You are voting to cap the year-over-year assessment value of homes for the purposes of calculating property taxes for Forsyth County School (FCS) at a maximum of 4% for a period of 10 years. If the Constitutional Amendment #1 is passed, the cap will become the lesser of CPI or 4% (see article on the Constitutional Amendment).
This is an attempt to keep increased valuations on homes from having an oversized influence on property taxes levied by FCS. This is accomplished by adjusting the exemption. Here an example of is the calculation for property taxes: 
If a $500,000 home is assessed with an 8% rise in valuation, or $40,000, it would be capped at 4% or $20,000 increase by adjusting the exemption.
Things to Consider When You Vote
The Deep Dive Based on House Bill 717. The actual cap is the lesser of the 4% Forsyth County cap or the Statewide cap which is set at the Consumer Price Index or CPI rate. The latter is contingent on approval on the Constitutional Amendment #1, which is also on the ballot. If approved it kicks in, see HB 581. While the bill limits the impact of increased valuations of your home to the property taxes you pay, it does not necessarily mean the FCS portion of your property taxes decreases. FCS could, based on its budget needs, request an increase in millage to make up any shortfall. Current FCS leadership felt that this exemption could be managed and would have minimal impact. Using the 2025 approved budget as an example, this ballot initiative would have had the following impact:
You are voting for a continuance of an existing 1% SPLOST that has been in existence since 1987, which has a term of 6 years. Estimated collection over the 6 years is $354,131,406, $22,009,621 to the City of Cumming, the remaining balance to Forsyth County.
Funds are used for capital expenditures and improvements, not the operating budget. It is estimated that 34% of the funds collected will come from purchases made from residents/entities outside Forsyth County. 
Things to Consider When You Vote
The Deep Dive Sales tax on most transactions in the County is 7%, 1% of which is the SPLOST for which a continuance is requested. SPLOSTs are the primary way the County funds its capital expenditures. Other ways would be the issuance of debt (General Obligation Bonds or Revenue Bonds) or property taxes. The County does not like to issue debt and has not increased its property taxes for a long time. The $354,131,406 is an estimate and collections could be more or less. If the SPLOST is not approved, the County would need to prioritize and delay projects, redirect funds from the General Operating Budget and cut. This would require that, for example, they would need to decide whether to expand a library or buy radios for the Sheriff's department. They may also need to raise property taxes. The Breakout of Budgeted Spending for this SPLOST Most of the items listed below are already part of the County’s capital budget and, in fact, may have been planned many years ago with some spending already taking place. While there are some dollars not specifically allocated, much are through the normal capital budgeting process. This information is readily available from the County. 
If passed, this ballot initiative gives Forsyth County the authority to create a Tax Allocation District (TAD) for the proposed development known as The Gathering at South Forsyth, the site of a potential National Hockey League team with an arena, retail and commercial space, hotels and apartments located on 100 undeveloped acres in south Forsyth County at the intersection of Union Hill and Ronald Reagan Boulevard.
The County is proposing to issue $225 million in bonds to help fund the building of the ice arena and the bonds are paid off by property taxes collected inside the development that would normally go to the County and Forsyth County School (FCS). Things to Consider When You Vote
The Deep Dive The TAD ballot initiative is backed by HB 1488. Georgia's Redevelopment Powers Law allows cities and counties to sell bonds to finance infrastructure and other redevelopment costs within a specially defined area also known as a tax allocation district (TAD). Forsyth County will provide $225 million funding via revenue bonds issued by the Development Authority, for the arena. Paydown of the bonds comes from the collection from the property taxes from the commercial and residential entities within the defined area of The Gathering, excluding the arena. The majority of property taxes collected to pay for the bonds come from what Forsyth County Schools (FCS) would normally receive, so it was important to get agreement from the school district which has its own set of terms. The Deal Negotiated with the County and the BOE/FCS In return for giving up the property taxes collected from residential and commercial property within The Gathering to pay for the bonds, the County and FCS agreed to the following:
Since we laid out in the previous Kicker the three alarming new rules created by the Georgia State Election Board (SEB), the SEB has created yet another rule that is sure to cause chaos this November and beyond.
Rule 183-1-12-.12 Tabulating Results, commonly referred to as the Hand Counting Rule, is cause for great concern for this election. Passed only 6 weeks before the General Election, the Hand Counting Rule requires three poll workers from each polling site to hand count all ballots at the end of each day during Early Voting and on Election Day. After working long 14 hour days, poll workers are instructed by the SEB to divide the day’s ballots into stacks of 50 and hand count until the three workers have arrived at the same total. If that number does not match the number from both the electronic voting machines and the scanner recap forms, the poll manager must figure out the reason behind the inconsistency and fix it, if possible. As noted in last issue’s Voter Protection article, there could be many reasons why these numbers do not match. This new process must start once the polls close, or, if there are more than 750 ballots, the poll manager has the option to wait until the next day to conduct the hand count. If the poll manager decides to count the next day, hand counting will occur at the county’s tabulation center. For Forsyth County, the tabulation center is the county’s election office. How voting in person works When you go to the polls to vote, after checking in and showing valid ID, you are handed a plastic card which you insert into the electronic voting machine. At this point you vote your choice for offices, make your selections on the screen, and the machine prints your paper ballot. You then bring your paper ballot over to the scanners and feed it in. Once the scanner accepts your ballot, your vote is cast and recorded. During the entire process, your hands are the only hands to have touched your ballot. Now, with the new rule passed by the SEB, many hands will touch a single ballot. This alone is concerning and could be ripe for conspiracy theories. Other concerns the Hand Counting Rule raises is the need for counties to hire more poll workers. With 159 counties, there are thousands of polling locations and the need for three poll workers to count at the end of a long day changes the calculation for elections offices around the state. Will they need additional staff? Will they divide staff into shifts? Who covers if someone gets sick and cannot work? Normal administrative questions become serious issues when changes are made only 6 weeks before a general election. The stakes are raised significantly and the added pressure on election workers seems more than just unfair. Countering dubious rule changes But pushback continues and the courts are considering the legality of the SEB’s actions. Almost immediately after passing the Hand Count Rule on September 20, the DNC and DPG filed a lawsuit saying that by enacting new rules after poll workers have been trained and after voting has begun (absentee ballots have begun being mailed to overseas military, government workers) - essentially too close to an election - means that this form of election administration is not “conducive to the fair, legal, and orderly conduct of primaries and elections.“ Their lawsuit also indicates how multiple studies have shown how ballot scanners are more accurate in tabulation than hand counting. The lawsuit asks for the entire Hand Count Rule to be thrown out. On Tuesday, October 8, Fulton County sued the SEB over the State Election Board’s attempt to appoint election monitors to Fulton County’s newly formed election monitor team. Fulton County recently hired an independent election monitoring team lead by a former general counsel to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to watch over their 2024 election process. But, the SEB wants to appoint an election denying, conspiracy theory believing monitor instead. At this time, it is unknown how this case will be settled and how its decision will affect the rest of the state’s election offices. Chaos and doubt in ballot counting aside, one issue that does seem closer to resolution is certifying Georgia’s election results. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney suggested in pretrial hearings last week that he seems willing to allow the SEB’s Reasonable Inquiry Rule to stand but will clarify Georgia’s law requiring county boards of elections to certify election results on November 12, 2024. While it is a relief to know that Georgia will certify election results, the remaining new SEB rules seem designed to disenfranchise Georgia voters and create chaos and new conspiracy theories around this election cycle. Protect your vote Vote in overwhelming numbers to make sure our voices are heard and our votes are counted. Vote early if possible to lighten the load on Election Day and to avoid unwelcome surprises to keep you from the polls on Election Day. Here are some important dates to remember: October 7: Absentee Ballots begin being mailed out to county residents October 15: Early Voting begins October 19 & 20: Early Voting Weekend for both Saturday and Sunday October 25: Last day to request an Absentee Ballot October 26: Saturday Early Voting November 1: Last day of Early Voting November 5: ELECTION DAY November 12: County Certification Day Check your voter registration often! If you don’t know where you can vote early or where your polling location is (remember they may be at different spots), this link will also provide that same information. These non-democratic groups will continue to push new and inventive ways to disrupt our democratic process of voting. It is up to us to not become disenfranchised, to instead stay engaged.
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