Hart BOC Considers $5000 Increase to Senior Homestead Exemption

Hart County’s Board of Commissioners is expected to vote at their next meeting to increase the property tax exemption for seniors over the age of 65 by $5,000.

At their meeting Tuesday, Commission Chair Joey Dorsey laid out the reasoning for the increase and why it was not higher.

The Board had been asked to consider raising the Homestead Exemption for older citizens by another $10,000, as surrounding counties have done or are planning to do.

Dorsey said in his presentation that seniors over 65 currently get the State $2,000 Homestead Exemption and another $10,000 Homestead Exemption for seniors for a total of $12,000 off the assessed tax value of their properties.

“Right now everybody over 65 is eligible for $12,000. If we add an additional $5000 to that, based on our millage rate at 6.39, the BOC portion only, qualifying taxpayers would save an additional $31.95 per year, incremental. I know that’s not a lot but when you look at the number of taxpayers it does add up,” he said.

On the School property tax side, seniors would save about $97.73 per homestead per year, he added.

Dorsey noted the Board of Education would have to approve their own homestead exemption increase.

And he pointed out the reasoning for the $5,000 increase and not a $10,00 increase is based on a number of factors, primarily the current economic climate in the County.

“We are facing two plant closures this year; Tenneco and Newton Mill. When we look at the inventory and the equipment which is the stuff that will be extracted from those facilities, the total impact will be about $340,000. That’s for both the School Board and the Board of Commissioners. So, when you take a third of that, the Board of Commissioners is looking at an impact of $133,000,” Dorsey explained.

Additionally, Dorsey noted the cost to feed jail inmates has gone up from $7.80 to $9.35 per inmate per day.

That comes to $31,116.25 a year and he said inmate housing could also go up and the County has to be prepared for any increase in that.

And there are unknown expenses, such as running and maintaining the new voting machines and implementing any unfunded mandates from this year’s Legislative session in Atlanta.

Dorsey then suggested the Board of Commissioners meet with the School Board to discuss the increase further.

“I think everybody on the Board of Commissioners is committed to doing something. I think right now we can only commit to a $5,000 increase,” Dorsey said. “And I wanted everybody to see the reasons why and what we’re facing. We would look very silly if we did a larger increase and then turned around and raised the millage rate. We would look like a bunch of clowns. Like we didn’t know what we’re doing.”

No vote was taken, and Dorsey noted the County has until March 11 to get a resolution to Representative Alan Powell in order to get it on the November Ballot.

Dorsey said if voters agreed to the $5,000 addition to the Senior Homestead Exemption, it would not go into effect until 2022.