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Commissioners discuss House Bill 581 ('Save Our Home') and its budget implications for Pickens County
Summary
Officials reviewed House Bill 581 (the 'Save Our Home' homestead amendment): it freezes homestead valuation increases (CPI, capped at 3%), creates an optional special sales tax to fund rollbacks, and gives local governments a January–March window to opt out; county staff warned of workload and revenue implications.
Speaker 1 briefed the board on House Bill 581 (described at the meeting as the "Save Our Home" constitutional amendment), saying the measure passed statewide and in Pickens County and that it extends and caps homestead-exemption increases. "Essentially, it takes and extends your homestead exemption... freeze your increases to where they would peak at 3% maximum depending on what the rate of inflation is," Speaker 1 said.
He said the law establishes a process that allows local governments (counties, cities and school systems) to opt out of the freeze but that opting out requires three public hearings and a vote within a narrow January–March window. Speaker 1 also said the bill created a special-purpose local option sales tax (an additional one-cent sales tax) that could be used for property-tax rollbacks but would itself require a public referendum.
Speaker 1 warned the amendment will complicate local budgeting and add work for the assessor's office because governments will need to track homestead values separately from fair-market values. He recommended further review and consultation with the assessor and with ACCG (Association County Commissioners of Georgia) resources and said the board should be prepared to consider a course of action early in the new year if opting out is to be pursued.
