Spalding County commissioners vote unanimously to opt out of House Bill 581

Spalding County commissioners voted 5-0 on Feb. 17 to opt out of House Bill 581, a new Georgia law that creates a statewide floating homestead exemption and an associated floating local option sales tax (FLOST).

County Manager Steve Ledbetter told the board and members of the public that HB 581 "is an exemption. It is not a property valuation decrease," and that the law sets a 2024 base year for exemption calculations and allows future increases tied to a consumer-price index rather than to the full change in assessed market value.

The decision followed a combined series of county presentations and a public hearing that drew more than twenty speakers, many of whom said they supported the ballot measure that passed across the state and in Spalding County in November but were unsure how the local implementation would affect county services and tax rates.

Why it matters: The county's finance staff and elected commissioners warned that HB 581, as written, would reduce the county's net digest and shift tax burden and fiscal pressure onto the millage rate (the property tax rate). Commissioner James Dutton explained the county's fiscal…