Committee researchers present homestead-exemption models; draft costs about $45 million more than current law

The Ways & Means committee heard a technical briefing on a proposed homestead exemption that would reshape property-tax relief by household income and house-site value, with Joint Fiscal Office analyst Julia Richter presenting modeling that compares the administration’s plan with the draft 1.1 exemption language in the education finance proposal.

The models use FY 2025 data and, Richter said, are intended to be comparable across structures: "we're nonpartisan, legislative office against unbiased fiscal analysis," she told the committee as she explained assumptions and data coverage. The draft homestead exemption in ed finance draft 1.1 is estimated in the JFO analysis to cost approximately $45,000,000 more annually than the current property tax credit system, assuming that the additional cost is not recouped by raising the homestead property tax rate.

Why this matters: the committee is weighing how to make property-tax relief more income-sensitive while balancing state fiscal impact and municipal effects. Under current law, a property tax credit is…