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County presenter says Walton County's homestead freeze limits board's ability to lower property tax rate
Summary
A presenter at the Walton County Board of Commissioners meeting explained how the county's homestead freeze, in effect since 2003, keeps assessment increases from expanding the taxable base for county mills and leaves the county with fewer options to reduce tax burden compared with the school system.
A county staff member told the Walton County Board of Commissioners on July 2 that the county's homestead freeze, adopted in February 2003, freezes a home's assessed value at the purchase date for as long as the owner occupies the property, and that practice now covers 23,386 homes in the county.
The presenter said the freeze applies only to Walton County's taxing authority and does not affect the county's school system or cities. He told commissioners that because frozen values do not rise with market assessments, the county cannot rely on new assessment growth in the same way the school system can when it reduces its millage rate.
Why it matters: The presenter used several…
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