As hearings on the “tax hikes” required for the incomplete rollback of the 2024 property tax rate move forward, the Bulloch County School Board and Superintendent Charles Wilson have begun exploring the possibility of a future property tax exemption, possibly for seniors.

Creating a county-specific exemption, should the board choose to do so, could take “about a two-year process,” Wilson said. In speaking to citizens during the tax hearing on Thursday evening, Aug. 15, he mentioned that Robert Fisher, deputy chief assessor for the Bulloch County Board of Tax Assessors, is scheduled to speak to the school board during the regular “work session” on Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m.

“He’s coming next week to speak to the board at our work session and spend time with us to educate the board on tax exemptions, how they are designed, how to apply for them and what the processes are,” Wilson said. “I think the board is interested in that.”

During the hearing, 1st District BOE member-elect Lannie Lanier addressed the board as a citizen, continuing the informal public conversation with Wilson. Lanier served on the board more than a decade ago and recently ran unopposed to succeed current member Glenn Womack, who did not seek re-election.

Among the demands made by Lanier, as well as other elected board members and other Bulloch residents, was “tax relief for seniors.”

“This is important because you have seniors who are on fixed incomes and whose taxes are getting higher and higher,” Lanier said. He called the possibility that taxes could force seniors out of their homes “a real situation.”

Wilson noted that in previous years, when discussing a school tax exemption for seniors, other citizens suggested that “maybe we shouldn’t look at it that way, but that the tax should be income-based because many seniors are wealthy and many young people are not.”

An exemption could also be based on age and income in some way, he said, telling Lanier, who will take his seat on the board in early January, that he would likely be there in time to help make the decision. But Wilson said his understanding of what could be done grew after talking with county tax assessors.

“I think we’ll hear from them that the board can work out its own tax exemption,” Wilson said. “Now it has to be approved by the voters of Bulloch County.”

Change of state

Meanwhile, a proposed amendment to the Georgia state constitution that will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot could limit inflationary growth in future home tax assessments, which is also expected to be part of further discussions on Thursday, Aug. 22, Wilson said.

If the amendment is passed, school boards, county commissioners and city councils will have until March 1, 2025, to decide whether to opt out of the new, “flexible” statewide property tax exemption that would serve to limit homeowners’ tax assessments to a general “cost of living” inflation rate.

For example, the federal cost of living increase (based on the Consumer Price Index, CPI) of 4.1% from 2022 to 2023 and 3.2% from 2023 to 2024 was significantly less than Bulloch County’s residential property price inflation, which was more than 13% in each of those years.

“I’m just going to use 3.2%,” Wilson said. “If that happens, that means someone living in their home isn’t going to see it go up 18% or 14% or whatever. … If the board doesn’t get out, it will forever be established that reassessments will be limited to that inflation index. I don’t know if that’s going to help us, but it seems like it would help individuals living in their primary residence.”

He referred to the state legislation as House Bill 581. This complex bill, which is now law, includes a provision that the additional statewide property tax exemption will be adjusted annually to reflect inflation if the amendment is passed.

The real amendment question, however, is contained in House Resolution 1022: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to authorize the General Assembly to provide by general law a statewide property tax exemption for the purpose of limiting the increase in the assessed value of real property, but which exemption may be waived by any county, consolidated government, municipality, or local school system after completing certain procedures?”

The tax increase hearing on Thursday, August 15 at 6 p.m. was the second of three hearings the board must hold after formally announcing a tax increase. The first hearing was also held on August 15 at 11:30 a.m.

Seven of the eight current board members attended the 11:30 a.m. hearing and all eight attended the 6 p.m. hearing. Two citizens, Tim Powell and 7th District BOE member-elect Lisha Nevil, signed in for the 11:30 a.m. hearing. During the 6 p.m. hearing, which the reporter attended, Lanier and Cassandra Mikell signed in and spoke to the board.

Mikell and Lawton Sack, co-founders of the Bulloch Action Coalition, which opposes this and other tax increases, also participated in informal conversations with Wilson and the current board members who spoke with them on the podium.

The third hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, August 22, and the school board could set the final school operating tax amount during Thursday’s meeting at 6:30 p.m.

As Alison Boatright, the school district’s chief financial officer, announced on Thursday, the rate will be reduced from 8.478 per thousand last year to 7.932 per thousand.

This represents a reduction in the tax rate of 0.546 of a percent, or 6.44%. Bulloch County currently has one of the 10 lowest school property tax rates in the state. If considered only as a factor in tax collection rather than a dollar value, 7.932 of a percent would be the lowest tax rate for Bulloch schools in well over a decade.

However, under state law, known as the Georgia Property Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the new tax rate requires tax increase hearings because it does not fully offset inflation in property values ​​set by the county taxing authority.

The “rollback rate” the school system would have to implement to fully offset average inflation in property values ​​would be 7.558 per thousand, 4.95% less than the 7.932 per thousand rate now proposed. The school system’s hearing notices described this as a 4.95% tax increase.

This would equate to an average tax increase of $37.40 for non-ownership properties currently valued at $250,000.

For a home valued at $250,000 and the standard property tax exemption, the total school tax would be $777.34, with an average increase of $36.65.

At least 14 million

For the third year in a row, Bulloch County faces a dilemma: It must meet a “minimum tax rate” of 14 percent to remain eligible for state fiscal equalization payments, primarily because it uses the original Local Option Sales Tax to fund schools and has one of the lowest property tax rates to fund schools in Georgia.

Bulloch County Schools’ revenue from the Local Options Sales Tax was 6.068 per thousand in 2023. Subtracting 6.068 per thousand from 14 per thousand leaves 7.932 per thousand, the tax rate now proposed.

$9.8 million at risk

Although the projected increase in property tax revenue after the partial rollback – accounting for inflation and construction growth – is just over $2 million, Bulloch’s $9.8 million in equalization payments would be at risk if the $14-mill tax rate is not maintained, Boatright and Wilson say.

Mikell noted that “citizens are still paying more in taxes” and claimed that school officials’ descriptions were misleading. Sack argued that the board should still vote for a full rollback, saying he did not believe state officials would penalize Bulloch County by losing the entire $9.8 million.

However, Wilson said that as superintendent, he could not in good conscience advise the board to take that risk.

Lanier, who spoke first, said he had received many calls, texts and emails and knew there were many things the board could be criticized for.

“But in this situation, I have to give you a break because I explain to people that the 14-milliliter tax is the law; it’s a bad law,” he said. “All the effort and anxiety that goes into this 14-milliliter tax situation should be directed elsewhere.”

Lanier stressed that State Senator Billy Hickman and Representatives Butch Parrish, Lehman Franklin and Jon Burns need to be made aware “to make changing this law a priority.”