City attorney, accountant outline how House Bill 581 would alter property taxes and Statham’s budget

City attorney Jody Campbell and city accountant Rachel Bimbury laid out how House Bill 581 would change property tax calculations and local budgets during a Statham City Council public hearing on Feb. 4, 2025.

Campbell told the council HB 581 creates a statewide “floating” homestead exemption that offsets market-driven assessed‑value increases and then limits assessed‑value growth to an inflationary factor set by the state revenue commissioner. “If a governing authority does nothing, yes — the new floating homestead exemption becomes binding,” Campbell said, noting the law took effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Campbell described the opt‑out steps required for a jurisdiction to avoid the statewide default: three public meetings, an affirmative vote, a signed resolution and submission of supporting materials to the secretary of state by March 1. He warned the statute does not detail how the state revenue commissioner will calculate the inflationary adjustment and described that uncertainty as a material variable for local budgeting.

Rachel Bimbury presented Statham’s fiscal picture and modeled the city’s exposure under illustrative inflation scenarios. She said the city’s general fund is heavily reliant on property taxes and that police and public works together account for roughly 91% of general‑fund expenditures. Using the city’s FY25 assumptions, Bimbury showed an example in which a homeowner saved roughly $44 a year under HB 581’s mechanics, while the city could face an illustrative five‑year revenue shortfall of about $867,000 under the presented assumptions.

A council member misread the homeowner example during questions and asked whether the $44 figure was monthly; Bimbury and Campbell corrected the record that the example on the slide showed $44 per year in that scenario, not per month. “It’s somebody’s paying for it somewhere,” Campbell said, describing the policy trade‑offs that shift a portion of the tax burden toward commercial and non‑homesteaded properties unless the local government raises millage or cuts services.

Public comment was brief. Elaine Wright, who identified herself, urged the council to opt out and said there are “too many unknowns” in the statute, including concerns about loss of uniformity between neighboring homeowners’ tax bills.

No opt‑out vote was taken at the Feb. 4 meeting. Campbell and Bimbury said the council has two more public hearings scheduled before it must decide whether to adopt a local resolution and submit materials by the March 1 deadline; Campbell noted the legislature might attempt to extend the deadline but said that was uncertain and could arrive at the last minute.

What’s next: The council scheduled additional hearings and did not take a final vote on opt‑out at this meeting. If the council does nothing by March 1, HB 581 will become the default rule for property taxation inside Statham city limits until and unless the General Assembly acts.