001I call to order this call meeting of the Kua County Board of Education agenda 8:31 public hearing on intent to opt out of homestead exemption 12: p.m February the 11th 2025 please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy andice for all thank you you may be seated do I have a motion to approve the agenda so move second any discussion all those in favor motion pass to Z DR Horton thank you Mr chairman good afternoon everyone um welcome to um our fourth uh public hearing uh on the intent to opt out of house bill 581 um Mr chair uh since this is um actually the fifth time that
002I've been through this presentation I will uh I'll be try to be a little bit more brief uh this time uh and then have some comments to share uh with you uh there toward the end uh just a brief timeline board members on houseb 581 uh we've been through this a few times uh you can see um February the 11th we've got our fourth public hearing and then at tonight's meeting uh we'll consider uh a resolution on whether or not to opt out of 581 uh just a reminder no action on your part tonight means that we're in 581 um deadline is March the 1st uh for all the work to be done Mike you go the next one for me you can see this is the uh the ad that's run and the process
003that we were provided uh by the Secretary of State's office um it's very um nuanced process very detailed process uh that we've been through over the course of the last month or so um if you would mik go the next one for me house bu 581 just a quick summary uh it was uh on the ballot back November 5th uh was designated at the time actually on the ballot as a Statewide home that exemption uh since then we've received clarification uh that this is now classified as a local exemption uh I'll get into more of what that mean shortly um um you can see there the the verbatim ballot language uh it does say Statewide exemption that serves to limit increases and the assess value of homesteads by which any County Consolidated Government municipality or
004local school system May opt out of uh upon the completion of certain procedures that is the exact language from the ballot just some other Provisions there it authorizes a special sales and use tax uh aimed at providing property tax relief uh school systems are not eligible uh for that uh special sales and use tax it does revise the assessment appeals process and it requires uh an economic analysis by the department of audits and accounts Mike you go the next one just some key dates November 5th uh was the referendum March 1st is the deadline uh if if you desire to opt out uh you must have completed completed this process by March the 1st go to the next one Mike process couldn't start before January 1st must finish by March 1st you have to have
005three public hearings uh today you're having your fourth public hearing uh at least one of those hearings had to take place between 6:00 and 700 p.m. you've had two uh that took place between 600 and 7 p.m. and you can see there on the bottom uh that you had to publish notice of the intent uh to consider this uh in a newspaper of General circulation which is the noon and Times Herald here's a map of the state of Georgia was provided to me by the Georgia School superintendant Association green uh are the counties that are considering opting out uh red are those that have um notified that they're opting in and the Grays are uh undecided or Undeclared this was as of last week couple of things uh that that are different uh that apply
006differently under house bill 581 won two school systems uh school systems are different than cities and counties our millage rate is currently capped uh at 20 Mills there is no millage rate cap for other local entities I mentioned earlier that we cannot request um an additional local option sales tax if 581 is enacted uh that is something that cities and counties can do uh board of education has a cap of reserves uh that they can hold uh of general fund reserves it's limited currently to 15% under state law that is a a requirement that is specific to uh school systems in the state of Georgia um state of Georgia currently has 16 billion uh in reserves cities and counties can carry up to 100% in their Reserve funds cities and counties can also uh Levy
007U an unlimited amount of Mills to be able to do the things they need to do uh but school systems um are different there are different rules for school systems last different I mentioned to you board members that we just need to take into consideration when talking about house B 581 uh is that we pay a local fair share each year to participate in state QBE funding uh that's the equivalent of five Mills I believe that number this year is$ 46.7 million uh that the Board of Education sends back to the state that is this that is disperse to other districts uh in the form of Equalization uh so you can see there are some some definite differences there uh in the way um the laws applied and rules are applied to school systems as
008opposed to cities and counties Mike if you go the next one some potential outcomes of opting out of 581 um 581 if you opt in it's a Statewide solution uh so opting out would mean that the local Board of Education would maintain local control uh over school system tax policy uh would maintain flexibility for future boards uh you would you would operate the way that you are now uh and have the flexibility uh to be able to um make decisions that you think are best for Cy County students um the ability to maintain a Low's millage rate um right now you have a millage rate of 15.41% talk a little bit more about that in just a moment uh what I do want you to know is just last year um Inc general fund budget
009increased 141 Million last year about $6.2 million were Insurance increases uh over a million dollar uh for our contribution uh to the teacher retirement system uh the state passed down much well-deserved raises for certain classes of employees all of those were to the tune of about 14.1 million none of those decisions were made locally they were all a result of decisions that were made at the legislative level uh that we had to account for uh so something that would restrict potentially Revenue that you could bring in uh could lead to a higher millage rate opting in there's a potential uh for higher property taxes in the form of a higher millage rate uh once that cap is reached you diminish the flexibility of future boards and superintendents to be able to meet needs and to
010be able to innovate uh I will mention about the millage rate uh the millage rate uh cap is established locally um there is the possibility that and it's happened in the state of Georgia um that local referendums be passed in order to uh remove that cap and put school systems on the same footing uh As Cities and counties go to the next one the long-term impact of 581 there's still a lot uh that's that's Unknown about it we do know that if if it had been in place during the last fiscal year or during this fiscal year would have estimated loss up to 17.4 million uh that's based on 8.11% digest growth last year and the CPI was 4.10 last year still not sure on what index is going to be used uh longterm term
011to Define uh what the assessment cap would be it's been discussion of CPI but we still don't have Clarity on whether it's going to be a regional um measure State measure or national measure so I still can't give you that uh definitively um already mentioned local option sales tax that loss can help local governments uh but not school districts go to the next one Mike state revenue um it could make us more dependent on state revenue uh I'll show you some graphs here in just a few minutes uh that that show what has happened to the percentage of general fund budget uh that is state revenue over the last 20 or so years um could be uh that local fair share if you do opt out local fair share continues to go up uh it
012could be that that that could be um more loss in state funding for us and we'll just have to account for that also QBE quality basic education Act is not uh adjusted annually for inflation typically what we see is those inflationary increases are are passed to the local uh District uh each and every year because QBE is not U adjusted for inflation uh no considerations in 581 for enrollment growth um very well could have a disproportionate impact on our school system uh due to the fact that 73% of our local tax digest is residential we mention to you board members um when we're talking about tax digest and property reassessment boards don't reassess that's something that the tax assessor does the board sets the millage rate uh for operation of the school system mention unfunded
013State mandates I mentioned a few uh here just a few minutes ago related to Insurance contributions uh we've actually received information uh going into next year that that insurance contributions are going up again so we already know going into next year's budget uh that we're going to see $5 million more in expense uh for employee insurance going into next year uh if the budget if the state budget Remains the Same those dollars have to be accounted for locally that's for non sertified employees by the way um the state does fund a lot of the um Insurance contributions on the certified side but on the classified side we already know going in that we have to account for approximately 5 million in a additional expense next year go the next one Mike these are just some
014definitions here for you I won't go through them again uh you've seen uh these over the course of the last four or five presentations so keep going there Mike we'll say as far as eligibility and automatically renewal once a homeowner applies and they're granted the exemption uh they keep the res exemption uh also mention here I know there's been some concern out there that if 581 goes in what happens to my current exemptions homeowners keep their current exemption you have a senior exemption a veterans exemption whatever that may be uh the homeowner keeps those exemptions go to the next one Mike historically uh on the millage I mentioned earlier it's 15.41% our millage compares to others around us might go the next one it's a line graph that shows um millage rate you can see
015the the mill is the actual green line up at the top I will call your attention to the red line at the bottom that shows debt the school system has been debt free uh since around 2003 2004 go to the next one Mike just another chart that reflects the same uh you can see there 2002 go back real quick Mike 2002 senior homestead tax exemptions were implemented at that time uh they were expanded in 2020 and you can see the line there that shows what's happened with both the millage rate and the debt go ahead Mike mention austerity reductions here this is reductions in state funding uh you can see that those began back in fy2 2003 around fy2 2009 you can really see an uptick there uh in state funding reductions that was in
016large part due uh to the impacts of the Great Recession um during that time State funding was reduced to our schools but to the tune of $119 million between fy2 2003 and 2018 uh and QBE hasn't been fully funded since um so that's just one example of um State decisions impacting us here on the local level go to the next one Mike I've already mentioned these differences uh cap of the mill rate can't hold more than 15% in reserve um that gives us that 15% gives us about six to eight weeks of operating expenses um we typically use those reserves from July 1 until property taxes come in uh in November uh typically around Halloween we'll get to a to a low Mark where we spent those reserves down um operating the system uh until
017property taxes come in each year that's important important to note board members because that Reserve keeps us from having to go out and take out Tans tax anticipatory notes U that that come uh with with hundreds of thousands of dollars sometimes in interest that you're having to pay when you're taking those notes out uh to make payroll until property taxes do come in and I've already mentioned the five mil share there go ahead Mike local fair share uh five Mills that goes to the state I mentioned ear earlier uh that um originally 581 it was actually on the ballot as a Statewide exemption we've since received Clarity that that's a local exemption what that means is the state is going to get local fair share off of the gross digest then exemptions are applied and
018then school districts uh get their funding um local fair share for us it's 46.7 million this year uh it's increased um 18 9 million over the last three years which is a net $18.9 million decrease for the school district go the next one Mike you can see the growth of our local fair share starts in FY 93 and goes until this year and you can see what the trend line does there so as the digest grows the local fair share grows and we have to account for that budgetarily uh every year Mike if you go the next one state funding this is 99200 you can see yellow was the percentage of State funding it was 60.7% of our budget was made up by state funding in 99200 go the next one Mike 20145 State funding
019was 51.3 6% of our general fund budget go to the next one Mike and you can see this year it's 46.2 two% of our budget so we're seeing less and less of a percentage of our budget being made up by state funds and more and more of a percentage uh being being made up by by local funds go to the next one Mike just an article from the fat citizen I've referenced a few times uh fet uh implemented um a cap the local delegation actually implemented a cap over there a few years ago I think they're in year three or four now and you can certainly read the article and see what the what the reality has been for them over in F go to the next one Mike just a few comments here the
020millage rate is tool that you that you use uh to make sure that we can adequately fund uh education you don't assess property um I don't know the full long-term implications of something uh like 581 it's a brand new model um and and we have an opportunity or onetime opportunity uh March the 1st we have to make a decision uh one way or the other I do know uh that we have uh some some things that separate uh school systems um in cities and counties that we have to consider as we look at this um and I hope that that I've given you the information that you're going to need uh to be able to make um the best decision you can make uh Mr chair I'll I'll take any questions from anybody and I
021do have a few final comments that I'd like to make if I may do you want to go to our questions first I know I have a question and I want to open it up to the other board members I think they have some question questions um we can we can do that um my question is and and start with a little bit of a comment you know thank you for this presentation we've gone through it now what I think you said five times five times a lot of information and the more I hear it it you know we're all homeowners excuse me up here also and we have the same concerns and the same inflation's hitting us the same way we're citizens here and and live in kaita county and it seems that the
022581 legislation doesn't take into account the differences between school systems in the cities and counties they lumped all of us together but we're we operate independently and then on top of that we've got that that I don't want to call it a burden but that responsibility to provide the best education that this system possibly can that's what what we were elected for and what our citizens expect so we've had some conversations here and my question question to you is could we explore the possibility and you already mentioned it of a local legislation that would benefit the taxpayers young families to senior citizens and also preserve the funding that we need to operate the school system that that we're responsible for for you know providing the funding for is could we work with the local delegation
023to come up with uh something that would hopefully benefit both yes yes absolutely you can I I think I'm sorry no go go ahead Miss I just wanted to make a couple of Corrections I've timately taken notes from all of the speakers and I've been listening to you guys I just want to correct a few misstatements that I've heard uh one speaker said that our bus drivers do not receive benefits that is not true I wanted you to to clarify that our bus drivers do in fact yes ma'am they bus drivers have the the same benefit package that any other employee has yes thank you and I wanted to clarify we had a speaker here that she was a lobbyist at the at the capital we're of at the capital DR Horton and I were
024there last Monday um and she she lobbied on on Senate Bill 94 and this was a Senate bill that they are trying to add an addendum to 581 asking for a halter proceedings to wait so that we don't have to she said we had time we should take our time and be patient um that extension is only propos at this time it is not a law it is only proposed and it's only kind of floating through the State House and Senate um and it was really I think extended for those with like maybe a firsttime board member and also with districts who suffer from the hurricane so we do not have the luxury to not have this done by March 1st correct my understanding is that that is I don't even know if it's on
025the floor I know it's been proposed um but but there is legislation floating out there but it hasn't moved through the process no thank you are there any other board questions this side I'd just like to make one comment I've been watching all this for years and when you talk about reassessments I contacted the Tax Commissioner's Office and got some information for from 2005 up to 2020 and for years the county didn't reassess property good deal for us taxpayers but it shorted the school system and during that whole time we were also faced with austerity cut from the state not a good deal for the school system so when inflation hit and they were forced to do reassessments that's in my mind in my opinion that's one of the reasons you saw your the massive
026increases in your values at kind of at one time that wasn't our fault any comments this side at this time uh Dr Hort you said you had a couple more comments before we move on to public comments yeah Mr Glover if I may I just I just do have a a few comments that I'd like to make um especially after I've I've listened over the last month um just felt like there are a few things that I might need to say um if you don't mind um typically don't do this but I wrote it out long hand cuz I wanted to make sure that that um that my words fit with what I wanted to say uh board members and members of the public I understand that the decision on whether or not to opt
027out a house bill 581 has garnered thoughts and opinions on both sides many of them strongly felt in my opinion this is as it should be I understand we're talking about the two most important things to people they children and their money I don't take it lightly and I know that you don't either I do however I want to take a moment to step back from facts and figures related to potential impacts of the implementation of House Bill 581 to address some of the misconceptions misinformation that been presented as facts in this room over the last month times I've sat and listened to individuals share information about our school system our academic and physical performance and about me couldn't be further from the truth things like our per people expenditure is $20,000 per student and
028in fact it's just over $13,100 per student it Compares very favorably to surrounding districts just as our millage rate does got a chart Mike if you'll pull it I think I sent it to you um from the doe website it shows if you can pull it up that last year our per pupil expenditure ranked 148th out of 189 school districts in Georgia for all expenses it ranked 111th out of 189 when you just look at state and local expansions straighten access out I can give you access from a phone man I should have done that earlier shouldn't I let me just give you access make you an editor how about that I was feeling it too Mike guess I'm not as prepared as I should have been huh send it to you Mike you got
029it and he'll pull that up for me in just a second we're 111th when you look at just state and local expenses not from me everybody it's from the Georgia Department of Education website we have been and will continue to be good Steward of what we've been entrusted with it's what the boards charge me with per pupil expenditures below the state average overall and it's below the average spending of most surrounding districts Metro districts and districts both comparable to larger than and smaller than ours it's not just true between the fiscal year shown last year it's been true for many years Mike is the other document I just shared with you I've also sat and listened as some individuals have stated that our District's low performing not a good Steward of the resources that we
030have in fact according to information released just last week according to Niche we ranked 33rd in the state of Georgia out of 189 districts related to student achievement 18th in The District student enrollment and the top 18% of school system rankings I also encourage you to go look at our student achievement over the last 10 years um on the Georgia Department of Education website we we compare very favorably we also outpace both the state and national average in act and SAT scores we have a graduation rate that's above 91% among many other perform criteria by the way our community asked years ago that we require more of our students to achieve that graduation rate than do most other school districts in Georgia we require students to successfully complete 28 credits most systems in Georgia require
031only 23 are we satisfied with that achievement data absolutely not but we are far from a low performing school district and I believe our teachers and staff members play a vital role in helping our community Thrive we're well above the state average and academic rankings well below in per pupil expenditure with the lowest millage rate in the metro area seems like a pretty good return on investment to me I've listened while A lot's been thrown at me personally I've been described as a socialist a bureaucrat even unchristian among other invective those who know me know that's far from true but I understand criticism comes with the territory I signed up for it and I'm good with it I also signed up with the knowledge that my number one job is to be the chief advocate
032for public education in kawii county that can make me a Target as well maybe not with most people but with some the notion that the board does only what I say as some have claimed is patently false as well I make recommendations to you the board makes decisions I'm responsible for working within those decisions that's how a good governance Team Works it's how we work together we disagree from time to time and much preparation takes place leading up to any vote my job is to give the board the best information that I can in order to make the most informed decision possible for our students and for our employees the board ultimately decides what is best for students the circumstances in which we find ourselves here evaluating the likely impacts of a novel piece of
033legislation and one which seems at times to be uniquely indifferent to the physical realities of operating Local Schools is no different in that regard I've also listened and sat here and listened to folks talk about our bloated Central office certainly a convenient narrative but it couldn't be further from the truth Mike that's the right document I sent you minute ago if you'll pull it up and you had access to that one I saw it on the screen there you go here's a chart for you Mike can can expand it fact of the matter is our bloated central office has one more administrator in it than and it did in 2018 and that's a director of safety it's an important investment a local investment mind you considering the times that we currently find ourselves in I
034encourage you to compare our central office staff numbers to those of similar districts I believe that as you will in other areas you'll find that we compare very favorably of also listened as people list central office administrator salary and talk about H deserving these people off are as people work hard I require a lot of them I think they deserve to be paid comparably I encourage you to go look at other districts and I think we we will be comparable in that area as well I applaud their efforts uh I believe that that they're dedicated to this system and I believe that they deserved um everything that that they've gotten in the way of pay I know sometimes when people are passionate about their arguments they can sometimes make claims to fit a narrative rather
035than a narrative to fit the facts I know many people may genuinely not know some of the things I've mentioned I encourage you to go look them up I also know that for some these and other facts just simply don't fit the narrative that some wish to create about me our teachers and administrators and our school system and our school board but the facts are available uh you can check them out they're the truth like all of you I live here pay taxes here I feel the things you feel I have an 82y old mother who lives in a neighboring County she's on a fixed income especially since my dad died 15 years ago I like many of you don't want to pay a dime more in taxes than I have to my home assessment
036has doubled in value in the last six years I am however different in this one way and that I have a professional obligation to ensure that our school system can continue to meet its obligations to our students and to our communities and that our students and families have the best opportunities to achieve their dreams and that we do it in a physically responsible manner this obligation might mean that sometimes I have to recommend something that doesn't benefit me or any of you personally or as in this case that I provide you with hard facts even when it's inconvenient I'll continue to meet that obligation and provide you and our students with the best that I possibly can and I hope that we can work together uh to come to a common sense Solution on what
037that will be any questions Mike I would like to just add really quickly I have been doing my homework as well and I hear this narrative that we need to cut central office by 50% so I did my homework and I looked at that very closely the top nine paid people in our central office make up 0.75% of this budget that is a tiny amount most of the money in this school system goes to the hard earn teachers and staff in this District that work directly with kids so that narrative needs to stop okay before we go on to to public comments just to remind everyone of a few of the rules that we have each speaker will be limited to 3 minutes uh please be respectful of each speaker uh side conversations comments uh
038plus you know for or against are are very distracting to us up here and we want to be respectful to each of you that are going to speak and be able to hear what everyone has to say so with that we'll start down the list the first is Shauna trep and I apologize in advance if I mispronounce some names or or misread some of these I'll do my best and I know a strong school system plays an essential role in that therefore I do encourage the board to opt out of HB 581 opting out is not a tax any increase it is maintaining local control of our property taxes and school funding rather than handing it over to the state as it was written on the ballet HB 581 or Amendment one included an option
039for local government municipality or school system to opt out why would the state legislators include an opt out provision in a constitutional amendment because they knew it would create major funding deficits which is why the bill also includes an option for an additional 1% sales tax or the floating local options sales tax to help offset the deficit but unlike counties and cities who can collect the sales tax our schools cannot access these funds HB 581 is portrayed as property tax relief when it is just shuffling of tax from property to sales and to exclude our schools from funding I am empathetic to those that have felt the burden of increased property value as and as a result a higher Property Tax Bill I'm including that as well however opting in does not freeze or lower
040your property tax es that will still increase with inflation and we have all felt the squeeze of high inflation in recent years and it seems that it will only continue increasing there all alternative options for relief for these residents without relinquishing local control of our property taxes to the state and underfunding our schools the board has responded to Residents concerns and has lowered the millage rate in four of the Last 5 Years it is at the lowest rate since 1983 there are multiple County homestead exemptions to provide property tax relief including many specifically for seniors why would we opt in to such a broadly reaching and limiting proposal like 5 HB 581 do we really want to limit our tax collection from corporate owned homes and rental companies or do we want to provide relief
041specifically to local homeowners in need with a more targeted approach like additional or expanded Homestead exemptions well-funded schools attract families businesses and Investments and benefit the entire area we want Cita to be a thriving community we want investment from businesses to bring high quality jobs to the area and we need an educated Workforce to do that our schools are investment in the future and I urge you to opt out thank you next is Sahara billing Zahara Billings thank you for taking the time here to be with us I stand before you not as an expert not as a politician but as a concerned individual a parent a neighbor and a member of the community who believes deeply in the power of unity compassion and fairness today I want to talk about why we must come
042together to support the opt out of HB 581 proposal at its core HB 581 threatens to undermine the values we hold dear Equity opportunity and the well-being of every individual in our community while the proposal may appear to address certain challenges on the surface its impc ation run far deeper and the consequences could be devastating for many of us first and foremost HB 581 risk widening the gap between privileged and marginalized it proposes measures that could disproportionately affect those who already struggle our low-income families our children underfunded schools and our neighbors who rely on public services to survive it is the kind of is this the kind of community that we want to build one where the most vulnerable are left behind while while a select few Thrive I believe we are better than that
043I believe we are a community that lifts each other up and fights for fairness and that refuses to turn a blind eye to Injustice secondly HB 581 can stifle the voices of those who need to be heard the most it threatens the limit access to resources education and opportunity that empowers individuals to advocate for themselves and their families when we silence those voices lose diversity of their of their voices the richness of perspective and the Collective Strength that comes from within of inclusivity we cannot afford to let this happen our strength lies in unity and the ability to listen and Learn and Grow perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this is HB 581 in the message sends to our children they are watching us they're learning from our decisions that we make today what will
044they think if we allow this policy to prioritize short-term gains over long-term well-being what will they believe if we fail to stand up for what is right we owe it to them to create a future that is just Equitable and full of promise we owe it to them to say no to HB 581 and opt out today I'm asking you to join me in taking this action let's opt out of HB 581 let us send a clear message that we value fairness that we cherish our community and that we are willing to fight for what is right this is just not about policy it's about the people it's about the Legacy we want to leave behind and about ensuring that every person in this community has a chance to live within their dignity pursue of
045their dreams and know that it matters so let's stand together let's raise our voices opt out of HB 581 and choose the path that reflects the very best of who we are thank you next is Kyle trp we'll go on to Carolyn franklon franklon right hello board members um my name is Carolyn frackleton and I have been a resident of kawia County and a homeowner for almost 18 years I'm not up here claiming to understand the nuances of taxes and tax law but I'm here on behalf of my children and the children of the county I do know that decisions made by you all affect the schools and the children I have the three children one at East kawia High School one at Lee Middle School and one at no and Crossing we've been part
046of the kawi County school system for 16 years and in that time my children have thrived we have been proud to be part of these schools we have had Educators and administrators who have given our kids the best opportunities to grow we appreciate everyone in these schools pouring into them and I know that this starts at the top and this starts with you the school board setting goals to best serve the children and this County I'm also the founder of a local Facebook page called M of kawia this page has almost 14,000 members and has been active for 12 years as a moderator of this page I can get a pretty good picture of what the local families of kawia County need many families need a good safe school to send their children because this
047might be their best chance at an opportunity to have a good education many families also choose to leave kawia because of the schools aren't rated as high as the neighboring counties I also see many families choosing to go to private schools or charter schools and that is their choice I understand the need for our school system to have all of the resources that it can have my children were at noon and crossing a few years ago when they lost their Title One funding and this meant the children could not have computer or art classes unless the PTO funded it I would like opportuni like this and other opportunities that I am not aware of to be provided to our children I believe this is the responsibility of the county and its residents to take care
048of our County's Youth I understand many people don't feel this way and they don't have children in the school but we don't get a chance we don't get to choose when it's convenient for us to take care of the children all of the children in the county are all of our children and they deserve the best from us and from you thank you for looking out for the children in their best interest I support the schull board and their choice to opt out of HB 581 Amber Brahman hi I'm Amber Bowman and I'm a realtor and a mother of two who are currently enrolled in Co County schools and I actually grew up and graduated from fet County uh schools just across the way I came to the last board meeting with the full intention
049of speaking to you and supporting your decision to opt out but upon realizing that there was more than one meeting that I could attend I decided to opt out myself and just listen there's no doubt in my mind that you face a difficult decision as both sides of this issue raise fantastic concerns and what you're actually hearing are the same words across the board and those words are I'm terrified people are terrified that you're going to make the wrong decision one side is terrified that they won't be able to afford their homes anymore or they'll need to unfortunately go back to the workforce or something crazy while the board sits there with superintendent making 37% more than the national Secretary of Education one side is terrified that when stuff hits the fan then our children
050our future our whole reason for doing all of this will be the first corner cut Arts and Music are already underfunded as it is and just this year Thomas Crossroads Elementary had to practically beg for applicants for their front office staff I'd love to say that I'm on only one side of the fence and that my argument is so compelling that you'll have to select just my side but in reality I'm not I'm actually here to do here to ask you to do something crazy and that thing is to do both I understand you can't both opt in and opt out but what you can do is assess the spending make necessary Cuts in discretionary funding and salaries to ensure that the 20% cap that everyone is so worried about doesn't even matter I'll admit
051that a certain someone that used to be on the Schoolboard and called you all incompetent idiots is not someone I genuinely listen to in fact I'm staunchly against just about everything she stands for but I decided to look into one of her crazy ideas and check the numbers to see how things would play out if just the superintendent and the assistant superintendant took her proposed 25% cut they would still be sitting at $260,000 and $150,000 salaries these are well above the average even for other systems of our size while I agree you need to be paid and paid well for your time and energy honestly having to listen to her yell at you all the time I do think that salaries could easily manage those sorts of cuts and funnel the massive savings somewhere else
052I'll be honest say that I trusted DR Horton and went to bat for him in 2020 with the response to covid and keeping our kids safe especially mine who are immuno compromised but I'm terrified that you're all going to put your pockets above our children when it comes to actually making the right decision to cut your salaries and eliminate that waste and because of that I'm asking you to opt out we as a community will come together and we will be noon and strong and put the bill for our kids and make your salaries so that you don't have to worry about them anymore thank you next is Lori Nome I've been a citizen of CWI County for over 25 years seen a lot of stuff go on having to do with the board of
053Education I want to start off by saying that it's a problem when your house is assessed at a rate higher than it could possibly sell for that such as mine is I know the board does not assess property I know y'all don't but you are asking not to be regulated by what we voted for by saying the property could only the assessment could only increase a certain amount of year you don't want to deal with that so you're getting involved in assessing properties there you can't have it both ways uh the way you're looking at is so that you can increase the the tax base more than the 3% that that law that we all voted on 51,000 I believe voters wasn't it 51,000 that voted for that law that you want to overturn so
054what I'm going to say I'm I hope I'm wrong but I truly believe they're going to vote against us tonight so I'm just going to end with look at the person sitting next to you if you don't know them get to know them before you leave today because we're going to have work to do after they do this tonight so y'all get to know your neighbors get your exchange phone numbers exchange email addresses we can all get together later if they really do they always vote the way Mr Horton asked them to so I believe they're going to vote against the tonight so y'all get to know your neighbors so we can get together in a couple of weeks Richard Harper Richard Harper had a nice conversation with a lady on Sunday she very kindly
055gave me about a half hour of her time and I wanted to talk about um house build 581 Jesus sounds like the sky's Fallen guys it it it listened to the scenario from Mr Horton and uh and all the things that might go wrong it just sounds like we're in terrible shape um but the lady that I talked to about this bill this law uh I asked her if she wanted to go first and she said no she Saidi want you to go first tell me what you think so what I told her was that um in 2014 the gross revenues that this County uh school system used was $193 Million the student population then was $22,200 students the gross revenue if you get all the tax money that's proposed and you opt out of
056581 will will be about $484 million you know what the student population is$ 22,900 students so you got 300 million more dollars for 700 more students in the school system the sky ain't falling the sky is not falling all of these things that you're bringing in that could happen that will happen um it's just not so then it was this lady's nice lady's turn and she told me that uh if you didn't opt out that there would have to be budget cuts and there would have to be Personnel cuts and all the all the a lot of the classroom things for kindergarteners and first graders and second graders would you'd have to decide what you could do and what you couldn't do well that's not true because only the parcels of land in kawia County
057that are homesteaded are going to be affected by this nobody's getting a tax cut there's no reduction in Revenue there's no reduction in Revenue you're going to have a whole bunch more money in 2025 than you do in 2024 so it's not true what you're saying you're going to have a ton more money in 2025 and 24 all the businesses are still going to have to pay what they what the they're assess value is all the uh properties that are rentals are still going to have to pay why don't you take just a little bit of a break for the taxpayer for the people that are are vested in the county the young people buying a house or the old people that are going nowhere just give us a little bit of a break just
058a handful of us give us a little bit of a break that's what I'd like to see you got more money than you need Mike F fante and I apologize if I mess that up well if you messed it up you would not be the first one that that messed up the pronunciation of my name I'm Mike fanti I'm a resident here in kawia County uh uh for about 35 years um we cash a uh a state uh teachers retirement check every month my wife was an educator here in the county for almost 20 years and uh we've been paying taxes like everyone else has throughout that whole time I hold a few offices I'm uh the president of the White Oak homeowners association I am a a member of a couple of golf associations
059I sang with a Gospel quartet and I've sang at many of your churches I know many of you board members personally um uh I have great fond memories of of uh many things that this school board has done over the time uh uh members of the school board who are very near and dear to my heart uh have have made great decisions over the over these past 25 or 20 some odd years however there was one date that was missing on the HB Amendment decision timeline and that was Voting day voting day voted on a very poorly written uh HB 581 uh the many people that I talked to the many people that that came to me within White Oak within the Golf Association within my other contacts had come to me and said they
060didn't know whether they should vote yet yes or no the based on how the How It Was Written we can't change that it was written The Way It Was Written so all we can do is deal with it today so what I'm going to say to you is that this past November there was a change in Washington I don't know what that that change will happen as it filters down over the next four years but the people spoke I believe the people also spoke on November the 5th at election day and voted to opt in not opt out so I don't know if that's the answer or not the answer that you're looking for but uh if there are other avenues that we can look at then I think we need as as Mr Glover
061said we need to look at other avenues in order for that to happen I believe that this school board as as an elected body has been doing a great job I have heard people say that they want this to become a partisan board I do not want it to be partisan board I argued against partisan board on a board member that was currently on your board I don't think we need partisan politics I think this is about our children this is about the future of kawia County but some of the numbers the ones that were just presented specifically about the the basically flat growth line but the budget increase need to be addressed thank you Christopher Basset can I ask one question does this does this map also represent the outcome of the vote of
062581 across all these counties you don't know thank you good afternoon board members my name is Christopher Basset been a I'm 32 years old I've been a life long resident um I see superintendent Horton smiling because I think he remembers me because I was classed in 2010 East C High School matter of fact and was a student under his under while he was assistant principal I had to speak with him my dad had to come up speak with him a few times and we had some things um need to be addressed but that's that's not part of what today is today is about this the funding right as even as a product of the school system and I've seen what the school system has done through the years like I said very much so I'm
063a very involved member I've lived here been born here cow county is my home left came back all the things so I encourage you guys to not opt out I want you to opt in there's funding cuts that can be done you know yes there's if there's a little fat on the bone there's a way we can trim the fat you know there are people who jobs within the school system is to figure out where money can be allocated and I do believe that those folks can come in and say okay we have if we are limited here we can figure out where we need to proportion the funds because I mean I'll say this I'm sure we all of race if I went to my job tomorrow and they said hey here's another here's
064a half a million dollars we're going to give you a raise tomorrow nobody's going to say no we all could use a little bit more money but what matters is spending it responsibly spending it accurately that was the biggest thing as a matter of fact the cow count of school system taught me growing through my math teachers all the algebra it all come down to spending responsibly that's part of what m is being a good adult is and that is what I'm trusting the school board and all the employees of the Coward County School System to do is spend responsibly we can get by if we opt in we can absolutely get by it's not going to be fun and it's going to make things harder but trying to cut others just to just to
065pad Pockets or just to spend a little bit extra on paper we we've got to cut we got to cut the fat somewhere so all I'm asking you guys is has opt in go to the folks go to your treasurers go to go to your financial responsib and say hey what can we do to make this work thank you for your time Helen Sherman hello I'm Helen Sherman W born with that name Just Married it but uh first of all I'd like to say that I don't think there's anybody here anybody in this County that doesn't care about the children and their welfare and their education but one of the things we have to care about is providing them with a home and with food and with clothing and it's starting to get hard on
066people now I've never had a child in the CWI school system I have had two grandchildren and uh I'm I'm not really here to criticize anything other than maybe Dei or CRT or maybe porn in the libraries but other than that uh what I'd like to say is that as far as House Bill 581 the biggest problem I have with that bill is the opt out clause I don't see the point it even making the bill with that opt out clause and as far as uh the millage rates being compared to other counties that's only one part of the equation it doesn't really mean anything that somebody's got a bigger millage rate than we do you know like some of the counties they have a 100% senior exemption at age 65 well here you can
067be 70 80 990 100 years old and you're paying School tax so that's just part of the equation but the main thing I wanted to bring up is rule number four in your policy sheet about taking questions from us because I haven't seen that happen mainly the only thing I hear is sit down and shut up so what I'd like to know is you know are you going to honor the rule number four and take questions say that again ma'am I was trying to look at rule number four when you when you said that are you asking if you can ask us questions will will you be taking questions from us not in the public hearing we are all available available for questions at any time our email addresses I'll be glad to give them
068to you they're available online we get a lot of questions that way answering a question when we're taking up everyone else's time is is kind of difficult it's a lot better to do it email or phone calls or in person or something like that so uh in interest of everyone's time in getting through all the speakers with we will not be taking questions today well what was that what does that number four mean then I'll have to read it and get with you after I read it says once the speakers for and against the issue have been heard the chairman shall indicate that questions pertaining directly to the issue involved may be directed to the board again we're we're it doesn't say it has to be done during the public meeting we we will be
069glad to entertain any questions but not in the interest of other words sit down and shut up no ma'am that is not what I [Applause] said Mark faul great job on pronouncing my last name thank you thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you today I'm actually going to read to you today as a grandfather with grandkids in kawia County as a citizen living on a fixed income meaning that every dollar I pay in taxes is one less to pay for food gas shelter or helping others in need as a homeowner who voted last November to limit the growth of taxes to an inflationary cap on the appraisal of my home I'm asking this school board to do the right thing and respect the voice of 51,000 Voters in this County who
070voted the same way in short we want to opt in and we want you to do the same DR Horton you and this board have been given a sacred trust a stewardship responsibility of great importance as you hear us speak out please listen to us we are only asking that you do what we the people voted for you to do it should be the simplest decision you have to make this year ask just this one question what do the majority of the kawia county voters want concerning this matter the answer is opt in this is not just a political Choice it's a moral choice with consequences this board is accountable to the voters in this life you may choose to ignore us in this life but all of us will stand before the owner of
071it all one day and give an account to him for all our choices including this one the scripture gives us several examples of this accounting and we all should be prudent to heed those examples as the Knight and the Raiders of the Lost Ark said Choose Wisely I thank you very much for opting in Sea [Applause] Miller I want to thank the school board and superintendent Horton for having these hearings and um the extra questions that you answered DR Horton thank you I appreciate that because you address some of the concerns that I had so if I say something that's a little bit um conflicting or or something that wasn't my intention okay so I'm trying to digest this um HB 581 which I would like to not opt out is a a shift of
072the tax burden off of homeowners from what I understand um the the homeowners are the little guys and the world I'm a little guy okay um we would like to have the property relief that this promises uh if 581 doesn't change Dr Horton's budget I don't see anything in there that says it's going to defund or reduce his funding and I don't think that's even the debate we're really having I mean it comes to that if we were to opt out but but let's not talk about that let's just talk about in or out okay and if we stay in in well um we the homeowners carried burden is reduced by the the relief that the HB uh 581 provides um I'm going to skip over the sales tax because apparently that's not part of
073it but we have the three other parts the five Mills the floating homestead exemption the estimated roll back rate which uh helps you know homeowners like me who have had the appraised value go up 108% since 2017 and the inflation rate is the green one red versus green so the tax on that even though the Mills go down the I end up paying more in taxes and I'll give you a copy at the end that's okay that way you know that I'm you know I'm not making this up um if you opt out um nothing there's nothing left for us to use to save the ourselves from a tax relief except to go after the budget well we we've got Dr hordon giving us the budget this is what it going to take to do
074this take care of the students and he's hired to do that he gave us the number you know let's just do that and we opt in and we proceed okay and then the homeowners they get a little bit less tax with uh with this U option and but if we take it away from us it's like like a gift that we could have had and now we're going to cry about it and then we're going to have more debate so I really don't want more debate and I don't want to be upset so we're not trying to defund you we just want to reduce what we have to pay the burden and I'd hate to miss out on this opportunity thank you Carol Miller how y'all doing thank you again for letting us speak HP
075581 caps appraisal values and was voted for by majority of kaita county in 23 one Senate bill and four house bills were written to address the horrible out ofcontrol property taxes in Georgia s349 HP 1185 1022 1031 and 11:15 negotiations and lobbyist brought about the opt out clause and placed our Schoolboard in a position that pits them against the community and homeowners this is unfair to both the board and the homeowners if HP 581 is the overwhelming choice of the voters why is there even an opt out the lobbyist and associations need to be be held responsible not our school board for this mess putting the school board and the homeowners in this position is divisive homeowners are rightfully afraid of being taxed out of their homes why else would all this commotion come about
076last year kaita county has a 10% to 11% depending on your source's poverty rate 15% of the population is senior and most of them on fixed income HP 58 one was written because of outrageous property taxes across the state opt out does not allow for future optin except by a local act that would require vote in 2/3 of the general assembly and a local vote more headaches opt out will make kaita ineligible for the flost and does anybody find it a little odd that our school board is put in this position of making a decis de ision that's already been decided and voted on not fair to them not fair to y'all not fair to us there's an agenda somewhere board members have to face community and everyday interactions those who put him in this
077position don't opt out from what I understand and research shows um High property taxes deter po potential investors Less jobs less economic growth prospective buyers deterred some migration out of the county because of the high taxes and usually the poorest 20% pay 4.2% of their income on property taxes we're in uncharted waters y'all I want you to please pray between now and the time you vote for guidance there exists an answer to meet the school needs and the homeowners needs we need to work together to find this and may God bless you in this next six or seven hours that you got before you have to make this decision we appreciate you very much thank you the next speaker is did not leave a last name it's Pat is that with a c I do
078want to get your last name k k k l e i n no k l i n e she spells her c l i n e okay Miss glad go ahead I just wanted to make sure we got you on the record thank you usually people ask me if I can sing and my response is I can go crazy that's our song I decided to look up the oath of a school board member and it says a Schoolboard members oath of office typically includes a pledge to perform duties Faithfully support the Constitution and respect the community I just want to emphasize respect the community because the community has already spoken they voted and it is your oath to respect what they've asked you to do so I stand before you asking you not to opt
079out thank you Charles Draper rules Well ma'am there's a fine line there I don't I don't want to and I had asked at the last meeting that we that we hold it to a very short level if any um now that the one of our attendant attendees has asked for no clapping it is in the rules let's please do that you can express uh your approval in other ways you know Charles Draper order please order please wow good morning I've never been in to one of these meetings before pretty interesting uh nice to see the board members to put their names with these faces faces with names um I'm I'm here just to actually ask the board to really get together huddle up after this consider not opting out uh I don't want you to
080opt out I guess I'm prejudiced because I'm old uh I I I grew up in Atlanta I went to elementary school and we went to high school 8th grade we didn't have Middle School junior high we didn't have schools where kids got ready to go to high school you went to high school um I think I I think Dr Horton is up to the challenge if we I think we can make it through this if we if we don't opt out I uh we got a lot I noticed we have assistant superintendent superintendent superintendent of financial services at CPA controller CPA accounting assistant controller payroll specialist benefit specialist we got a lot of smart people a lot of good board members I'm sure um I think they can do this I think we can uh
081I I don't know that I think it's a stretch to say we're just going to have a collapse of our school system and our social economic class and the count is going to fall apart um uh I don't I um I have I haven't formed of the opinion of the board a lot of people seem to have have a formed of opinion and they seem to think maybe you're little aloof and maybe not as transparent as you ought to be and I want you to know that a lot of people are going to be upset if we opt out and I don't want you to get your feelings hurt if a lot of people are coming after your positions come election day um I I found it interesting I was first time looking on the
082website of expenditures and things and I just want you to know I was just I'm not a auditor or anything but a lot of people going to be looking at every single thing and they're going to want a lot of have a a lot of questions be answered I notice that this school year employee benefits increased 28% plus that's a big number but that's good everybody needs good benefits you keep employees by having good benefits Abid Lum taxes there some money that came into the system increased over 16% that's a good good increase and one thing that was really terrific and great earnings on investments increased four over 438 per I'd like to know how they did that they got a hold to nanc Pelosi's Investment Bank or something are they are they they got
083a lot of more money in to invest but that's great and I think we're up to the challenge if you if you don't opt out thank you thank you I'm sure next is I apologize I can't read the first name it's I believe it's n a a y Walker oh I wasn't I I'm sorry they told me to sign sign you you wish not to speak I just want to be clear okay Charles brazel b r a z g l uh maybe they left Brian heis yeah all right thank you board and everybody else for coming you know I'm sit here and listen to everybody I had a lot of St stats to put out um but to be honest I don't not even sure why we're here you know nothing is government funded it's
084all taxpayer funded and the taxpayers have already spoken that's the bottom line I do appreciate DR Horton I appreciate your presentation I've looked through it I've I've tore through it but to be honest it fails to answer why we should disregard our voters why do we need this and how would we spend the money just to be honest and it's funny you mentioned fitting The Narrative I think that's exactly what your brief did fitted the narratives it has biased comparisons it has some misdirected stats and then Mr Glover said we need a balance well that balance is the 581 right the state give it to us so let me put some facts out over the past 10 years budget is O up over 240% while students growth is less than 3% that's $260 million increased
085in budget while we have 600 additional students in that 10 years in the last four years now you mentioned the bloated staff with the last four years you've increased administrative staff by 11% that's 4,086 staff members while 2% increase in teachers that's 1,400 teachers somewhere in the ballpark that's like having a whole lot of police Chiefs and very few police officers on the street it just doesn't make any sense superintendent salary and incentives to be honest is went up 30 plus per compared to teachers less than 3% you make more than the governor superintendent travel incentives alone are more than some teachers make I know I have family members that are such young families are moving out of Cita County because of the increased taxes The increased cost of living we need to fix this
086and you have that opportunity and I do trust you all cuz my kids graduated from right here now I can tear through the budget but that's not what we're we're here for what we're here for is to Simply want to hear the voters we want you to hear us and say no to opting out there is no impact to the budget we're going to have plenty we've had excess in actual expenditure versus receipt we have had excess simply give us our young families our seniors a chance all right current budget is sufficient and increased budget doesn't always mean positive results we know that with that 240% increase we had lower test scores we had had teachers that had to buy things out of their pocket to support their children I know for a fact I
087help one DR Horton comparison stats can be twisted any way we want you can make them say whatever you want I just did right but mine came from your documents your paperwork what you submitted I don't care what any other County does we're CA and we have spoken and as Representatives I pray to the good Lord above that you honor our vot Ken Comer [Applause] for Ken comeer forward can come a forward so um the one thing I encourage you to do I'm a numbers guy I encourage the board to review the budget and spending I encourage you to do a multi-year financial statement analysis Trend analysis because as Brian said and this gentleman said earlier we've gone from cost per student and again you can calculate it different ways the revenue per student in
0882015 was 9,918 that's information from the audit report from 2015 in 2025 based on the approved budget the revenue per student will be $ 2,17 so you're going from $220 million to$ 484 almost $485 million in 10 years and your students have only gone up by 600 this is information is from the approved budget it's from the audit reports so I encourage you to look at a detailed Trend analysis of what's happened over the last 5 or 10 years to see where things change not just based on the approved budget that's very limited those accounts Go Down Deeper where is the money going what has changed I've done Financial honors and auditing we look for anomalies to review I'm not saying anything bad is happening but can we save money somewhere because we've doubled the
089amount of money we're spending per student and people taking the money we give every year and like he said I think there was $100 million in Investments that's a third of the budget or used to be it's not a you know so I encourage you to do an analysis of that if you don't hire somebody separate because I know they said we have a lot of experts which is true but maybe I couldn't find the trend analysis anywhere that showed from year to year to year to year but when you look at that and again I know they say 13 or 14,000 I took the numbers from the reports based on revenue and the number of students number of students might be a little off for 2025 I took it from the 2024 report but
090those numbers are accurate so our costs have doubled and I encourage you to look at a trend analysis to understand where the money's going I don't think we have a revenue problem we have a expended problem so I thank you Linda joce [Applause] Meek Linda mink CWI County uh a lot of good speakers here today uh first of all I'd like to thank all of the citizens who have turned out the people who are paying attention those of us who have spread the word and created an awareness in our count throughout our County uh the attendance your voices are so important and I cannot thank all of you enough um the second thing is that I'm here to to speak it obviously we we started at noon uh we have a lot of working people
091people and so I'm here uh to speak for them because they're out uh earning money trying to cover a mortgage or rent uh taking care of their kids and they can't be here so i' I'd like to say I'm here to represent them uh in November the voters handed you a mandate we handed it to you now we're going to find out tonight whether or not our voices mean anything to you I'm hoping that they will but it's very doubtful but we will be here tonight to see what you do uh Mr Heist Mr Draper Mr uh Mr Ken the last gentleman that spoke your budget is so bloated it is unbelievable if I tried to run my personal business the way you have operated that budget I'd be B bankrupt it is so bloated
092there's so much waste Fraud and Abuse in your budget and you can't stick to it you can't reduce it and Miss de I will repeat downsize central office by 50% and cut the rest of the salaries 25% that's a good start right there the other thing is that this lady over here mentioned uh Thomas Crossroads Elementary uh I I think everybody in the community is aware that the principle of that school was person issue we're not going to discuss a personal oh okay so we're not all that if you nurture theft that so ma that is part of our policy we okay okay even when they're arrested even when they're arrested it's a public meeting well I think that's enough uh we all know where you stand and so I'm just glad to have had
093an opportunity to bring it out thank you Miss de Randall hammock hold hold on Doc chairman um I hate to interrupt people's time's valuable but I'm if I heard this right the last speaker just accused us of Fraud and I would say to the last speaker if you are accusing the school system of fraud please contact our attorney with the information so we can check on it a Randall hammock good morning um and thank you DR Horton for having this and the board uh for hosting this um I've been a resident of Cal County now for 25 years raised both of my sons here they both got a great education in Cita County one went to Georgia Tech go jackets and another ones at University of Georgia neither one of my sons went to cow
094County School my wife and I believed it was best for them to go to for Christian education so our we paid for our sons to go to Trinity Christian School all the way through they have had a great success I would challenge you to speak with someone from trity Christian speak with somebody like Mr Dean Deus who used to be our head of school Headmaster at trity Christian about the lives that are changed of attending a Christian school now as a board you guys represent all of us you represent the public school parents you represent private school parents you represent the homeschool parents you represent grandparents and people who have no children because we're all paying and voting for taxes into the school system and over the 25 years I've probably paid over $100,000 into
095the school system I'm not against public schools I'm not against government education or anything like that but I am very pro-choice in education and we voted in in essence to hold taxes you do not have a revenue problem you do not have a revenue problem I've looked at the budget I looked at this a few years ago Trinity Christian educating for Less cost in Coward County schools and it it's without it's not you take all the money coming in and and look at Central Christian other education forms are a good thing competition's a good thing but every dollar you take from a parent affects the them making that decision of whether or not they're going to send their their child to the public schools or to a private school every dollar makes that decision harder
096it was hard for us to make that decision because we're paying so much money mine my portion was about $4,000 this year I don't have anybody in public schools anymore I there're beyond that so just think about that think about what we voted for in November think about the parents and the decision they make and those decisions can have eternal consequences because their are lives changed in some of the private schools permanently thank you Alan Brady good afternoon ladies and gentlemen it's the last hearing praise the Lord I'm here against opt out I broke out my old Northgate colors today I wore this shirt for two senior nights on the football field my sons had the privilege of being yelled at by then Coach Horton Good Times board members I know you're in somewhat of
097a dilemma please remember who you represent Dr Horton's job is to be an advocate for the school system including maximizing Revenue he's done a very good job but your job is to consider the interests of all the citizens of C County not just a portion of them and those citizens have resoundingly spoken at The Ballot Box you should listen to them I understand finally some of what the fuss is all about I understand understand that if you allow the will of people to go forward and do not opt out some changes might have to be made the procedure to decide how much money goes back and forth between various parties is excessively complicated but I do understand that opting in could reduce revenue from one of many sources directly and indirectly due to the excessive
098complicated excessively complicated way State funding is calculated but you have plenty of wiggle room to overcome this if it's needed remember remember only the people who own their own homes are affected by the valuation increase limit this is just a portion of a portion of the tax base commercial and rental properties are not affected values would continue to go up and more properties will be developed and added to the calculation and sadly inflation isn't going anywhere as long as runaway federal spending continues so the tax base of homeowners will go up also you can increase taxes up to just under 30% with a majority vote even with no increases to the digest which we know won't happen and if you gain the trust of the People by hearing and respecting what they have to say
099here and at The Ballot Box then you can persuade them to vote to give you even more room to increase the millage rate there are other options I don't have time to go into now and that others have mentioned but if you don't listen to the people and decide to overrule their vote it won't be forgotten and you'll probably be faced with a mandated local limit of some kind like most of our neighbors including faget Fulton and foresight already have I ask you to pray about it and when faced with difficult choices listen to The Sovereign will of the people thank you Maxwell Britton good afternoon uh this is a line that you don't want to cross when we voted for Amendment one we didn't just support a policy change we voted to amend our
100constitution we exercised our right as Citizens to put Protections in place for homeowners retirees and Working Families protections against being taxed out of homes and now this board is considering overruling that vote ignoring the will of the people undermining the very taxpayers who fund the school system that is not leadership that's a bad choice this wasn't a close call it was a landslide the voters of Georgia and kawia County made themselves clear 164 members of the Georgia house voted yes 52 Georgia Senators voted yes every County in Georgia backed it every member of kawi's own delegation supported it there was no confusion there wasn't any controversy the people spoke and they expect to be honored the message was simple cap the taxes respect the voters and stop the greed and yet this board is considering
101turning back on that on us k County voters didn't come here to argue with their school board we came here to be heard we are the homeowners we're the families and the retirees who trusted this process who trusted you we expect you to do the same this is your chance to do the right thing to lead to listen to the people to show that you stand with them and not against them stand with us because if you turn your back on the people who put you in office they will find somebody else to replace you because at the end of the day kaeda County believes in accountability In fairness and leaders who serve with Integrity thank you our last speaker is Julie [Applause] Campbell hello everybody I am Julie Campbell I um didn't plan to
102speak today I came here um just jumped away from work for you know thinking I could jump away for an hour um that didn't work out um so what I want to say is I I raised three daughters in this County um I don't typically get involved in in a lot of the local politics but what I can say is that I trust you guys to make the decisions on our behalf um and I am urging you to opt out um I would like to read a letter from a friend of mine who um couldn't be here she is at the Georgia um uh Capital today so um this is the letter DR Horton and members of the school board my name is Lindsay Parker and I'm a resident of son I have two children
103who attend Eide Elementary and I'm a member of the PTO I'm writing to you to express my support for your intention to opt out of HB 581 my experience with kawia County Schools while relatively limited thus far has shown me that Administration and staff care deeply for our students and they do the best they can with the resources they have those resources are not abundant and I believe the district has been a good Steward of our funding public education is one of our most valuable assets as a as a country and one that should be invested in not vilified when properly funded and supported it it provides an equal opportunity for all students to establish a solid foundation upon which their lives can grow and Thrive it also adds value to our communities in the
104form of increased property values investment in our local economy and the fostering of community amongst School families that provides a social safety net as well as a broader Public Safety benefits for our County please know that there are many of us in this community who value you and our schools will continue to support you um and will sorry let me repeat that because it's important please know that many of us in this community who value you and our schools will continue to support you as you are well aware we do not opt out of HB if we do not opt out of HB 581 now we run the risk of severely limiting our ability to fund the kawi county schools in a way that allows them to be competitive and fully functional with more school
105funding hurdles coming our way all the time I'm sorry m c your time is up I apologize thank you for your time and for keeping our students interests in mind I want to thank each of the attendees for coming out today uh those of you that spoke thank you very much for your opinion obviously there no vote we'll be taken at this moment but I want to open up the floor to my fellow board members if there are any uh comments and we'll start on the right hand side Mr farmer I have one question um about house 581 I know it's put up there says 3% but but that's not that's not what it could end up correct that it could go lower it could go much higher is that is that correct my understanding
106of the legislation or of the the referendum Mr farmer it is not capped at 3% it's Capp to an inflationary measure um the one we think they're going to use is CPI uh so u under that could it could swing it could swing above three could swing if inflationary rate is 5% could be 5% one year it could swing back the other direction as well where if the inflationary rate in a particular year was below uh 3% so so it it would vary thank Mr Robertson um yes I got one question how many how many school districts are in the state of Georgia uh 189 189 okay um and I and I appreciate everybody being here really do uh I voted on the same ballot that you guys voted on voted for the same amendment
107that you voted on okay but also at the bottom of that amend Amendment it gave school districts and municipalities the ability to opt in or opt out okay why why was that on there and and I don't I don't need expect anybody to answer why that was on there and I know my numbers are not 100% accurate 189 districts the map shows 22 of those districts undecided five are in that means that 27 189 okay 160 roughly are opting out why are so many districts opting out why whoa whoa whoa wait a minute now Mr wa a minute let me finish Mr Robertson is speaking please why are they opting out okay so that should tell you that maybe the legislators knew what they were doing when they gave school districts the ability to opt
108in or opt out the only point that I'm trying to make is the majority of the school districts in the state of Georgia who overwhelmingly pass this they're looking to do the same thing that we're doing okay that's all we're doing we're hang on I'm not I'm not feeling any questions this is my time to speak okay um I appreciate you being here I'm a taxpayer I got two properties one that I live on one that I pay taxes on I got one that I inherited from my dad when he passed away my step sister who was a caretaker for my dad she currently lives in that house okay I was buildington grounds guy from the time my dad became unable able to take care of that property okay so I know I know all
109there is to know about paying property taxes mine went up on both my steps sister still lives there paying a modest rent okay there's a lot of upkeep on that house okay so I know very well what it's like to pay property taxes mine went up I can't file for a homestead exemption on my dad's place because that's not where I live I can only apply on mine so I I hear everybody everything's going up my budget is tight uh can we look at our our budget absolutely absolutely I had some conversations with some of the board members the other day so maybe we need to take a little bit deeper dive on what we're spending is there any way that we can save some money I don't know there may be I do it
110I do it I eat out a whole lot less now than I used to all right I eat a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches okay and I know starting to show a little bit but um I'm with you and I hear you and I appreciate you guys coming in here and letting us know how you feel okay um and and all I can say is I hear you and you elected us to do the right thing and that's what we're trying to do but somebody said it's all about the kids it's all about the kids it's not about us I don't mind paying property taxes because I want people that are educated in our schools and working in our restaurants and our law enforcement I want them to give us the best community that we
111can have to live in I was born raised here I ain't going nowhere I'm retired somebody asked me where you going to retire to I said right here right here I don't want to go anywhere else I want to go to the beach and then come back home I want to go to the mountains and come back home I want to go to the casino and come back home okay I don't want to go anywhere I'm bested in this community so I'm going to do everything that I can to do what's right for this community and I see some head shaking you don't have to buy into everything I say I understand that okay but we're trying we're trying give us that much thank you Miss de okay uh Mr dubos okay thank you um
112number one thank you all for coming whether you spoke here or I've spoken with you you know through email or at one of the schools that I've been to at church this past week and I spoke about five or six different people about this same topic um you know I understand the financial burdens that that we have I say we because we pay the property taxes just like everyone out here does um but at the same time we have to be able to ensure that our schools remain properly funded our students get the education they deserve this isn't about something that we're looking at for next year or three years or five years this is an amendment the only way it changes is if there's another amendment what's going to happen 10 years 20 years
11350 years down the road I have no idea what's the economy going to be like I don't know you know the problem with with that I see with House Bill 581 is how it treats the school systems differently than other local governments in Georgia they're not treated the same local governments don't have to pay a fair share in order to get money from the state think about it five Mills of your tax money goes to the state it doesn't come to our time you know your input in the last couple of weeks has really helped guide us every one of you whether you're four outting in or you're for opting out I want to thank you for that engagement and your commitment to the community I personally will spend this afternoon as I've spent the
114last couple of weeks thinking about what is best for our community that's what I'm here for thank you Miss Bernett I just would like to thank everyone who's come out today and to Prior hearings I appreciate the conversations that I've had with folks um either through email or phone calls or other methods and I just I I want you to know that your opinion your thoughts your perspective um is valued and appreciate you taking the time to come and share it with us thank you Mr Copeland yeah thank you Mr glver uh I will just uh I guess echo my fellow board members uh more closely to Miss Barnett I really appreciate y'all coming out being a part of the process um you know for me I whenever we go and speak with uh Civ
115classes at at at schools I I tell the students in there you know look at me and whoever may be there with us we affect you probably more than anybody else does and uh so the fact that we had this much Community involvement uh we welcome that uh we hope we get to see you again I know I saw some new faces out here and hope we get to see you some more often um we're always able to be reached uh whether by email phone in person whatever um and then I too will take the afternoon the remainder of the afternoon to kind of get my thoughts together um and uh I'm sure I'll speak again this evening on it but again thank you all for being here for being a part of the process
116again thank everyone for being here and with that do I have a motion to adjourn Mo all those in favor motion passes 7 to zero we're adjourn thank you