Macon-Bibb commissioners vote to opt out of House Bill 581s floating homestead exemption

Macon-Bibb County commissioners voted to opt out of House Bill 581s default floating homestead exemption following a presentation by county legal staff and a single public comment at a Feb. 26 hearing.

Michael McNeil, the countys chief assistant county attorney, told the commission the bills default "opt in" creates a floating homestead exemption that begins with a 2024 base year and then allows the states revenue commissioner to cap assessed-value increases based on statewide inflation. "First, it creates a floating homestead exemption. And then the second thing is it allows local governments to modify their sales tax collections to make up for revenues that are lost through this floating homestead exemption," McNeil said during the presentation.

McNeil said Macon-Bibb currently offers a $7,000 flat homestead exemption and that the Department of Revenue "for 2025 . . . are going to assume no inflation," meaning assessed values for homestead properties would not increase for that year under the states calculation. He warned, however, that the floating exemption "builds up" over time if local market values rise faster than statewide inflation. Using recent growth figures, McNeil presented a conservative projection that the county could see annual revenue reductions in the range of $8 million to $13 million by 2030 and described a cumulative taxable-digest impact of about $1.6 billion to $2.4 billion under that scenario.

David Summerall, the lone registered speaker at the public comment period, urged the commission to opt out and to look for other ways to shift property-tax burden from homeowners, citing senior exemptions as one option. "If you do opt out, I think that's where this is going . . . continue to look for ways to shift the burden off the local property owner," Summerall said.

Commissioners who spoke before the vote said they had supported the underlying ballot measure but, after reviewing the bill text and receiving additional information, concluded the county should opt out. Several called the bill confusing or poorly written and emphasized the lack of a local sales-tax offset for Macon-Bibb because voters previously approved a local option sales tax, which McNeil said makes the county ineligible to implement the floating local option sales tax (FLOST) some jurisdictions could use to offset revenue losses.

Mayor Projean Clark moved to adopt a resolution opting out of HB 581 and to transmit the resolution to the Georgia Secretary of State by the statutory deadline. The motion was seconded; the chair announced the motion passed by a 7-1 voice vote with Commissioner Wilder recorded in opposition. The county clerk will transmit the adopted resolution to the Secretary of State by March 1 unless a change in state law extends that deadline.

Commissioners and staff said they plan to work with the local legislative delegation on targeted local exemptions (for example, a senior exemption) that would require separate legislative and likely voter action under the Georgia Constitution. The meeting record notes that a proposed state bill (House Bill 92) is pending in the Senate and would, if enacted, extend the deadline to March 31, but commissioners said they must act on the existing March 1 deadline unless state law changes.

The commission adjourned after briefly previewing a future meeting that will include an update on local violence-prevention programming and possible mid-year budget adjustments.