Joint study committee hearing on property taxes scheduled

The impact of property tax digests on local education funding in Georgia will be the subject of a public hearing at the State Capitol on October 23. State Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) and Rep. David Knight (R-Griffin) will co-chair the meeting and receive testimony from Ellen Mills at the state Department of Revenue along with officials from the Department of Audits and the Department of Education. The meeting will take place from 10:00 a.m. until noon in room 450 of the Capitol.

This will be the first of at least three public meetings of a joint study committee of five state senators and five state representatives. The committee was created with the passage of Senate Resolution 875 earlier this year and will be dissolved after their work is done before December 31. The committee will produce a report for review by the 2015 session of the Georgia General Assembly, and could form the basis of new legislative proposals.