(The Center Square) – The Georgia Senate approved a bill that clarified a property tax assessment freeze approved by 63% of voters in November 2024.
House Bill 92 is in response to House Bill 581, passed by lawmakers in 2024. The bill required Georgia’s taxing entities to freeze property tax assessments at the rate of inflation.
But the legislation included a provision that would allow taxing entities to “opt-out” if they met certain requirements, including three public hearings.
Several cities, counties and school boards did, with some saying they already had an assessment freeze in place.
The House bill addresses “unintended things” that were included in House Bill 581, Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, told the Senate.
“House Bill 370 was wanting language that said there is no need to opt-out, if you’ve got a base or freeze or some sort of exemption in your county or city or schools that you didn’t have to go through the opt-in, opt-out procedures in the future,” Hufstetler said. “The original bill didn’t have the five acre limit on a homestead which we’ve done on everything historically in Georgia.”
The revised bill also gives local governments some additional opt-in opportunities.
“There wasn’t an opportunity to opt back in,” Hufstetler said. “We’re letting that be done on an annual basis as of March 1 if people want to opt back in and this year we’re extending it to April 30 for those who that may want to and there’s some reasons they might want to. And they will revisit that decision if they don’t have anything in place in 2027 as well.”
The House included what Hufstetler called a “carrot” for school boards. School construction projects would be tax-exempt, but only for school systems that have opted in, he said.
The amended bill removed a provision in the original bill that would have extended the deadline for entities to opt out from March 1 to May 31.
The bill passed 54-2 without debate.
