
At present, the owners of tax parcels in the county, whether business or homesteaded, receive a property tax reduction from LOST of 3.02 mills. For a home, Daniell said, that’s about $400 or $500 reduction in taxes.
If HB 1116 passes as now written, however, that reduction will be eliminated, and the county will use the revenue from LOST to fund property tax reductions for homesteaded properties first, and then, only if money if left over, reduce taxes for other properties in the county.
HB 1116 also limits increases in revenue from property taxes to 3 percent each year, or the rate of inflation, whichever is higher, Daniell said.
Finally, HB 1116 requires taxing entities that do not roll back the millage rate to fully offset inflationary growth in the tax digest to notify each property owner via mail of the failure to roll back the rate.
The last two provisions of HB 1116 would apply to the Oconee County Board of Education as well, and Oconee County Schools Finance Director Peter Adams on Wednesday estimated that the cap could reduce annual revenue compared to current projections by approximately $1.7 to $2.0 million per year.
HB 1116
Sponsors of HB 1116, which includes House Republican leadership, rewrote HB 1116 late on the March 6 crossover day, after a related and required piece of legislation failed to garner the needed two-thirds vote because it called for a Constitutional Amendment.
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| Daniell 3/18/2026 |
The goal of the original legislation was to eliminate entirely property taxes on homesteaded property.
That legislation would have resulted in an estimated loss of $9.8 million in property tax revenue for the county and $32.2 million for Oconee County Schools.
Daniell, in his State of the County address on Wednesday, praised HB 1116 primary sponsor Rep. Shaw Blackmon, from Bonaire, for listening to the concerns of local governments in revising the legislation. Blackmon, a Republican, 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.
Daniell, however, noted that “there have been several iterations of this bill in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, the one they passed nobody got to see until after it was passed.”
Republican Houston Gaines, representing part of Oconee County in House District 120, voted for HB 1116.
Democrat Eric Gisler, representing the bulk of Oconee County in House District 121, voted against House Bill 1116.
The final vote was 98 in favor and 68 opposed.
More Comments At State Of County
Daniell said HB 1116 leaves unclear how real growth in property value is handled in calculation of the 3 percent calculation.
“Right now they are saying that real growth will not be included in that (cap),” Daniell said. “So if a new house is put on, they are supposed to take that out. Right now it’s not clear in the bill yet that that’s the case.”
Daniell said that the county has reduced its millage rate for four consecutive years to the rollback or no tax increase rate and reduced the millage rate for the last five years.
The present law requires the Board of Commissioners or the School Board to advertise in the county legal organ, The Oconee Enterprise, if they do not meet the rollback rate and to hold three public hearings, Daniell said.
HB 1116 as now written “will require a letter going out to every tax parcel,” Daniell said.
“It is kind of interesting that at the same time the state House is talking about reducing property taxes, they are passing bills that send unfunded mandates down to us,” Daniell said.
He mentioned two examples, a bill that would make coroners full time with full-time benefits, and another that would require the county to pay health insurance for specified constitutional officers and their families.
“We’re not sure of what the outcome of all of these bills are going to be,” Daniell said. “So it creates a lot of uncertainty. We’re taking all of that into account as we prepare for our FY 2027 budget.”
Another Example Of Unfunded Mandate
I had asked Daniell in an email message on Monday (March 16) if he anticipated any impact of House Bill 1023, mandating that school systems install and operate a metal detector at each entrance to each of their schools.
The bill, now in the Senate, is an unfunded mandate, as no money for equipment or staffing is included in the bill as passed by the House.
Oconee County School Superintendent Melissa Butler has said the initial upfront cost of adding metal detectors at the system’s 12 schools, as would be required by legislation, would be $720,000 for the devices alone.
Two persons would be required to operate the systems, according to Oconee County Sheriff James Hale.
“HB 1023 will be impactful to the school system,” Daniell said. “The BOE (Board of Education) will have to invest in equipment and employees to operate the equipment. I do not see an impact on the county side.”
The county does pick up some of the cost for the School Resource Officer Program operated by Oconee County Schools in collaboration with the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff’s Office is funded by the Board of Commissioners.
On March 16, I also asked Superintendent Butler for an estimate of the impact of House Bill 1116 as passed and sent to the Senate on Oconee County Schools.
She asked Chief Financial Officer Adams to respond.
“Our preliminary estimates indicate the cap could reduce annual revenue compared to current projections by approximately $1.7 to $2.0 million,” Adams responded in a series of email messages.
Adams said he projects “the gap continuing—and potentially widening—over time.”
“We will continue to monitor HB 1116 as it moves through the legislative process,” he wrote.
Video
I recorded the video below, which is on my Video channel.
Daniell began his discussion of the state legislation at 5:56 in the video.
I will post a summary of the entire State of the County presentation subsequently.
2 comments:
How many SRO’s have been hired? Also, what is their pay?
Daniell reported that 11 of the 16 have been hired. They are normal deputies, so their pay is the same as other hires. I don't know the scale.
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