Forsyth County Board of Education holds public hearing on whether to opt out of state homestead cap (HB 581)

Chairman Mike Valdez called a special called meeting of the Forsyth County Board of Education on Jan. 28, 2025, to hear public comment and staff analysis on whether the district should opt out of House Bill 581, the statewide floating homestead exemption tied to inflation.

CFO Larry Hamill presented the district's analysis and recommended that the board opt out of HB 581. Hamill said HB 581's cap is tied to a consumer price index that "fluctuates drastically from year to year," that the bill has "no expiration date," and that the bill gives the Georgia Department of Revenue latitude to choose the CPI source and timing used to set the cap. Hamill contrasted HB 581 with the district's locally negotiated House Bill 717, a fixed 4% annual cap the board helped design and that is already in effect in Forsyth County through 2035.

The presentation included the district's fiscal context: the current maintenance-and-operations millage rate of 15.208 and a debt millage rate of 1.418; a senior property-tax…