The path to ZERO county homestead property taxes.
Effingham County’s plan to eliminate county homestead property taxes is built around economic growth, restructuring parts of the county tax system, and using new state-approved tax relief programs created specifically for homeowners.
A voter-approved 1% local sales tax that uses sales tax revenue to reduce or eliminate county property taxes for qualifying homestead properties.
A voter-approved program that allows the County to use surplus revenues and excess fund balance to reduce or eliminate county property taxes for qualifying homestead properties.
How is this achieved?
Project Zero begins by streamlining the way certain county services are funded. The existing Hospital Indigent and County Maintenance & Operations (M&O) property taxes are combined into a single tax, while the Parks and Public Works property taxes are merged into another. In addition, the current Fire Protection and Sanitation fees are converted into ad valorem property taxes, making them eligible for future property tax relief under Project Zero.
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Once this new funding structure is in place, Effingham County will seek voter approval for two state-authorized property tax relief programs: the Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST) and the Local Homeowners Incentive Adjustment Grant (LHIAG).
If approved by voters, LHOST and LHIAG will work together to reduce — and ultimately eliminate — county property taxes on qualifying homestead properties. A qualifying homestead property is a primary residence that has received a homestead exemption through the Effingham County Tax Assessor's Office.
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LHOST and LHIAG revenue will be applied in addition to your current exemptions, including homestead exemption.
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After county property taxes have been eliminated for qualifying homestead properties, any remaining LHOST revenues may be used to reduce county property taxes on non-homestead properties.
The Outline
Convert fire fees and sanitation fees into an ad valorem tax.Â
Consolidate parks tax into public works tax & hospital indigent tax into County M&O.
Apply LHOST and LHIAG revenue to pay down county homestead property taxes to ZERO.
In short, Project Zero allows local sales tax revenue and available surplus funds (largely generated by commercial and industry) to be used to eliminate county property taxes for qualifying homeowners.