Chatham County commissioners decline to opt out of state homestead changes, say software will pick biggest saving for homeowners

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to take no action on whether to opt out of House Bill 581, the statewide homestead exemption measure, leaving the county subject to the state law while preserving the county's existing Stevens Day local exemption.

The decision follows a public hearing in which two residents urged different outcomes and where county officials and the county attorney described how the two exemptions would be applied.

The move matters because it determines whether Chatham County homeowners will be covered by the statewide exemption set by referendum and how that law interacts with the county's long-standing local homestead exemption known as Stevens Day. County officials said assessor software will compute each year which exemption delivers the larger tax benefit to each homeowner and apply that exemption for that tax year.

At the start of the hearing Clyde Sheffield, who identified himself as a District 1 resident, told the commission he favored opting out. "I would like to see us just opt out of this thing and I don't think that we as a people as taxpayers . . . can't go wrong locally," Sheffield said. David McDonald of the Downtown Neighborhood Association asked the commission for clarity on conflicting signals he had seen about whether the county planned to opt in or opt out.

County commissioners and staff explained that the county is "automatically in" unless it formally opts out by the March 1 deadline in current state law. County Attorney Patrice told the board that "if you do nothing, it's an automatic opt in," and that the two exemptions can run concurrently; the software will choose the exemption that saves the homeowner the most in a given year.

Chairman Chester A. Ellis said the county had purchased assessor software to model the effects and that the results showed only a small subset of properties would be better served by House Bill 581. "When they put it in, it came up and said there are 81 properties in Chatham County which will benefit the most by [HB 581]," Ellis said, adding the vast majority of property owners will continue to benefit from the existing Stevens Day exemption.

Commissioner Aaron Whiteley reiterated that the commission is a separate taxing authority from the City of Savannah and urged residents not to conflate the two bodies' actions. "By us taking no action . . . it leaves multiple tools in the toolbox for property owners to save money," Whiteley said, noting county assessors had purchased software to make annual calculations.

The board made a formal motion to take no action on the opt-out question; the motion was seconded and the board voted to take no action, which officials said preserves the status quo: Stevens Day remains available and the state exemption will be applied where it provides a larger reduction. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally of the vote.

County officials and commissioners also discussed pending legislative activity, including House Bill 92, which at the time of the meeting had passed the House and was awaiting Senate action; commissioners stressed the county would operate under the law in effect and would monitor any changes that could affect reporting or deadlines.

The commission said staff will submit the county's default response to the state by the March 1 deadline and will continue to update commissioners as legislative language and deadlines evolve.