Toombs to Send Homestead Property Tax Relief to the Ballot
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During their meeting on Thursday, June 18, the Toombs County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to have the State Legislature pass a piece of local legislation, authorizing the Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST) to go on the ballot during the General Election in November.
On May 11, Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 33 – which allows counties to add a local option sales tax to generate revenue and decrease the amount of funding needed through property taxes – into law through two options: a Floating Local Option Sales Tax (FLOST) or a Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST).
The largest difference between the taxes is their beneficiaries, as FLOST benefits all property owners – whether it be residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural properties – while LHOST primarily benefits owner-occupied residences, otherwise known as homesteads.
County governments may have the State Legislature to pass the local legislation to allow the tax to be placed on the ballot, but citizens must enact the tax by passing the one-cent sales tax. Under current provisions, the law will go into effect on January 1, 2028; thus, if LHOST is passed by the County’s citizens, property tax relief will not be seen until 2028. However, according to County Manager John Jones, legislators are discussing the matter, and the effective date may be moved to April 2027, meaning citizens could see tax relief sooner.
Commissioner Darriel Nobles clarified that if passed during the referendum, LHOST only provides property tax relief for county taxes, as the county school system will still tax at their regular rate. Data Center Discussion
During the public participation section of the meeting, citizens Wayne Carter and Gail Durden spoke to the Commissioners about their concerns about data centers.
Carter explained that he had only recently learned about data centers, and upon doing research, was worried about their potential impact on the County. He shared that he had discovered that Georgia was the state with the largest amount of data centers and potential data centers because of electricity being cheaper within Georgia than anywhere else.
He also spoke about his disdain for the Georgia Power project that will run high voltage transmission lines from Plant Hatch to Wadley, as he stated that the amount of electricity that was being utilized by data centers is concerning. “We’re going to start having blackouts,” he remarked.
He spoke about the amounts of water used by these centers, and told the Commissioners about his bewilderment at the size of the solar farm on Georgia Highway 297 and knowledge of a bitcoin mining facility within the County.
Commission Chairman Tommy Rollins told Carter that currently, the Commission had enacted an ordinance to attempt to discourage data centers in the County, but could not completely outlaw these facilities without enacting zoning. “Zoning was attempted in Toombs County around nine years ago,” Rollins explained, as he shared that citizens were adamantly against the legislation. “I think maybe we had it too much – we may have to revisit it. I appreciate you bringing it up tonight because you are one of the very few people that have come to the Commission and are concerned about the zoning efforts that have not been happening in our County.”
Rollins added, “With most people, it’s, ‘My land, my right.’ But eventually, we’re going to have to do something with zoning or we’re going to lose control of it.”
Durden spoke after Carter, as she not only shared her concern for data centers, but also asked if the Commission could find a way to let the public know what was on the agenda before each meeting so that they could come and share their input.
She also asked how the Commission notified the public before ordinances and things were passed. County Manager Jones explained that public hearings were held to receive community input, and these hearings were advertised on the County website, in the newspaper, and through the radio station. He shared that before the passage of the data center and solar farm ordinances, the several public hearings were held, and the ordinance was reviewed for a year before it was voted upon.
Commissioner Buck Moon clarified that the ordinance existed not to attract data centers, but to deter them, as it placed limitations on what it could do.
Durden asked the Commissioners to work to keep the public informed on these decisions and discussions, as she said that citizens wanted to be involved – they just needed to know what was going on. Emergency Management Plan Toombs County Deputy Emergency Management Agency Director CJ Worden spoke the Commissioners about the proposed Points of Distribution (POD) Plan, which designates where distribution sites will be in case of emergency, like during Hurricane Helene.
“The resolution plan spells out the procedures that we would need to follow in order to set up a distribution center [for water and supplies], much like what you observed during Hurricane Helene,” Worden remarked. “If you think about that site and the success that we had out there, passing this resolution will do a couple of things for us. One – it sets a framework for us to be able to do that more rapidly and efficiently, so that we can get people the supplies they desperately need following a critical event. Also, with that combined with some other efforts that we’ll make, there’s some financial incentives [we could receive] should we have another declared disaster. We’ll be able to get a little bit better share of that funding from the state of Georgia and have yet another opportunity to tax credit.”
Following the discussion, the Commissioners officially approved the plan. Insurance Agreement
The Commissioners authorized the County to purchase Property and Liability insurance from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG).
During the discussion, County Manager Jones explained that because of the extensive damage from Hurricane Helene and the state of the insurance market, the County’s current insurance carrier would no longer be covering the County. The Commissioners approved to pay $486,204 for a year-long insurance plan, plus an additional $9,322 to cover the County from June 24 until July 21.
The funding for this insurance came from the General Fund, as it had been previously included in the annual budget.
County Manager Report
During his County Manager report, Jones told the Commissioners that all reimbursement funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Hurricane Helene disaster relief had been received, and the vendors – such as Looks Great Services– had been paid. He shared that the County was still waiting on some of the reimbursement money from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, but hoped to receive that within the next few weeks.
The entrances to the Public Works Department and landfill on State Route 15 have been paved, as Public Works Director Chris Keene worked with the Georgia Department of Transportation to get that project completed during the road’s resurfacing.
County officials met with engineers at the landfill site to begin laying out the site for a new scale house, which will be built in the future as a part of the County’s long-range plan for solid waste. Engineers are also working to prepare a minor modification in the plan for demolishing the landfill’s defunct baling facility; this modification will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Division for approval so the demolition may begin.
The Georgia Department of Transportation has agreed to place more flashing beacons and safety design aspects at the intersection of State Route 15 and Lyons Center Road, but has denied the request to reduce the speed limit in the area. The Commissioners are continuing to communicate with the Department regarding the safety of the area. Sales tax revenues have not been as high as they were at this time in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Toombs County Board of Commissioners is slated for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21, at the Toombs County Courthouse.
