The General Assembly's war on property taxes kicked into high gear Tuesday when the state Senate overwhelmingly approved two measures to cap property assessments.

[post a comment below]

The proposals, which would have to be approved by voters in November, would essentially force cities, counties and school districts to raise tax rates — rather than assessments — if they want anything more than a minimal increase in revenue.

Lawmakers say if they limit property assessment increases, they will be making it tougher politically for local officials to raise more revenue.

"Taxes ought to be visible and hard to raise," said Senate President Pro-tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the sponsor of one of the bills. "Having a school board raise taxes just one mill can get a candidate beat.

"What this really does is stop the back-door tax increases. That is where the real frustration is."

The proposed constitutional amendments, which passed the Senate 53-3 and 48-7, now head to the House, where House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) has been promoting major property tax legislation for months.

Both Senate measures get at a common complaint about local governments and taxes. Even when cities, counties and school districts don't raise the tax rates, the assessed value of property being taxed grows. So homeowners pay higher tax bills. Lawmakers argue that raising property assessments allows city councils, county commissions and school boards to get more revenue without having to take the politically more difficult step of raising the tax rate.

Lawmakers have approved local bills in the past to freeze property assessments. However, those measures applied only to select counties.

The proposals by Johnson and Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) would take that idea statewide. Essentially, property values could only go up minimally until a property owner sells. Then the property could be reassessed at fair market value.

Johnson's measure would apply only to homes. Rogers' would take in all property, including commercial real estate. Also, Rogers' proposal would allow counties to opt out of the restrictions in some circumstances.

While Republicans pushed the resolutions, Democrats split on the issue.

Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta), supported the resolutions. "We need to ease the burden on our homeowners. In some cases, property taxes have nearly doubled in less than a decade," he said.

"If we do not change the way property taxes are assessed, we will soon face an affordability crisis in the metropolitan region. This bill will help insure that working people can continue to live in our community."

However, Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), opposed both resolutions, saying local governments should make taxing and spending decisions free from state government control.

The Georgia School Boards Association opposes the resolutions. Angela Palm, an association official who testified before a Senate committee against the measures, noted that school districts have 20-mill tax rate caps. Many districts are already near or at that cap, so they would be severely limited if the proposals went into effect.

Most of what school districts spend goes toward personnel — teachers, administrators, office staff, bus drivers and the like.

"There are some issues when you start limiting the amount of resources that local school boards can raise," Palm said.

The two measures are [Senate Resolution 686] and [Senate Resolution 796]