Savannah-Chatham County public hearing examines whether to adopt state’s HB 581 floating homestead exemption

Savannah — The Savannah-Chatham County School Board held a public hearing on Feb. 6 to gather public comment and hear a staff presentation on Georgia House Bill 581, the statewide “floating” homestead exemption signed into law on April 18, 2024.

Finance Division Controller Laundice Homes presented the county’s second public briefing on HB 581 and said the bill creates a statewide floating exemption intended "to control assessments of properties by freezing property values." Homes told the board the law was approved by state voters on Nov. 5 and offers a statewide floating exemption, an optional local sales-tax offset and other property tax reforms, but does not eliminate existing local homestead exemptions.

The presentation compared HB 581 with Chatham County’s long-standing Stevens-Day homestead exemption, enacted by the state legislature in 1998 and commonly used by local homeowners to limit increases in taxable home value. "Stevens-Day freezes your home value to the base year value providing stability," Homes said, adding that Stevens-Day has been amended and litigated over 25 years and is considered by staff to be one of the strongest local exemptions in Georgia.

Staff outlined several differences between the two frameworks: HB 581 is a statewide program while Stevens-Day applies to Chatham County only; HB 581 is expected to use a consumer price index calculation similar to CPI-U; HB 581’s statutory rules exclude transfers of the exemption to new owners (with limited survivorship exception); and HB 581 covers some properties larger than 5 acres, according to the presentation. Controller Homes said Chatham County’s calculations indicate the immediate benefits of HB 581 to existing homeowners may be limited: using tax year 2024 as the base year, staff estimated that a current homeowner could pay about $9,574 more over a 10-year period under HB 581’s formula in the scenarios shown on staff slides.

Homes also warned that opting into HB 581 would require substantial administrative work by county staff to prepare new calculations and that future state amendments could change the program’s effects. "Opting in will require an enormous amount of time, additional staff, and work for county staff to prepare the calculations that could complicate the exemption process," Homes said. Homes said that, as a result, "every municipality in Chatham County is choosing to opt out of House Bill 581." The presentation concluded by announcing a third public hearing on Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. and noting that "the vote on this resolution is scheduled to take place on February 19."

Two members of the public spoke during the hearing. Matthew Craps, who identified himself as a Savannah resident of nearly 68 years, said he favored keeping the local Stevens-Day exemption and asked whether the school board and municipalities would decide whether to opt in. "From what I can see ... it was more in our best interest to keep the homestead exemption we have than to move forward with something different," Craps said. Rose Metz said many voters who approved HB 581 may have expected an extension of Stevens-Day and noted the programs are not identical: "I think a lot of people who voted for it thought it was going to be an extension of the Stevens-Day. So it's different."

This hearing was advisory and no board vote was taken. The board’s materials indicate a resolution related to HB 581 will be considered for a formal vote on Feb. 19; the public comment and staff analysis from the Feb. 6 hearing will be part of the record for that decision.