Hall County School District’s Superintendent Will Schofield spoke about opting out of House Bill 581.
HB 581 was passed in April of last year and provided homestead exemption that would limit annual assessment increases to the rate of inflation.
It is important to note that there were local homestead exemption measures on the ballot that are not eligible for opt-outs that lock in property values to their 2023 valuations and then a 3-percent increase annually.
“We not only had to deal with the state legislation, 581 that everybody talks about, but we had local legislation that was passed for both the city and the county,” Schofield said on WDUN’s “The Martha Zoller Show.” “Which was significantly … more severe in terms of homestead exemptions than the state passage.”
Schofield added that Hall County schools will see lost revenue due to the local legislation.
“Just for the Hall County School District, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-4-million of immediate lost revenue,” Schofield said.
Schofield did say the local legislation will be more advantageous for almost everyone, which is part of the reason for the opt-out.
“We ought to be looking at some sort of a flat tax to pay for local services, and not looking at something like property tax,” Schofield said. “It affects people so differently depending on what house you’re living in that it’s hard for me to think of that as fair and sustainable.”
