Finance committee hears how House Bill 782 would cap school property tax growth for Chatham County homeowners

The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System finance committee on Oct. 8 received a presentation on House Bill 782, the Chatham County School Tax Relief Act, which would cap the school portion of property taxes for owner-occupied homesteads at a 2025 base assessed value if the bill becomes law.

"It caps the school's portion of property taxes at the base year assessed value of a homeowner's property," Paige Cooley said during the committee meeting. She told the board the bill, if approved in November, would take effect Jan. 1, 2026, and would not exempt bonded indebtedness.

Committee members and staff said the change would slow revenue growth tied to rising home values and that the district would need to adjust forecasting and budgeting practices. "This could lead to slower revenue growth, such as for transportation, staffing, [and] student services," Cooley said. She added that taxes from new construction and improvements would still be collected and that the bill applies only to owner-occupied homes with homestead exemptions.

Board members pressed staff for details about how the county assessment process and the district's existing Stevens Day exemption interact with the proposed law. "That Stevens Day exemption, as it's drafted, continues to have that CPI component to it," Larry Jackson, the district's chief financial officer, explained, describing the two exemptions as running in parallel and the "best exemption" applying to a taxpayer. Jackson and other staff emphasized that the bill, as written, locks in 2025 assessed values but does not itself replace or eliminate the Stevens Day CPI-based exemption.

Trustee Mara Hall said she worried the bill could be "a strike against public education" if it reduces growth in predictable revenues. Other board members described the bill as forcing greater budget discipline: "I see this as a mechanism for discipline," one member said, arguing the district will have to justify spending rather than rely on automatic assessment-driven increases.

Committee members asked for further technical briefings. A staff member told the board the county tax assessor's office has offered to present on the assessment process in a future meeting so the board can better understand how assessed and fair-market values are determined and how the Stevens Day exemption is applied.

No formal board action on the bill occurred at the committee meeting; staff said the board will continue monitoring the legislation and its fiscal implications.

For homeowners: staff stressed the measure would apply only to owner-occupied properties with a homestead exemption, would not apply to added improvements or land after the base year, and would not relieve taxes that fund bonded debt. If passed, the bill would prevent automatic increases to the homestead assessed value above the 2025 level so long as the homeowner remains in the residence.