All of the cities of Habersham County have scheduled a joint public meeting to discuss the effects of HB 581 on their communities. City leaders will not only discuss the effect of the bill but whether to stay in or opt out.
The meeting will take place in Cornelia at the Community House on January 22. Phil Sutton from Sutton Consulting, LLC will be providing a presentation and answering questions that may arise during the meeting.
All of the cities have said that they may have a quorum of their council or commission present, indicating that they may take a vote during the meeting. Habersham County Manager Tim Sims stated that the county will have representatives at the meeting but probably not a quorum of the commissioners.
“The County’s vote is really a moot point since we already have a floating homestead exemption in place which already meets the requirement of HB 581,” Sims said. “We do want to show our solidarity with the rest of the municipalities, however, and will do what we can to support this meeting,” he added.
The reason for the meeting is for the cities to understand where each stands as it relates to opting out of the law. If a city opts out, property owners in that city will not receive the tax relief intended by the law. Also, if any one city opts out, the county can not move forward with placing a referendum on the ballot later this year for a new sales and use tax called FLOST, Flexible Local Option Sales Tax.
The new tax can only be used for property tax relief in the form of a millage rate rollback, if approved by the voters.
In November, 65% of Habersham County voters approved the statewide referendum for property tax relief provided by HB 581.
The joint city public meeting will be held Wednesday, January 22, at 5:30 p.m. in the Cornelia Community House located at 601 Wyly Street in Cornelia.
