"Which Georgia Counties, Cities and School Systems Are Inside the HB 581 Homestead Cap This Year?"

In the first weeks of 2025, Newton County, Georgia let the new statewide homestead cap take effect, and the county school board voted to opt out of it. The City of Covington stayed in, and the cities of Oxford and Social Circle opted out. A homeowner in Oxford pays all three of those governments, each on its own line of the tax bill, and the cap landed on one of the three lines. A Georgia tax bill is that short list: a county line, a school line and, inside city limits, a city line. The Covington News reported each decision, and the county commission never had to vote, because doing nothing meant staying in.

Georgia's HB 581 homestead cap applies to a home only where the county, the city and the school system each stayed in, and the county tax commissioner can tell you which of the three did. Each decided separately by March 1, 2025. HB 92 let an opted-out government come back in by a March 1 filing, and SB 33 brings all of them in from the 2027 tax year.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, licensed in fifteen states, including Georgia. The property tax inside a Georgia mortgage payment is set by those three governments; the lender only collects it.

What is the HB 581 floating homestead exemption in Georgia?

The General Assembly passed House Bill 581 in 2024, and the City of Savannah's HB 581 page records that voters approved it in November 2024. The statute it created, O.C.G.A. § 48-5-44.2, took effect January 1, 2025.

The exemption caps how fast the taxable value of the home you live in can rise. The county still appraises the home every year, and Georgia still taxes 40 percent of that value. That 40 percent figure is the assessed value. Each government then applies its millage rate to the taxable value, and a mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value. The exemption takes the growth above an inflation-adjusted base year value off the top for the county, city and school taxes. Gwinnett County's tax commissioner explains that the base year is the year before the exemption first applies, and that the cap does not reach the millage used to repay bonds. The state sets the inflation figure each year.

The Georgia Municipal Association's HB 581 questions and answers add that the exemption does not stay with the property or the owner when ownership changes. A sale resets the taxable value to fair market value for the next owner. The cap also only attaches to a home with a homestead exemption on file, so applying for the Georgia homestead exemption yourself after closing, by April 1, is what turns it on for you.

The county, the city and the school system each made their own call

HB 581 gave every county, city and school system in Georgia the same choice, and each one made it alone. The county association's opt-out guidance lays out the procedure a government had to complete between January 1 and March 1, 2025. It had to advertise its intent, hold at least three public hearings, one of them between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. on a business weekday, adopt a resolution, and file it with the Georgia Secretary of State by March 1, 2025. A government that did none of that stayed in.

In Carroll County, the Times-Georgian reports that the county school board, the Carrollton City Schools board and the City of Carrollton opted out, while the county commission and six smaller cities stayed in. In Spalding County, the Griffin Daily News reports that the county commission and the school board opted out in February 2025 and the City of Griffin stayed in.

On the coast, the City of Savannah opted out by resolution, and the Savannah guide covers Chatham County's own Stephens-Day exemption. So a home can have the cap on the county's line of its tax bill and nothing on the school system's line. The Times-Georgian also makes the other consequence plain: a government that stayed in cannot opt out afterward.

HB 92 and your 2026 tax bill: the March 1 filing

The 2025 session passed a follow-up, House Bill 92, effective April 1, 2025. The county association's appendix on HB 92 explains its main purpose: a government that opted out may take that decision back and come into the exemption going forward.

For your 2026 bill, two of its dates matter. The Georgia Municipal Association's summary of the bill as passed says a government that wanted back in for tax year 2025 had until April 30, 2025. For tax years 2026 through 2029, it files a resolution with the Secretary of State by March 1 of that year, so the 2026 status of each government behind a home is whatever stood after March 1, 2026. The same summary says an opted-out government must print a notice on each homestead property's tax bill, naming the government and giving its phone number, through December 31, 2029.

HB 92 also told a government that opted out in 2025 to repeat the hearings and file again by March 1, 2027 to stay out. The 2026 session made that filing beside the point, because from 2027 no government can stay out at all.

SB 33 and your 2027 tax bill: every government is in

Governor Kemp signed Senate Bill 33, the Homeownership Opportunity and Market Equalization Act of 2026, on May 11, 2026. The county association's summary of SB 33 as passed says that from here on, no county, city or school district can opt out of the HB 581 exemption. A government coming in uses the year before its first year in the exemption as its base year.

The Georgia Municipal Association's guide to SB 33 puts the dates on that for a government that had opted out: its base year is 2026, and the exemption first applies to its 2027 bill. A government that stayed in from the start keeps running on its 2024 base year. So for the 2027 bill on any Georgia home, every line is inside the cap, and the only difference between homes is which base year each government carries.

The law was signed over a constitutional objection. The Georgia Recorder reports that Representative Scott Holcomb wrote the Governor twice arguing a revenue measure has to originate in the House.

How do I check whether a Georgia home is inside the cap this year?

You can do this in any of Georgia's 159 counties in five steps.

1. You will want the names of the three governments. The county tax commissioner's website has the parcel record for the address, and it shows the county, the school district, and whether the home is inside a city's limits.

2. You then ask the county tax commissioner about each line. That office knows whether the statewide exemption is applied on the county's line, the school system's line and the city's line for 2026. Please ask about each one by name.

3. You can read the resolution, if there is one. A government that opted out adopted a resolution after three advertised public hearings, and its clerk holds the certified copy that went to the Secretary of State.

4. You can also read the seller's 2025 or 2026 tax bill. An opted-out government has to print its notice there, with its phone number.

5. Please write down each answer with the date you asked. For the 2026 bill, the status is whatever stood after March 1, 2026, and for 2027 SB 33 puts every line in.

The property tax figure in your loan

Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in B3-6-03, Monthly Housing Expense for the Subject Property, tells the lender to base its real estate tax calculation on no less than the current assessed value, and then requires a projection on a purchase:

For purchase and construction-related transactions, the lender must use a reasonable estimate of the real estate taxes based on the value of the land and the total of all new and existing improvements. This policy also applies to properties in jurisdictions where a transfer of ownership typically results in a reassessment or revaluation of the property and a corresponding increase in the amount of taxes.

Georgia sets a home's value and its exemptions as of January 1, so the bill for the year you close was already built on the seller's value and the seller's exemptions. The Department of Revenue's homestead guidance sets the January 1 test for the exemption. The reset to fair market value, and your own homestead, show up on the next year's bill. The cap does nothing for you in that first year. It starts holding the value from the second year, on the lines that are in, and only once your homestead application is on file by April 1. The first full year's figure, before any exemption, is this:

Your purchase price                        $400,000
Taxed at 40 percent                        $160,000
Times each government's millage rate     (its mills)
Divided by 1,000                      = the tax line

A bill inside the cap can still rise when a government raises its millage rate. All of it lands in the escrow account, and how an escrow account collects and pays property taxes explains the mechanism. Why the seller's property tax bill is rarely your bill covers the national picture.

Mistakes to avoid on a Georgia tax estimate

Copying the seller's bill. It was built on the seller's base year, the seller's exemptions, and the status of each government in the year they bought. All three change when you buy.

Reading a 2025 list as current. A government that opted out could come back in by a March 1 filing, and from 2027 every government is in under SB 33, so please write the date next to each answer you get.

An example, with invented numbers

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism and are not a quote or a prediction.

A client closes in June 2026 on a Georgia home for $400,000. The county had stayed in HB 581; the city and the school system had opted out. The 2026 bill was set on January 1, 2026, on the seller's value and exemptions, so the county's line still carries the seller's capped base year value, and the city and school lines carry the full assessed value.

The client files the homestead application in January 2027, so the exemption first applies to the 2027 bill with 2026 as the base year. The base year value comes from what the county said the home was worth in 2026; the purchase price does not set it. Under SB 33 the city and school lines join on a 2026 base year. Suppose the county valued the home at $400,000 for 2026 and $420,000 for 2027, and the state's inflation index for the year is 3 percent. The assessed value is 40 percent of each:

Assessed value, 2026 base year             $160,000
Base year value raised by the index        $164,800
Assessed value, 2027                       $168,000
Less floating homestead exemption            $3,200
Taxable value, every line, before
  the ordinary homestead exemptions        $164,800

Each government then applies its own millage rate to that $164,800 to produce the dollars on its line.

Your next step

Once you have the parcel record and the tax commissioner's answer for each of the three lines for 2026, you can run your numbers with that figure. You will see pricing for your own scenario and closing costs priced for Georgia, with no credit pull and nobody calling you. You choose the rate option that works best for you, and that selection can change as you go.

Once you are ready to make an offer, you can get pre-approved for a Georgia mortgage, and I will review your income, debts and credit first. How a Georgia closing works covers the attorney closing and Georgia's two transaction taxes. Or call me, and we can talk the address through first.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, tax advice, or legal advice. Homestead exemptions and local opt-outs are Georgia tax matters for the county tax commissioner or your own tax adviser. No letter from anyone is a loan commitment, and final approval depends on the property, the appraisal and full underwriting.

Common questions

Did my Georgia county opt out of HB 581?

The county tax commissioner for the address can tell you, and the answer covers the county's line on your tax bill only. Under HB 581, a county that wanted out had to hold three public hearings and file a resolution with the Georgia Secretary of State by March 1, 2025, and a county that did nothing stayed in for good. Under HB 92, a county that opted out could come back in by a filing with the Secretary of State by March 1 of a tax year from 2026 through 2029, and SB 33 puts every county in from 2027.

Does the HB 581 homestead cap apply to school taxes in Georgia?

Only where the school system stayed in. Each school district in Georgia made its own opt-out decision by March 1, 2025, separately from the county and from any city. For the 2026 tax year, the school system's line is capped only if that school system was in as of March 1, 2026. From 2027, SB 33 applies the exemption to every school system, with 2026 as the base year for one that had opted out.

Can a Georgia county, city or school system opt back in to HB 581?

Yes. HB 92, effective April 1, 2025, lets a government that opted out take that decision back and come in going forward. For 2026 through 2029 it files a resolution with the Secretary of State by March 1 of the tax year. A government that stayed in, or that comes back in, cannot opt out again, and from 2027 SB 33 places every county, city and school system inside the exemption.

What does SB 33, the HOME Act, change about the Georgia homestead cap?

Signed May 11, 2026, SB 33 ends the local opt-out from the HB 581 floating homestead exemption, so from the 2027 tax year every county, city and school district in Georgia applies it. For a government that had opted out, the base year is 2026 and the first bill with the exemption is the 2027 bill.

Does the Georgia homestead cap transfer to me when I buy a home?

No. The exemption does not stay with the property or the owner when ownership changes, and the taxable value resets to fair market value for the next owner. The bill for the year you close was already set on January 1 on the seller's value and exemptions, and your own cap starts the following year, once your homestead application is on file with the county by April 1.