Split Habersham Tax-Levy Vote Leaves School Rate Unresolved

Habersham County commissioners approved the county’s 2024 property-tax levy in a 3-2 vote at a called meeting on July 22, 2024, setting rates for county government, the countywide hospital and emergency medical services while leaving the school portion for separate action by the Habersham County Board of Education. Resolution 2024-07-004 set a combined levy of 24.157 mills, including a proposed 10.354 mills for schools.

The decision matters to property owners across the county because millage rates determine the property-tax charge on taxable property. It also divides the levy among core public functions: 11.771 mills for the General Fund, 0.757 mills for the countywide hospital and 1.275 mills for emergency medical services. The school rate is a major separately identified piece of the total, yet it was not settled by the commission’s vote.

The levy reached the commission after being placed on the agenda for the July 22 called meeting as Resolution 2024-07-004. Commissioners then approved it that day by a 3-2 margin, establishing the county, hospital and EMS rates. But the resolution treated the 10.354-mill school component differently: it remained contingent on approval by the school board, leaving the combined figure partly dependent on another governing body’s action.

The Board of Commissioners was the body that acted on the county tax-levy resolution, and the 3-2 vote shows the measure did not command unanimous support. The resolution directs revenue toward county operations, hospital services and EMS, while assigning the school portion to a separate approval process. The Habersham County Board of Education, rather than the commission, held the authority identified in the resolution to approve or reject the 10.354-mill school rate.

The commission’s adoption of Resolution 2024-07-004 is a completed board action. The county, hospital and EMS rates were set in that vote; the school rate was a proposal awaiting school-board approval, not an approval documented in the commission minutes. The public record described here also does not establish whether the resolution or related PT-35 forms were signed, whether the tax digest was sent to the Georgia Department of Revenue, or whether any review altered the submission.

The concrete next public decision is a Habersham County Board of Education vote on the proposed 10.354-mill school rate. Residents seeking to track implementation can also look for signed resolution and PT-35 paperwork and a county record that the tax digest was transmitted to the Department of Revenue. What remains undecided in the documented record is whether the school board approved the rate and whether the state-submission process concluded without amendment.