HOBOKEN — City Attorney Adam Ferrell brought City of Hoboken Council members up to speed on new House Bill 581 dealing with homestead tax exemption.
HB581 limits an increase in the taxable value of a home to no more than the inflation rate that occurred over the prior year. It also authorizes municipalities with the new homestead exemption or equivalent to levy a new sales tax to be used for property tax relief.
“I think the general consensus was that there may be, in this situation, some disadvantages of opting out,” Ferrell said of the Thursday, December 19 meeting held at the Brantley County Board of Education with City of Hoboken, City of Nahunta and BOE leaders as well as Tax Commissioner Pat Tompkins and Tax Assessor Angela Keene.
“It’s up to the city to decide if you wish to opt out of that state law,” continued Ferrell. “Obviously it’s up to (council). I think with the current exemptions, there were some expressions from the tax assessor and tax commissioner, there may be some confusion when people get their bills.
“Their concern was about some of the language and the way they calculate. Given the current local exemptions it really is not going to be a problem.”
The city attorney said there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
“I think even still, they’re intending to maybe make some corrections, possibly, and clarifications in this new legislative session on that issue,” said Ferrell. “GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) has a website with all kind of information. They have sent out an updated link which really kind of answers most of the questions that you may have.”
Councilman Jimmy Ray said he read an article in a Blackshear paper where officials were saying it might be better to keep the exemptions than to go with with the state.
“The way the law is written,” responded Ferrell, “is you have the local exemptions, which I think Pierce County does through local legislation and Brantley County has some as well, you get to calculate the best, most favorable exemption for the taxpayer. That’s one of the things the tax commissioner and tax assessor were concerned with.
“Are they going to have to calculate the tax under both scenarios? That’s a lot more work for them to do, but you should be able to get whatever is the most advantageous exemption. If you get a local exemption, then you still get that, even if this new law comes into effect.”
Ferrell added there’s a new provision if the county and all the cities choose not to opt out.
“There’s an additional sales type tax (FLOST) available if they choose to implement that,” the city attorney said. “If you opt out, you perhaps lose that option and that tax.”
