Several residents at a Bulloch County Board of Commissioners meeting asked for detailed explanations after the county’s 2025 gross tax digest rose sharply, and commissioners explained how state law and recent homestead-exemption changes affect property tax bills.

Keith Hamilton, a resident who identified his address as 11111 Arcola Road, told the board he supported the proposed county budget but pressed officials about a reported $607,000,000 increase in the 2025 gross tax digest, which he said was listed at $4,537,000,000. “I want some transparency and some honesty about it. I want a straight answer,” Hamilton said, asking how much of the increase came from reappraisals of existing property and how much came from newly added development.

The board — represented during answers by Chairman David Bennett — said reassessments are governed by state law and explained how the recently increased homestead exemption affects individual tax bills. Bennett said commissioners do not independently decide when to reassess property values and that “if that amount if we go over that amount of an increase in the tax digest by state law, the assessor's office must reassess all the property in the county.” He told Hamilton he would follow up with figures from the tax assessor’s office.

On how the homestead-exemption change affects what homeowners pay, an official explanation at the meeting said properties enrolled in the homestead exemption will have their 2025 taxes based on the 2024 assessment (the “lock-in” year). The board explained that next January the Georgia Department of Revenue will publish the consumer price index the state will use to cap increases for homestead properties; meeting remarks referenced a 2.73% CPI figure while attendees discussed the law’s indexing provisions. The transcript reflects a county explanation: “if your property is enrolled in a homestead exemption, your tax rate this year is gonna be based off of the 2024 assessment, not the 2025.”

Speakers also clarified limits on the homestead exemption’s acreage: a speaker noted the exemption is limited to 5 acres, so any acreage beyond that is subject to reassessed value. Hamilton and other commenters referenced changes in the homestead exemption amount — from $2,000 to $7,680 — and said the change will affect calculations. A resident said her assessment showed about a 34% increase from 2024 to 2025 before the homestead protections were applied.

Several commenters, including Kathy Dixon and Arlene Hendricks, asked whether the county was doing outreach to explain the changes and what avenues residents have to raise concerns with state lawmakers. Chairman Bennett and other officials said the county regularly interfaces with local state legislators and encouraged constituents to contact their representatives; they also said commissioners can meet with community groups and that contact information for commissioners is on the county website.

On local tax relief options, a commissioner announced the county had passed its part of a resolution to place a one-percent sales tax — referred to in the meeting as a FLOS/“1% sales tax” — on the November ballot, and said the city of Statesboro had also passed the needed action. The commissioner said revenue from the sales tax would be used “to offset the property taxes of the people of Bulloch County.”

The meeting record includes no formal vote totals for the resolution mentioned on the sales-tax measure; the announcement was presented as the county having passed its portion of the needed approvals and confirming the measure will appear on the ballot in November.

The county clerk recorded several procedural motions in the meeting: the board approved the meeting agenda, opened and later closed the public-comment period, and adjourned at the meeting’s close.

Residents asked for follow-up data from the tax assessor’s office and additional community education. The chairman said he would return with assessor-provided figures and that county staff and commissioners are available to meet with neighborhoods or civic groups to explain how assessments and exemptions translate into tax bills.

The comments and responses at the meeting focused on questions of process, clarification of state-imposed limits and timelines, and the county’s next steps to provide residents more specific figures and outreach.