Burke County holds hearing on House Bill 581 homestead assessment cap; residents say ballot confused them

Burke County held the second of three public hearings on House Bill 581 on Jan. 31 as county staff explained how the law would limit annual increases in assessed value for properties with homestead exemptions and as residents voiced confusion over the November ballot question that approved an amendment tied to the law.

Ben Roberts, a staff member in the tax assessor’s office, told the hearing that HB 581 and the related Amendment 1 do not create “a new tax exemption” and instead cap how much a homesteaded property’s assessed value can rise in a given year. “There is no new tax exemption through this,” Roberts said. He told residents the cap would be set annually by the Georgia Department of Revenue’s revenue commissioner and applied to primary residences for taxpayers with a homestead exemption.

The chief appraiser, Philip Rins of the Tax Assessor’s Office, and Roberts advised that the change will not freeze taxes permanently. “I would tell you it’s what it does is slow down the increases,” Roberts said, describing the cap as a year-to-year limit that becomes the base for the following year. He said the State’s index for 2025 was…