MoCo Judge Rules On Citizens’ Petition

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Montgomery County Probate Judge Rubie Nell Sanders has issued her official ruling on the unprecedented Citizens’ Initiative Petition for a Ballot Measure, as she determined the Election Supervisor is unable to call the election.

On Friday, January 5 – the last day of the 60-day ruling period on the petition – Judge Sanders shared that she had determined the continued from page

petitioned election could not be formally called, as she cited Article XI, Paragraph 1, Sub Paragraph B, 2, which directly addresses the regulations of petitions for ballot measures.

“It is my position that the Constitutional language is clear [in this section], [which] reads, ‘Amendments to or repeals of such local acts are ordinances,’” she explained. “In this case, there is not a Homestead Exemption Resolution or Act to be amended or repealed. Furthermore, by the language of the proposed act, the Superintendent of Montgomery County cannot call an election until the bill has been passed by the State Legislature and signed by the Governor.”

According to Judge Sanders, she had been researching the law regarding this petition, which is unprecedented in Montgomery County, since the document was officially filed in the Probate Court on Monday, November 6.

The petition was filed by members of the Informed Citizens Coalition, which is led by a small core group of citizens – Amie Vassey, Angel Hicks-Gilreath, Greg Palmer, KC Seabury, Brian Colson, Linda Page, and others. The group had united with hundreds of citizens throughout the county to work to allow the Floating Homestead Exemption Act, a property value ‘freeze’ to protect citizens from high property tax rates, voted on in a referendum.

Vassey explained, “Earlier this year, the Tax Assessors Board tried to increase the values of Montgomery County residential homes by 60%, and, of course, we were incredibly alarmed by that. The citizens pulled together and created a group called the Informed Citizens Coalition, and we have actively been canvassing the county [and] compiling a Citizens Initiative Petition to file in Probate Court to freeze the assessed value of Montgomery County homes.”

“This has been a great time to bring the community together and to achieve something great and let our voices be heard,” Gilreath commented. “It has been a huge occasion, and we are thankful for the community and all the work and effort which they put into this. This is a Montgomery County citizen issue, and it was Montgomery County citizens seeking to solve it, and I think that is the most important thing.”

Palmer added, “It’s really been incredible how the people have reached out to sign these petitions – they call all of us night and day wanting to sign and pass this legislation for us.”

The Montgomery County Commission first began reviewing the Floating Homestead Act upon the request of the citizens several months ago. The group attended an informative training on the legislation in Cobb County, where they heard perspective from leaders dealing with the Act in that area, but shared that they were not ready to put the Floating Homestead Exemption on the ballot until they had more information.

During the initial discussion, commissioners shared their concern that allowing this floating tax exemption would cause large land tract owners, such as farmers and business owners, to have a greater tax burden that would deter them from settling in the county — even with protection that came from prior legislation.

The matter was discussed numerous times during Commission work sessions, including one in which the citizens asked for the Commission to form a committee of two Commissioners, three homeowners, three large land tract owners, and two business owners to discuss the legislation. Commissioners agreed, and the committee – comprised of Montgomery County Commissioners Chad Kenney and Ginger Morris, Zellene Robinson, David Moncus, Bob McKenzie, Sam Baker, Brian Myers, Charlie Robison, Al Johnson, and Matt Waller – have met twice to discuss the logistics of the Exemption. During these meetings, Kenney presented indepth looks at the Floating Homestead Exemption, while citizens within the committee were able to ask questions about the legislation. According to Kenney, this committee had a lot of questions about the legislation and was concerned that it would not be an appropriate way of addressing the tax issue.

Ultimately, commissioners voted to attempt to craft their own floating homestead exemption, but were unable to agree on the requirements for eligibility, specifically, age and annual wages. Since that disagreement, no further discussion has been made regarding future plans to craft the legislation, and commissioners encouraged citizens to visit the Montgomery County Tax Commissioner’s office to learn more about the exemptions and the help already available.