Carroll County Board of Education holds public hearing on opting out of House Bill 581 homestead exemption

Carroll County Board of Education held a public hearing on Jan. 13, 2025, to gather community input on whether the district should opt out of House Bill 581, the Statewide Adjusted Base Year Ad Valorem Homestead Exemption enacted by the Georgia General Assembly.

Board staff warned the exemption could reduce local school revenue over time, while citizens and former educators offered competing views about local control and state responsibility for school funding.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Delaine Wolf told the board that "House Bill 581 created a new exemption" called the Statewide Adjusted Base Year Ad Valorem Homestead Exemption and that the new exemption "stacks on top of" current homestead exemptions. She said the opt-out process applies only to the new exemption and that county assessments would continue to be done at fair value. Wolf summarized the district's analysis: had the exemption been in effect over the last five years, "the aggregate impact could be as much as $21,000,000 which would…