Democrats in the Georgia House of Representatives, in a meeting at the Bogart Library last month, argued that their opposition to legislation in the General Assembly earlier this year that would have eliminated the property tax for homeowners was based on opposition to the resultant increase in sales taxes.
They also said elimination of property taxes on homeowners would have transferred the tax burden to renters and businesses and would have resulted in cuts to police, schools, and other local services.
The Republican-introduced legislation had gone through multiple revisions as it worked its way through the House and the Senate earlier this year, and the final version received House approval but was rejected by the Senate. Republicans control both the House and the Senate.
Democratic House District 121 Rep. Eric Gisler, whose district includes three of Oconee County’s four precincts, voted against the final version of the legislation. Republican House 120 District Rep. Houston Gaines, who represents the fourth of Oconee County’s precincts, voted in favor.
Gisler, who has come under fire in his re-election campaign in a series of mailers from a Texas group that supports School Choice, was host of the meeting on Aug. 11 at the Bogart Library.
He was joined by Rep. Spencer Frye, who represents House District 122, the only House District that lies wholly in Clarke County, and Rep. David Wilkerson from Cobb County (House District 38). Both are Democrats, and both also voted against the legislation that would have eliminated the homeowner property tax.
“It's easy for someone to run a commercial saying that we're stopping property tax relief, but that's not what we're doing,” Wilkerson said. “We're stopping the sales tax increase.”
The Democrats labeled the session at the Bogart Library, which ran for nearly 80 minutes, a “community discussion.” Many of the audience of more than 40 asked questions on a variety of topics, from taxes to homelessness to spending by the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Beginning Of Session
Gisler began the session in Bogart by introducing Wilkerson and Frye. He also introduced audience member Suzanna Karatassos, who is running to replace Gaines in House District 120.
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| Gisler 8/11/2026 |
Gaines is running to represent U.S. House District 10, which includes Oconee County. The Democratic candidate is Pamela DeLancy.
Mack “Dutch” Guest IV is the Republican candidate for Georgia House District 121, and Ward Black is the Republican candidate for House District 120.
In introducing Wilkerson, Gisler called him “the resident tax expert within the Georgia Democratic House.”
Wilkerson said the Bogart session was only one of many planned for across the state because members of both parties hear from constituents “about the struggle that homeowners are having regarding affordability, whether that's taxes, whether that's groceries, gas, you name it.”
“When we talk about property taxes, they're important, but then do we want to trade sales tax for property tax when there is no guarantee property taxes will go down,” Wilkerson said.
“And so what we decided after session was, ‘Let's get around the state and just talk to people.’ So really, this is your opportunity to say, ‘This is what we think’,” Wilkerson said.
The House has study committees that also are holding hearings, but they’re in the middle of the day, Wilkerson noted, “so it's a great opportunity for elected officials, county managers, city managers to talk, but not the public.”
Oconee County Commission Chair John Daniell, Watkinsville Mayor Brian Brodrick, and Oconee County Schools Superintendent Melissa Butler all spoke out in opposition to the first version of the House legislation to eliminate property taxes for homeowners, House Bill 1116.
Tax Primer
“What are the other options to pull in revenue for our cities and counties?” asked the first person in the audience to speak.
Gisler said about a third of the state budget is federal monies, and that the state corporate and personal income tax and state sales taxes generates most of the remaining state revenue.
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| Wilkerson 8/11/2026 |
Local governments receive money from the state, particularly for education, but the remainder comes mostly from property tax and sales tax, Gisler said.
Of Oconee county’s 8 percent sales tax, four percent goes to the state, three percent goes to Oconee County government, and one percent goes to Oconee County Schools, he noted.
The state does not collect property taxes. Property taxes in Oconee County go to Oconee County Schools, Oconee County government, including the Sheriff’s Office, and each of the county’s four cities: Watkinsville, Bogart, North High Shoals, and Bishop.
“Your county has a budget. Your school system has a budget,” Gisler said. “They get X amount of dollars from the state government, X from the federal government. But anything they have got to make up, this is largely coming from sales taxes and property taxes.”
“And in most counties, certainly Athens-Clarke County and Oconee County, the vast majority of those property taxes are going toward education,” he said.
For the current fiscal year, Oconee County taxpayers are projected to pay $72.8 million in property taxes, with $56.1 million going to Oconee County Schools, or 77.1 percent.
Democratic Position
“Schools are pretty much locked into property taxes,” Wilkerson said, following Gisler. “That's how they fund it.”
Oconee County Schools receives funding from its 1 percent Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, but those monies are restricted and can only be used for capital expenditures, not operation. For the current fiscal year, 92.8 percent of the local funding for maintenance and operation of Oconee County Schools comes from property taxes.
“So property taxes across the country, not just in Georgia, pretty much fund government at the local level,” Wilkerson said.
“The bonding companies will loan you (local governments) money and give you good credit,” based on property taxes, he said. Sales tax revenues are less stable, he said, “which means it makes it harder for you to borrow money.”
About half way through the session, an audience member said “You, our elected representatives, ought to be helping people afford better housing, afford healthcare, and afford cost of living. That's what I want to hear.”
“You care about the price of homes, building more homes,” Wilkerson said in acknowledging the question, “because if you do away with homestead property tax, you're going to put it on your rental properties, which means that everybody renting, that's trying to buy a home, is paying it all in rent.”
“If you add sales tax to your groceries, it's going to go on up, your utility bill is going to go up,” he said.
“So the first thing we had to do is kind of stop what's happening,” he said, referring to the Democratic opposition to the Republican proposal to completely eliminate property taxes on homesteaded property.
Wilkerson said Democrats knew they were going to “take hits” for that, making it necessary to argue that they were not opposed to property tax relief but were opposed to sales tax increases to offset the property tax relief.
Affordable Housing
Other audience members also asked about affordable house, with several asking for solutions to homelessness in Clarke County.
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| Frye 8/11/2026 |
Frye, who is Executive Director of Athens Area Habitat for Humanity and also a developer, said “housing is something that I've worked on for about 30 years now.”
“So we've got to unlock the chokehold on construction of dwellings,” he said.
Frye in response to another question said zoning and building restrictions were driving up the cost of housing.
"The state gives money to municipalities and counties,” he said, noting that he has introduced legislation that says “if you want state money, you have to change your local ordinances to increase density in your area.”
“Doesn't that sound reasonable?” he asked. “Why should communities that don't want people to live there or to move there get state money rather than people who are going to build housing and increase density?”
“At the state level, we can do sweeping legislation that affects every county in the state, every city in the state,” he said. “But it's up to us as citizens to hold our local elected officials accountable for the choices they make.”
“And they're not letting us build houses,” he said. “And if we could build more houses, your property taxes would be lower.”
Georgia Department Of Transportation
Dan Magee asked the legislators about spending by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), saying “How do we know all that money's being spent efficiently, and can some of the money from GDOT be spent somewhere else to lower property taxes?”
Magee also questioned the appointment by the legislature of people in real estate to the state Transportation Board. Jamie Boswell, who represents Oconee County on that Board, is owner of The Boswell Group, a real estate, insurance, and appraisal company based on Athens.
“I have confidence in the director of GDOT,” Frye responded. Transportation Commissioner Russell R. McMurry is the chief executive officer of the agency.
“I understand your concerns about the professions that might be on the Board,” Frye continued, “and, in the past, we have considered trying to say, ‘Hey, maybe you shouldn't deal in real estate and know all the transactions for GDOT'.”
“That's a great point. I'm not knocking it,” he said.
“But I do have confidence in the leadership at GDOT, and I do see their budgets. I approve their budgets,” Frye said.
“I look at what they spend it on,” he said. “I think investing in the infrastructure is extremely important to the growth of the state.”
Video
I was out of town when this meeting took place. I asked Harold Thompson to use a camera and tripod I lent him to record this meeting.
Thompson is chair of the Oconee County Democratic Party, but he recorded this video not for the party but as a favor for me. He has not had access to the video until today, when I posted this story.
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