In viewing the ballot for July 15th I see that the DeKalb Board of Education will be having a referendum on the ballot. Since this is the first time that I have heard of the up coming referendum, I figured I would publicize it. The vote looks to continue the homestead exemption that was scheduled to end on December 31, 2007 but the way it is worded it is very confusing and people looking at this for the first time in the booth may get this wrong.
Hell I'm not sure if I'm even reading this correctly, so I am guessing that this is suppose to be purposely confusing so that we get this wrong and lose our exemption. Why else would they put this on the ballot in this format?
Below was the explanation that I found on the BOE website from the March 3rd meeting, as well as a supporting file; but it reads much different then what is on the ballot.
Maybe I need to ask my Third Grader?
Requested Action
It is recommended that the Board approve the resolution requesting the DeKalb County Legislative Delegation introduce local legislation granting DeKalb County residents a homestead exemption from school district ad valorem taxes by reducing the value of their homestead by $2,500 for any year during which a special purpose local option sales tax for educational purposes is in effect in DeKalb County.
John:
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this information. I checked with Marcus Turk's office (DCSS CFO). As I understand, this resolution is offered to homeowners as a means to provide some 'relief' when stakeholders support some combination of millage increase, bond referendum, and/or SPLOST. We agreed to continue SPLOST for another 5 years. The 'sunset' date for SPLOST 2 was December 31. This is the first opportunity for a county wide offering to continue the homestead exemption.
Since most homeowners are taking advantage of Homestead exemption, it should not affect the DCSS budget if citizens elect to continue this. Not sure if citizens request this at the tax office.