Yes, the Lowndes County Commission will vote on the subject today, Tuesday, February 25,
although that item is not yet on its
agenda.
Yesterday they held the third and final Public Hearing about
opting out of the homestead exemption scheme passed by the state legislature as HB 581.
No citizens spoke, and very few even attended.
The county already has better homestead exemptions for both people younger than 65 years and older.
Staying in would have no option of opting out later.
Opting out leaves the possibility of opting in later.
The Lowndes County Commission is considering doing what the Lowndes County School System is doing:
opting out of the homestead exemption scheme passed by the state legislature as HB 581.
The county already has better homestead exemptions for both people younger than 65 years and older.
Staying in would have no option of opting out later.
Opting out leaves the possibility of opting in later.
Lowndes County Commissioners and staff emphasized that they were working on
further homested tax exemptions for seniors, as is the Lowndes County School System,
without need for the state’s exemption.
And they did not seem in favor of the state’s idea of an additional one-cent
sales tax to reimburse property owners.
Here are LAKE videos of yesterday’s second Public Hearing about Lowndes County
considering opting out of the statewide homestead exemption legislated last year by HB 581, effective January 1, 2025.
Three citizens spoke.
The first two seemed to be addressing some other meeting.
The Chairman had to tell the second speaker that her school system
concerns should be brought to the school board.
Here are LAKE videos of yesterday’s Public Hearing about Lowndes County
considering opting out of the statewide homestead exemption legislated last year by HB 581, effective January 1, 2025.
There will be another Public Hearing this evening,
Tuesday, February 11 at 6:00 p.m.
A final Public Hearing will be
Monday, February 24 at 9:00 a.m.
The Lowndes County Commission will vote on the subject on Tuesday, February 25.
So go to one of these public hearings and speak up,
or call or write your Lowndes County Commissioner.
After the videos below, with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
there is a LAKE video playlist.
Plus a link to the LAKE video of the Lowndes County Commission decision on January 28, 2025,
to hold these Public Hearings,
and a copy of the Lowndes County press release announcing these Public Hearings.
As well as the text of the referendum that appeared on the November 5, 2024, general election ballot,
the text of HB 581,
and links to guidance by ACCG and GMA,
Personally, I find this point alone convincing:
Lowndes County already has a $6,000 homestead exemption for homeowners up to 65 years of age and a $10,000 homestead exemption for homeowners 65 and older. These exemptions are significantly more than the state statutory exemptions.
FYI, I have reason to believe the City of Valdosta is equally concerned about HB 581. Continue reading →
Finance Director Stephanie Black said due to the
Property Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights,
if the tax digest (total assessed property value in the county)
goes up, the county has to reduce the millage (tax per $1,000 of property value),
or announce the difference as a tax increase and hold three public hearings,
so they’re rolling back the millage rate slightly: 0.126 mills,
down from 11.064 for 2018 to 10.938 for 2019.
That’s Georgia Senate Bill 177, Act 431, signed April 30, 1999, effective January 1, 2000.
Here is the millage resolution they adopted half an hour later,
in the
board packet, which LAKE only received after this millage meeting and after the Commission voted on this millage change:
She showed some quite informative slides, which for unknown reasons do not
seem to be on
the Finance Department’s web page.
For example, she had a nice summary slide of the five chunks of sales tax these days:
4 cents to the State of Georgia,
1 cent to Local Option Sales Tax (LOST),
split between county and its cities for property tax reduction,
1 cent to Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), split between county and its cities for capital improvements,
1 cent to Educational Special Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST),
split between the county and city school systems for capital improvements
1 cent to Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST),
regionally approved, and split between the county and its cities for transportation capital improvements.
Billed on the lowndescounty.com calendar as
Millage Meeting,
5PM, Tuesday, 27 August 2019, in Commission Chambers before the voting Regular Session,
as usual almost nobody attended, and nobody from the public spoke.
Lowering the Millage Rate
Millage Meeting, Lowndes County Commission (LCC Millage),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, August 27, 2019.
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
If Lowndes County owed $0 (zero dollars) on the county palace in November 2010,
why are we paying on
$8,965,000 in bonds for it in December 2012?
If that palace was “100% Paid by SPLOST” in 2010,
why in 2012 is the county pledging our property tax dollars to pay those bonds?
In November 2010:
$22,380,000
Judicial Building Cost
$6,728,000
Administrative Building Cost
100%
Paid by SPLOST
$0
Balance Owed
So says a double-page flyer about “the Lowndes County Judicial &
Administrative Complex”
produced by the Valdosta Daily Times for Lowndes
County in 2010 and signed “Highest regards, Joe Pritchard, County Manager”.
There’s no dateline, but it invites the public to a dedication of the Complex
“on Friday, November 12, 2010.”
The Bonds are payable solely from payments to be made by Lowndes County,
Georgia (the “County”) pursuant to an Intergovernmental Contract,
dated as of December 1, 2012 (the “Contract”), between the Issuer
and the County. Under the Contract, the County has agreed to levy and
collect an annual tax on all taxable property located within the County
as may be necessary to produce in each year revenues which are sufficient
to make the payments required by the Contract.
![[Collage @ LCC 24 February 2025]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2025-02-24--lcc-opt-out-iii-videos/many.jpg)
![[Final Public Hearing, Intent to Opt Out of Homestead Exemption, HB 581 @ LCC 2025-02-24]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2025-02-24--lowndes-county-opt-out-hb-581-homestead-exemptions/fbmany.jpg)
![[Opt out of GA HB 581? Public Hearing 2025-02-11, Re: Homestead Property Tax Exemption, Lowndes County Commission]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2025-02-11--lowndes-county-opt-out-hb-581-homestead-exemptions/fbmany.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC Public Hearing 10 February 2025]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2025-02-10--lowndes-count-opt-out-hb-581-homestead-exemptions/many.jpg)
![[A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE 2019 AD VALOREM TAX MILLAGES FOR LOWNDES COUNTY]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2019-08-26--lcc-packet/August-26--27-Meeting-Packet-0015.jpg)
