TIFTON — County, city, and school system officials convened Jan. 30 to discuss a plan for moving ahead with HB 581.

With a multitude of municipalities across the state deliberating over how to approach the state bill, which would provide a cap on taxable value increases on homes, a special sales tax for property relief, or the option to opt out of these programs, the Tift County government organized a joint meeting Thursday night to consult the city councils of Ty Ty, Omega, and Tifton and the Tift County Schools Board of Education on what their own course of action for the bill would be.

Jim Carter, county manager, began the discussion with a presentation breaking down the ins and outs of the bill, its origins, and the potential effects it could have to ensure that those in attendance were fully informed of the topic at hand.

He highlighted the amendments that the house bill would make to the state constitution, including the change of the term “estimated tax” used for notices of assessment to “estimated rollback rate,” which he believed would be clearer for taxpayers to understand, but present a greater challenge to the county’s governments, as they would need to estimate that rollback rate with no established formula.

Carter drew attention to the bill’s requirement that, regardless of their inclination one way or another moving forward, they would have to organize three public hearings. He did note that there was no jurisdiction when the meetings could be held, suggesting that the assembled governments could even elect to organize them all on the same day.

Regarding the floating sales tax offered through HB 581, or FLOST, Carter explained that the policy required a year of tax collections before a rollback could be applied, whereas the Local Option Sales Tax was applied at the beginning of this process. In addition, he was unsure whether Ty Ty or Omega levied property tax, which could bar them from benefitting from the FLOST.

Carter provided a table of projections, based on records of SPLOST revenues, for how FLOST would possibly be distributed for 2024, noting that it would only result in the county receiving the funds due to the estimated FLOST rollback rate negating the established net mill rate.

The county manager stressed that he was not advocating for either opting in or out of the homestead exemption, and believed that whatever decision any of the municipalities were to make would not harm them in a fiscal sense. However, he clarified that opting in and receiving a tax break would shift the tax burden away from homestead properties and further towards non-homestead properties.

Tifton city attorney Rob Wilmot warned that opting in was not a decision they could undo, but Carter in turn noted that many local municipalities had found workarounds by opting out, then establishing local legislation to gain the effects of opting in.

He believed said option could be one of their better alternatives, but expressed frustration and concern with the permanence of the decision either way. Both sentiments were shared by many of the assembled government officials, including chair of the county Board of Education Tony McBrayer and Ty Ty mayor Keith Beasley, who added that he had spoken to many constituents who were confused by the exact bounds and processes of the bill.

Having heard discussion of a possible extension for the deadline of HB 581, Tifton mayor Julie Smith stressed it would need to be approved soon for it to have any effect. Wilmot urged the local municipalities to continue operating under the original March 1 deadline for the time being.

The city attorney also expressed concern over how the chips could fall between the cities, county, and school system regarding opting in or out, fearing that the cities could be forced to fall in line with the county’s decision or that the workload on their tax workers could be drastically increased should some of the governments decide to opt out and others opt in.

Carter felt a decision needed to be made by the second week of February, and promised to begin reaching out to state delegates over the next few days for more information and clarification. Smith suggested a commission could be formed with representatives from each municipality’s government to assist Carter, which he was open to.

The county manager additionally reported that the policies of HB 581 mandated that they hold three public hearings to further discuss the matter with their constituents, but had free jurisdiction over when they could be held.

As of now, no local governments have made any announcements regarding the scheduling of these hearings.