Bulloch County Schools opt for $1 million in homeowner tax savings
STATESBORO, Ga. (WSAV) — The Bulloch County Board of Education has chosen to forgo more than $1 million in potential revenue, opting instead to keep money in the pockets of homeowners.
The district is one of 34 in Georgia making this decision under the state's homestead exemption rule.
School leaders said the decision means significant savings for residents who own and live in their homes, though the exact amounts won't be known until tax assessments are finalized.
'It's gonna reduce what the school district collects from people by $1 million, so whether that is $50 for you or $10 for me, we'll find out,' Superintendent Charles Wilson said.
House Bill 581 prevents market value assessments from increasing property taxes. Instead, the state will set an annual inflation percentage that counties will use to determine property taxes on primary residences.
'We realize this could impact us and our tax collections, and we'll have to figure all that out later,' Wilson said. 'But their first priority in this was to pay attention to how primary residential homeowners were being impacted by double-digit reevaluation inflation.'
Wilson emphasized that while the decision affects the school system's operational budget, everything else is paid for by property taxes.
'I always do encourage shopping locally because it's impacting our operations, it's impacting our ability to build schools, and it's impacting the ability for the county to do things,' Wilson said.
Wilson said the area's industrial growth could serve as a financial cushion. He said even if companies receive tax incentives to build here, they must pay a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) fee that supports the school district.
'Our development authority did step forward to make sure that Bulloch County schools got the tax collections on those industries, so that's a big boom for us,' Wilson said.
Wilson added that no major cuts to school programs are expected. The construction of the new Southeast Bulloch High School will also continue as planned, as those funds come from sales taxes.
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