Coweta School Board to consider Local Alternative to HB 581 on Friday

Coweta School Board February 11 Regular Meeting (video)

From Coweta County School System Press Release

The Coweta County Board of Education will meet in called session on Friday, February 14, for a vote on a resolution that seeks to establish a local tax cap on increases to homestead property values, expand local senior citizen tax exemptions, and provide greater local flexibility for the Coweta school board, similar to that of other local governments.

The Board will consider these provisions in a resolution calling for local legislation as an alternative to HB 581.

The Board’s called meeting will be at 8 a.m. on Friday, February 14, at the School System Central Office at 167 Werz Industrial Boulevard in Newnan.

Local Resolution (click to view)

At their regular meeting on Tuesday, February 11, the Board of Education adopted a resolution opting out of HB 581. During discussions about the opt-out resolution, Board Chairman Buzz Glover asked Superintendent Evan Horton to draft a resolution for consideration which would expand local tax relief and homestead exemptions through local governance, rather than the provisions of HB 581.

“It has become clear to me – and clear to most of the school systems around the state – that this measure would defund public schools over time,” said Chairman Glover, during Tuesday’s debate regarding HB 581.  “It treats local governments the same, but does not acknowledge that school systems – per state law – have very different responsibilities and different fiscal realities than city and county governments do.”

“All of us on this board are homeowners and have the same concerns about inflation and rising property values,” Glover said. “But if our school board were to opt in, it seems clear that 581 would diminish our ability to provide good quality schools, and hurt students, cumulatively, over time. It would reduce our ability to govern locally.  It would eliminate flexibility to offer things like senior tax exemptions, not legally, but financially. It wouldn’t affect current exemptions, but it would take off the table any possibility of raising them in the future.”

“I think the Board would like to propose an alternative that would offer help to homeowners, senior citizens, and students – everyone involved, all the stakeholders… in a way that would also be sustainable for our school system and our community.  And would place us more on the same footing as city and county governments,” said Glover.

Chairman Glover and other board members asked the Superintendent to work with the Board Attorney to draft details of the local legislation, in the form of a local resolution. That resolution – to be considered Friday – would call for local legislation which would:

• Establish a five percent annual cap on any increase or decrease in the reassessed value of any primary homestead.

• Establish a full (100 percent) senior education tax exemption on any primary homestead for citizens 75 years of age and older, raise current senior homestead tax exemptions for citizens 71 to 74 to $100,000 of assessed value (up from $85,000 currently), and raise current senior homestead tax exemptions for citizens 65 to 70 to $75,000 of assessed value  (up from $60,000 currently). (For more on current senior tax exemptions for education go here.)

• Remove the current statutory 20 mill millage rate cap for Maintenance and Operations of the school district, and increase the allowed amount that may be maintained in its General Fund reserves from 15 percent of budgeted General Fund expenditures to 20 percent.  These two measures would bring the school system closer to the local flexibility and governance enjoyed by city and county governments.

The resolution being considered by the board on Friday would also sunset on December 31, 2035, to allow for a ten-year evaluation of the provisions.