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ZEBULON - The Pike County Board of Education is considering whether to opt out HB 581 with the first of three hearings to be held next week and a vote to be taken before the state deadline of March 1, 2025.
Three public hearings will be held at the Pike County Schools Auditorium located at 7362 Hwy. 19 South, Zebulon, GA 30295 on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 7:00 pm, on Monday, January 27, 2025 at 6:00 pm, and on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 7:00 pm.
Pike County Times met with School Superintendent Shane Williamson and Director of Finance/Assistant Superintendent Debbie Woerner to discuss the upcoming scheduled public hearings concerning House Bill (HB) 581.
The first of three public hearings will begin next week with the Pike County Board of Education holding a discussion of the bill and how it could affect Pike County residents.
To Opt In or Opt Out
Superintendent Shane Williamson advised that the Pike County Board of Education is deliberating on opting out of HB 581. He gave three reasons and advised that they have been investigating for the past 6 months. Fear of having to raise the millage rate to compensate for lost revenue is the first reason that they are looking to opt out of HB 581.
“What HB 581 is going to do is cap the assessment value,” Williamson said. “It will give a tax break to the homesteaded property owners only.” This matters because the local board receives their revenue from two places: from the state and local.
He said that if the value from the local tax digest is capped, raising the millage rate would only be one option left for the school board to compensate for that loss of funding.
“At the present time, our board has done a great job of maintaining the millage rate to be 14 mills,” he said. Equalization funds are received from the State of Georgia in the amount of about $2 million dollars (current rate though it can fluctuate) as long as the millage rate is set at a rate of at least 14 mills.
The millage rate has been as high as 18.69 mills in the past (and can be raised as high as 20 mills), but the board has been able to reduce the millage rate down from 18.69 mills to 14 mills based on the tax digest as the tax digest value has increased.
“We fear that we would have to raise the millage rate if we do not opt out of HB 581,” he said. “This would affect all community stake holders from property owners to business owners. Everyone.”
The second reason is that there is no sunset on this bill at the present time, and if we felt like this was not good for the board and the community, we would have no ability to opt out later on. The state is requiring three public hearings and a vote prior to March 1, 2025 which requires cities, counties, and boards of education to make a choice one way or the other between now and March 1.
“At the present time, it’s not a huge factor. But what we are looking at is down the road, whether you have growth or not, we’re going to be locked into HB 581,” Williamson said.
He said that in the board’s investigation over the past six months, they have found “too many unknowns to commit to a non-sunset bill.”
He closed out by saying that the Pike County Board of Education believes that it is in the best interest of the School District and community to maintain local control with setting the budget as they have had in the past with community input rather than to turn this control over to the state level.
“We understand the concern of our community stakeholders and we encourage you to attend our three board meetings designated to discuss HB 581,” he said.
Closing
Three public hearings will be held at the Pike County Schools Auditorium located at 7362 Hwy. 19 South, Zebulon, GA 30295 on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 7:00 pm, on Monday, January 27, 2025 at 6:00 pm, and on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 7:00 pm.
The January 14 and February 11 public hearing dates are on the same date as regular school board meetings with a work session at 5 pm and the school board meeting at 6 pm. This will give the community an opportunity to see who our local school board members are and how our local school board operates.
Thank you to School Superintendent Shane Williamson and Director of Finance/Assistant Superintendent Debbie Woerner for meeting with Pike County Times to discuss HB 581.
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