Sen. Chip Rogers
ATLANTA (November 24, 2008) – Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers announced today that he welcomes the pre-filing of House Resolution 1 to help protect Georgia property owners from unfair property tax increases. He also suggested this would be one of the key pieces of major legislation in the 2009 session for the Georgia General Assembly.
Senator Rogers authored similar legislation, Senate Resolution 796, which provides tax relief for homeowners through a constitutional amendment to freeze property tax assessments. Residential property assessed value may not increase anymore than two percent a year and non-residential property assessed value may not increase anymore than three percent a year or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. In addition, it allows property to be assessed at a real, fair market value and will establish accountability for tax policy at the local level. The resolution passed the State Senate in 2008.
“I am confident the Senate has a strong interest in such a measure since we passed a similar proposal twice last year. In fact, it is our intention to move this legislation through the Senate as quickly as possible and make this one of the first major legislative accomplishments of 2009.” said Senator Rogers. “Property owners in Georgia deserve predictability in their property tax bill. It is senseless that a homeowner can be sacked with a 50% increase in property taxes just because a government bureaucrat claims the home value has increased on paper. This is unfair and it must be addressed. We welcome the legislation offered by the House and Representative Lindsey. This much-needed reform is long overdue.”
Sen. Chip Rogers serves as Senate Majority Leader. He represents the 21st Senate District which includes portions of Cherokee and Cobb counties. He can be reached at his office at 404.463.1378 or by email at chip.rogers@senate.ga.gov.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
Information Contact:
November 24, 2008
Raegan Weber, Director
Matt Colvin, Communications Associate
matthew.colvin@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028