001yes good afternoon and welcome to the special called meeting of uh the uh the Board of Education um well we'll start by uh being assured that we did send out a notice and we had post the agenda I've been assured of that if we'd all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to the flag of the United States of America andice so I have a motion to uh approve the agenda so move okay thank you and Mr Sean you have another motion well yes yeah all in favor the agenda thank you now yes uh Dr Hoskins Brown did you vote to approve the agenda yes thank you okay all right I move to approve the minutes of the previous meeting on February 19th 2025 second moved and seconded all in favor I all
002right thank you all right I move to remove from the table the previously tabled resolution to opt out of homestead exemption HB 581 okay moved in seconded all in favor thank you allor right perfect okay Mr Jackson just a review of the recap of the resolution to op out of Statewide homestead exemption under Georgia law effed January 1st 2025 a Statewide homestead exemption House Bill 581 from advalorium taxes levied by for on behalf or on behalf of the state or any County Consolidated Government municipality or local school district in this state is authorized subject to an opt out provision provided through certain procedures House Bill 581 benefits proper owners in counties that do not already have a homestead exemption the district has examined the advantages and disadvantages of this legislation held public informational hearings presented
003information to the board of education and discussed the Imp implications of this exemptions with the assessor's office for public hearings on this matter were held in accordance with ocga 48-5 44.2 stating the board's intent to opt out a required advertisement was placed in the newspaper media notices were provided and the information was placed on the district's website because a favorable homestead exemption already exists for the property owners of chadam County under the Steven St bill it is recommended that the board does not exercise the option does exercise the option to opt out of house bill 581 and authorize the board president to sign the enclosed resolution to be filed with the state the resolution has been reviewed by the board attorney and the superintendent support supports this recommendation thus be it resolved that the board
004of education for the city of Savannah and the county of chadam does approve the resolution to opt out of the home St exemption and direct staff to provide all necessary documents including a certified copy of the enclosed resolution to the Georgia Secretary of State no later than March 1st 2025 okay I will accept the motion been moved are you seconding Mr Smith no okay all right um discussion I have um waited for the week to pass to see if we got any updated information that would cause us to substantially want to U change our Direction and um I have not heard or seen anything um in this manner that has changed since we met at Oakland Island anyone else Mr catmar then miss Kowski yeah um when we tabled this last week it was partly
005because we felt like some of us felt like we had incomplete information there were uh General Assembly activities on perhaps extending the deadline to opt in or make a decision and there were also there was talk of some proposed amendments has there been are we aware of any progress not there's things pending but has anything passed the general assembly been signed by the governor so nothing has passed okay so what so we're still where we are before which is we have a March one deadline um and you have to opt in or opt out as of right now so then my second question is the question I raised at previous hearings and at oatland was um my understanding is the bill as it currently stands says taxpayers get the better of any local homestead exemption
006or for the the homestead exemption offered by 581 and so my question is why would we not opt in um because you get the best of um I know there's some differences between Stevens day it's capped at 5 Acres there's a discussion point about whether and how it applies to Schoolboard millage as opposed to County and uh City rates um but I haven't heard any reason why opting in and getting the getting the back stop of HB 581 if something happened to Steven's day is not the right path so absent any of that information I'm going to vote against the resolution I think we should opt in I'm Miss Kowski so um from a process standpoint because I know we have to have an opt out resolution by March 1st if we decide not to
007opt out so opt in then we are not respons we don't have to do anything correct because absence of opting out is opting in y cor have to do anything correct okay so we don't have to do that whole fire drill of getting something up to Atlanta that's not a reason just want to make sure that we're all on the same page about the process um part of my um when we discussed this last week part of my concern was with the kind of dual track of valuation that would have to be done to determine which is better and the potential confusion that would cause that confusion is now going to be there regardless of what we do because the county has decided to opt in um so that does to me that is a
008new piece of information nothing has changed on the legislative side but that was part of my hesitation so for me that that's going to happen no matter what um and there's obviously new legislation that also says if we opt out we may have to do that every year again we don't know that's going to be the case so we are still left with incomplete information um but just wanted to add that point of clarification that there may be confusion either way Dr Howard Hall yes thank you I I know that we know the benefits of Steven's day we we've known the benefits for the past 25 years we are the only County that has been able to benefit from Stevens day now I know that there's seven other counties that have something similar but we
009know the advantage of having Stevens day we know the impact that it's had on not only our property owners but as well as our the school district how it benefits us and so for that reason I think that we should opt out knowing that the benefits that we've received for the past 25 years we um other counties want to be like us they're not like us so now there's this other bill that's out HB 581 to mimic something similar to what we already have so since we've been successful with Stevens day I think we should opt out and continue for it to to be um implemented as it has been for the past 25 years for our property owners uh Miss Campbell um I am now of the mind that opting in makes the most
010sense I I feel like um the more I found out from talking to some of our state legislators that as Miss graas said is still up in the air because I haven't seen it in writing and per the Lis scan it's only 50% passed now for what needs to happen um for the Amendments but if there's anyone I Steven's day won't go away from what I understand it'll be the better of both and um I guess if for those of us who have Steven's day and have had it for a long time it does benefit us more as we speak but for someone coming to the county potentially having the option there if that serves them better when they come as Mr casmar said if there's a benefit for any citizen why would why would
011we opt out as my thinking so I'm going to vote against the resolution anyone else so one thing I do want to clear up because there's so much information out there you know there are people still who are saying that you know when you if we vote to opt in Steven stay is going to go away Steven stay is not going away uh what will happen is the taxpayer there will be it's it's a it's a choice so this does not have anything with abolishing Stephen's Day um so um Mr Smith yes I just uh want to just chime in my my thinking is that this new bill is uh constant ly and um consistently evolving it has not met a landing pad as of yet and I'm unsure of what can come but I
012do know what we have with Stevens day uh so as a result and as we see other counties attempting to mimic or to mirror what we've done and what we've been doing with our Stevens Day program I believe that it'll be essential for us to uh stay as is and opt out so that's my purpose are opting out in this um vote Dr Hoskins Brown any comments no not at this time thank you I would just appreciate a restatement of the motion when you call the question okay all right um so we first vote on this okay all right so I will I will call the question and those in favor of the opt out uh vote by raising your hand or saying I if you're on the phone okay right all right okay right
013uh those in favor of opting in I'm sorry of not opting out those those voting those voting no on the resolution could you please just restate the resolution the resolution is to opt out you you want the full wording of the resolution Dr hon Brown I just want to be clear I to vote to op I want to opt out okay so I would like my vote to be registered as opting voting to opt out okay that's correct okay thank you all right um so hang on so the motion passes to opt out was it 53 yeah 53 all right um I'll accept a motion to adjourn all in favor stick around guys now we're going to come back in we have to give give give give us four minutes five minutes because we have
014to put the minutes together and we have to approve the minutes yes minute yes