Voters in Bartow County and Cartersville will get another shot at implementing a tax cap on local school boards after two bills were passed by the Georgia General Assembly. Revamped measures for the county and city will be on the local ballot on Nov. 4 once Gov. Brian Kemp signs them.
Both Senate Bill (SB) 83 relating to Bartow County and SB 77 relating to Cartersville were approved by the state House of Representatives on Monday after being approved by the Senate in February. They would need to pass a referendum set for November to take effect.
The bills are restructured legislation of a measure approved by Georgia citizens last November. That measure, Amendment 1, capped homeowner’s property tax increases at the statewide inflation rate, ensuring they weren’t taxed more than inflation.
The problem with that measure is it allowed local governments and school boards to opt out, meaning they didn’t have to abide by the mandate.
The amendment passed overwhelmingly across the state. Homeowners became infuriated when local school boards, and city, and county governments began to opt-out. This includes the Bartow County Board of Education and the Cartersville School Board.
The new bills don’t allow for an opt-out clause but include a sunset clause where the tax limitation automatically ends in 2030.
The legislation pertains only to Bartow County and City of Cartersville residents as Amendment 1 stands as it was passed for the rest of the state. Those working on these bills were Sens. Chuck Hufstetler and Ed Setzler, who sponsored the bills in the Senate, and Reps. Matthew Gambill and Mitchell Scoggins, who worked to pass them in the House.
Melody Dareing is the former news director for Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF radio and was an associate producer for WSB-TV in Atlanta. She is a freelance writer and editor for national and international publications in the US, Canada, and the UK.