Tuesday, August 12, 2025–10:40 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
If a new floating sales tax is approved by voters, it could be a while before we see property tax relief. However, Rome City Manager Sammy Rich would like to see it happen sooner.
Rich is seeking clarification regarding House Bill 581 from the local legislative delegation, specifically whether or not local governments can use the proceeds from the penny tax to reduce the millage rate next year.
“We think, worst case scenario, is it becomes 2027,” he said. “However, I’d like to think that there is going to be an opportunity for us to do this in 2026. If the state allows us to do what is accumulated in 2026, then, theoretically, you could get six months, eight months, or ten months of a year’s collections, and therefore we are applying property tax relief for our property owners.”
Rich said he has a phone call in to State Senator Chuck Hufstetler to get that clarification.
“This is all brand new,” he added. “We are all kind of learning this together, and there is probably only two communities in the state that put their FLOST on the ballot back in March of this year. So, this is a new area for a lot of us around the state, and we are all trying to learn together to figure this out. I would think it stands to reason that the state would probably encourage us to get this done as early as possible, considering it was done for property tax relief.”
If approved by voters in a referendum in November, collections of the extra penny tax would start in January.
Rich was a guest on Tuesday’s First News with Doug Walker.
