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.
Oconee County is expecting to collect $20 million more than budgeted when it asked voters to approve the current Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) in November of 2020, and commissioners at their strategic planning meeting on Wednesday discussed how to allocate the funds.
At the top of the list is a plan to pay off the General Obligation Bond voters approved in 2002 for purchase of land and development of what is now Oconee Veterans Park.
Four citizens spoke at the second public hearing on Tuesday (Jan. 28) on the Oconee County School Board’s announced intent to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption, all telling the Board they want the exemption.
Two of the citizens emphasized that the clear majority of Oconee County voters (64.3 percent) had approved a Constitutional Amendment in the Nov. 5 election allowing for the new homestead exemption.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners, the Board of Education, and Sheriff James Hale came together on Wednesday to establish a 16-person division within the Sheriff’s Office to provide School Resource Officers (SROs) in each of the county’s 12 schools.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed at the end of the meeting was the result of discussions among the three entities that began immediately after the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County that left two students and two teachers dead and seven others injured.
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.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education have called a joint meeting for 6 p.m. on Jan. 29 to discuss a $1.4 million Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to put school resource officers (SROs) in the county’s schools.
The MOU calls for Sheriff James Hale to employ up to 16 deputies “as quickly as is reasonably practicable given the qualifications required of SROs and their availability” in order to provide one SRO in each of the 12 Oconee County School District schools.
Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams led off the first hearing on Thursday evening on the floating property tax exemption for homeowners, making the case to the Board that it should opt out of implementation of the exemption.
Adams took seven minutes for his presentation, telling the Board that financial obligations are continuing to increase annually and opting out allows the Board to maintain local control to best meet the needs of Oconee students.
