Georgia
Hearing complaints over property taxes, some Georgia lawmakers look to limit rising values
ATLANTA — With a runup in home values sparking higher property taxes for many Georgia homeowners, there is a groundswell among state lawmakers in this election year to provide relief.
Georgia’s Senate Finance Committee plans a hearing on Monday on a bill limiting increases in a home’s value, as assessed for property tax purposes, to 3% per year. The limit would last as long as the owner maintained a homestead exemption. Voters would have to approve the plan in a November referendum.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington proposes doubling the state’s homestead tax exemption, a measure likely to cut tax bills by nearly $100 million statewide.
But Georgia is far from the only state where lawmakers are reacting to voter discontent over higher levies.
“Property taxes are likely to be the biggest tax issue in many states this year,” said Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation, a group that researches taxes and is often critical of increases.
In Texas, voters in November approved a plan cutting property taxes by $18 billion. Kansas’ Democratic governor and its Republican-majority legislature are both endorsing larger exemptions for homeowners to cut taxes by $100 million annually. Colorado lawmakers meeting in a November special session approved higher residential deductions and a lower assessment rate. Pennsylvania is using lottery proceeds to cut property taxes and subsidize rent for seniors and people with disabilities.
In Georgia, supporters say a cap on homes’ taxable value would keep school districts, cities and counties from increasing tax revenues by relying on rising values. Republicans have long pushed local governments to roll back tax rates to keep bills level, even requiring advertisements labeling a failure to do so as a tax increase.
Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, the Rome Republican sponsoring Senate Bill 349, says many school districts and governments are instead pocketing higher revenues based on value.
“I’ve seen some increases where, just in a couple of years, their collections have gone up 40%,” Hufstetler told The Associated Press on Friday. “And they haven’t dropped the millage rate and they are using it for a backdoor tax increase. And I think there needs to be some moderation on that.”
Statistics show overall property tax collections rose 41% from 2018 to 2022 in Georgia. During that same period, total assessed value of property statewide rose by nearly 39%. Those Georgia Department of Revenue figures represent not only existing property but also new buildings. So they don’t clearly state how much valuations rose on existing property.
Many governments and school districts have spent the windfall from rising values to increase employee pay and cover inflation-swollen expenses. A 3% cap could mean that governments would have to raise tax rates instead. In states including California and Colorado, property tax limits have been blamed for hamstringing local governments.
Already, at least 39 Georgia counties, 35 cities and 27 school systems have adopted local laws limiting how much assessed values can rise, according to the Association of County Commissions of Georgia. Some of those limits only benefit homeowners 65 or older.
Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is backing Hufstetler’s bill, saying it will prevent “large surprise increases in home values.” It’s also supported by at least one Democrat, Atlanta Sen. Jason Esteves.
“A key piece of this bill is trying to ensure that people are able to stay in their home,” Esteves said, saying higher taxes are forcing owners to sell and move.
But state House leaders are cool toward imposing valuation caps statewide, saying that choice should be left to local communities. They instead back Burns’ increased tax exemption.
“Our hope is to preserve local control,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Shaw Blackmon, a Republican from Kathleen, said Friday.
Because the caps could hold down values more the longer someone owns a home, they could result in long-term residents paying lower taxes than newcomers. That’s already the case in some Georgia communities with local caps.
Suzanne Widenhouse, chief appraiser of the Muscogee County Board of Assessors, told a House committee in October that one Columbus homeowner paid $7.79 in property taxes last year, while a more recently arrived neighbor in a similar house paid $3,236.19. That owner would have paid more except for a $950 million property tax rebate championed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
More than $2 billion in property value in Columbus is shielded from taxation by homestead exemptions which don’t allow for any rise in value. That shifts the tax burden commercial and industrial property owners, as well as renters, Widenhouse said.
“Any time that you start capping values, you create inequality,” Widenhouse said.
NAHUNTA, Ga. (AP) — One of two large wildfires in southeastern Georgia continues to grow and now exceeds 31 square miles (80 square kilometers), officials reported Sunday.
The Highway 82 Fire has been burning since April 20 and as of Saturday had destroyed at least 87 homes. On Sunday morning, officials said it was only 7% contained.
Highway 82 in Brantley County is about 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) north of the state line with Florida.
“The fire basically doubled last night in size,” Brantley County Manager Joey Cason said Sunday in a Facebook post. “It is a dynamic fire event that will be impacted by the wind.”
Wind gusts of about 15 mph (24.1 kph) were expected Sunday.
Cason also said evacuation notices could be issued Sunday and that residents should heed them.
“We had folks that did not evacuate and they almost got caught by that fire,” he added. “It’s going to be another potential bad fire day as the winds pick up later in the day.”
A second fire about 70 miles (110 kilometers) to the southwest in Clinch and Echols counties, near the Florida state line, had burned more than 46 square miles (121 square kilometers), destroyed at least 35 homes and only was about 10% contained as of Saturday. That blaze was started by sparks from a welding operation.
The Highway 82 fire was started by a foil balloon hitting live power lines. That created an electrical arc that ignited combustible material on the ground.
More crews were expected to arrive Sunday and Monday to help battle it, Cason said.
“There’s a ton of assets that are being poured into this fire to, hopefully, get it under control or get it out,” he said. “This whole situation is heartbreaking.”
Updated figures on homes damaged or destroyed by the blaze were not immediately available Sunday afternoon, said Susie Heisey, spokeswoman with the Southern Area Incident Management Team.
“Our firefighters worked so hard and had so much success in protecting structures and private homes, but there also were losses,” Heisey said.
Due to the ongoing fire, investigators can’t be sent in yet to assess damages, she added.
Firefighters have been battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida that have sent smoky haze into places far from the flames, triggering air quality warnings for some cities.
An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the Southeast. Scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees still littering some forests after being toppled by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
In northern Florida, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office volunteer firefighter James “Kevin” Crews died Thursday evening after he suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire. No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia.
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Carolina Panthers and Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King agreed to an undrafted free-agent contract at the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft. The deal includes $250,000 in guaranteed money, according to a league source.
King was known for being a human wrecking ball of a quarterback, putting his body at risk for the team’s sake, with the endorsement of his coaches. It worked great in college, turning Georgia Tech from a losing program to a Top-25 team. He passed for 2,951 yards and ran for 953 in his final season, finishing second among power-conference quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns with 15.
But it would be a very hard style to replicate in the NFL. King, at 6-foot-2 and 212 pounds, does have good throwing abilities, averaging 9.9 yards per attempt over his three seasons as Georgia Tech’s starter. So his overall passing numbers may have been higher if he didn’t run it so much (520 carries over those three years.)
King is also 25, after six years in college (three at Georgia Tech, three at Texas A&M), so he’s not much of a developmental guy. But his skill set is so unique, and his intangibles so good, that he offers intrigue on the pro level.
‘The Beast’ breakdown
King ranked No. 231 overall, and as the No. 9 quarterback, on Dane Brugler’s top 300 big board. Here’s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide:
“King needs to see things much clearer and faster to make it at the NFL level, but his competitive toughness, dual-threat skill set and diligence as a worker give him a chance to become an NFL backup.”
How he fits
Dan Morgan started the offseason by saying the Panthers would be open to bringing in backup quarterbacks who could make plays with their arms and their feet. Enter King, who in 2024 became the first player to finish with at least 2,000 passing yards and 10 or more TD passes, with a 70 completion percentage and two or fewer interceptions. King then topped it by winning the ACC Player of the Year in 2025, finishing as the only Power 4 quarterback with five games of 100-plus yards both passing and rushing.
Depth chart impact
King will start at the bottom of what is suddenly a crowded quarterback depth chart after the Panthers traded Andy Dalton and brought in Kenny Pickett, Will Grier and King. Pickett is the clear No. 2, while King will compete for the third spot with Grier, a third-round pick of the Panthers in 2019 who returned to his hometown team this week. Starting with the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, King will be fun to watch in preseason games, which often feature younger quarterbacks scrambling for big plays.
Fast evaluation
Because of King’s skill set and what Morgan said in January, I had him coming to Carolina in the sixth round in my last Panthers mock. Canales doesn’t like to use Young on quarterback sneaks. That could be a role for the 6-2, 211-pound King in a Taysom Hill-type package. The Panthers value versatile players across their roster. Now they have one at quarterback.
The Bengals used the final pick of the fourth round on Georgia wide receiver Colbie Young, who might have gone higher than No. 140 overall if not for an off-the-field red flag.
“I think Colbie is just an outstanding complement [to the receivers the Bengals have],” coach Zac Taylor said, via a livestream from the team. “Fortunate to get him in the fourth round. We obviously had a higher value on him than where we actually got him. I just think he’s a great target for Joe [Burrow], great catch radius. Can use him in a lot of different ways.”
Young missed nine games to end the 2024 season after his arrest on misdemeanor charges of battery and assault on an unborn child. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in January 2025 after his accuser recanted her statement, and the initial charges were dropped.
Young served 12 months’ probation, paid a $500 fine and attended a family violence intervention program.
Taylor said the team did its “due diligence” and that “if we didn’t feel comfortable, we wouldn’t have done it.”
“Just talking to all the humans we talked to that really stood on the table for him, and Georgia returned him to play,” Taylor said. “So Georgia went through the whole process, returned him to play. So just felt really comfortable with the person we’re adding to our locker room, the person we’re adding to our community. Just all of us getting to know the kid. Just feel really, really comfortable with bringing Colbie in here.”
Young fractured his left fibula and tore a ligament, which required surgery and sidelined him for six games last season. He finished his final college season with 26 receptions for 358 yards and a touchdown.
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