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House Bill 264
Chair's Name: Larry O�Neal
Committee: Ways & Means
House Sponsor: Fran Millar
The purpose of HB 264 is to hold homeowners within qualified municipalities (i.e., Dunwoody) �harmless� in terms of receiving homestead exemptions paid for by the Homestead Option Sales Tax. �Qualified municipality� is defined as a municipality created on or after January 1, 2007, lying wholly within or partially within a county. The homeowners would receive the same tax relief benefit as a resident of a City of Dunwoody as they currently receive living in the unincorporated area of DeKalb County. According to the current HOST statute, city residents do not receive homestead exemptions from HOST for city taxes, only county taxes. Therefore, the more services a city provides and pays for through property taxes, the less benefit a homeowner receives from HOST. The bill also would require the county (i.e. DeKalb County) to give qualified municipalities a portion of the revenue dedicated to capital projects. The point of this is that the area would receive a portion of the money (through projects) if they remained unincorporated. Also, existing municipalities will fall under these code provisions if the intergovernmental agreement becomes null and void.
The committee substitute received a Do Pass recommendation from the Ways & Means Committee and comes to the House Floor under the Structured Rule.
Chairman O�Neal�s opinion of this legislation:
WHAT PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY DOES THIS LEGISLATION ADDRESS?
This bill assures that the newly incorporated city of Dunwoody will maintain the same Homestead Option Sales Tax distribution as residents had taken unincorporated. It allows the same for existing cities if their intergovernmental agreements become null and void.
WHAT IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THIS LEGISLATION?
Pending incorporation of the City of Dunwoody.
THIS LEGISLATION:
- Reduces the Tax Burden on our Citizens:
If HOST distributions remain the same as prior to incorporation, it reduces taxes for Dunwoody residents.
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