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Cobb County net digest rises 3.39%; presenter says floating homestead exemption saved example homeowner about $838
Summary
A county presenter told the meeting the Cobb County net digest grew 3.39% in 2025 and used an example home to show the county's floating homestead exemption kept the general fund share of a property tax bill steady, producing roughly $838 in savings compared with a bill without the exemption.
A staff presenter at a Cobb County meeting said the county's net digest grew by 3.39% in 2025 and highlighted the county's floating homestead exemption as a factor that limited growth in the general fund portion of homeowners' tax bills.
The presenter said, "I do wanna highlight the net digest. It has grown, and we have a net increase of 3.39%" and added that prior years had seen higher growth rates "as high as 8% or 10%" before slowing to about 3.39% in 2025.
The presenter gave a specific homeowner example to show how the floating homestead exemption affects bills. He described a Cobb County house with an estimated fair market value rising from roughly $200,000 in 2018 to about $450,000 in 2024, and said the general fund portion of the bill — described as an 8.46 mills rate — "has remained steady" at about $609 since the date of purchase. According to the presenter, without the homestead exemption the general fund tax on that example would have been $1,447.64, a difference of $838.
The presenter contrasted the general fund column with the school district (yellow) and fire district (red) columns in his example, saying those jurisdictions do not have a floating homestead exemption and "you'll notice that they go up in proportion to the increase in the fair market value." The presentation framed the exemption as reducing how increases in market value translate to a homeowner's general fund tax liability.
This account was a presentation of data and an illustrative example; the transcript does not show a vote, policy change, or further action taken during the meeting on the homestead exemption or on tax rates.
Topics discussed included the countywide net digest change, historical growth rates, the mechanics of the floating homestead exemption for primary residences in Cobb County, and an illustrative comparison of tax shares among general fund, school, and fire districts.
