Muscogee County School District and the City of Columbus discuss opting-out of floating homestead exemption
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Both the Muscogee County School District and Columbus City officials held meetings on Monday to discuss opting – out of House Bill 581.
House Bill 581 passed overwhelmingly in November across the state of Georgia.
This bill creates a 'floating' homestead exemption for property taxes on homestead properties. However, the legislation includes a provision that allows counties, consolidated governments, municipalities, and local school districts to opt- in or out based on what they believe is best for their communities.
Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley says 61.5% of Muscogee County citizens voted in favor of the exemption while 38.5% voted against it in November.
The Muscogee County School Board discussed opting – out at Monday's meeting.
Chair of the Muscogee County School Board Patricia Hugley-Green says, 'Due to our local frozen assessment homestead, the statewide floating homestead is of no benefit to the vast majority of our homeowners and will be confusing and potentially costly to implement with zero benefit to the majority of taxpayers.'
Those in attendance posed no opposition to the board's intent to opt- out.
In Columbus City Council Chambers, Tax Assessor Suzanne Widenhouse explained if council chooses to opt- out it has no effect on the current frozen homestead and allows Muscogee County to keep control of the homestead instead of the state.
'Opting out keeps things more stable,' Widenhouse explains. '…not being set by state and not being changed by the state and not using a national index that's not even Georgia specific or better Muscogee County Specific.'
Widenhouse says opting out would allow for Columbus officials to put in place a floating homestead at a later date that would be more suitable for Columbus residents.
'If values really tanked with the floating homestead in place, it's not that taxes are going to go down. We're not giving up services. Citizens don't want to give up services. We like our fire department. We like our police department. We like having nice roads. We like having garbage pickup. We like having water and sewer and those things. Those aren't going away, but they have to be paid for somehow, which means budget cuts or increases to the mileage rate, so opting out keeps things more stable.'
Suzanne Widenhouse, Columbus Tax Assessor
Widenhouse informed those in attendance how the state has already begun changing the verbiage of the legislation.
'The first one was changing the opt-out period. Trying to extend it a little bit, give counties a little more time,' Widenhouse details. '…the latest language on that bill is talking about changing actual provisions of this floating homestead and, you know, changing how many acres and adding in being able to apply for Homestead during appeal periods and things of that nature.'
Members of the community shared the floor asking questions, voicing their concerns, and sharing their support for Columbus to opt-out.
'Leave the freeze like it is and if y'all could come up with a new provision for the floating homestead that's actually a little more catered to the citizens instead of the legislature are about raising up everything because like we talked about this morning, everything goes up. Even though they say it's going down it goes down at a slow pace, though but when it comes or them to raise anything it happens dramatically, and it takes a toll it on the citizens to try to adjust to that. By the time we adjust to it, they tacking on to it again.'
Columbus Resident, Bunker Hill
Widenhouse says the current CPI is unknown as the state is proposing to use the national CPI rate that would change every year.
'We won't know that because it will not apply to 2025,' Widenhouse explains. 'The first year of the CPI would go into effect would be 2026.'
The Muscogee County School Board and the City of Columbus will hold more meetings regarding opting-out throughout February.
The city of Columbus will hold the next meeting on Tuesday, February 11 at 9 a.m. during the City Council Meeting.
The Muscogee County School Board will hold two more on Tuesday, February 18 at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Public Education Center on Macon Road.
The opt-out period runs from January 1st to March 1st.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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