Ballot Initiative: Forsyth County School District Floating Rate Exemption

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).
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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 65+ senior exemption from FCS property taxes is unaffected.
• This is taking one tool out of the FCS toolkit for managing funding from property taxes, which make up 46% of its funds for operations, until the measure expires in 2035.
• It does not necessarily limit the actual taxes you pay, which is also dependent on the millage rate the Board of Education approves each year, which in turn is based on the FCS approved budget.
• The most conservative members of the BOE have campaigned on a promise to lower the millage rate; it is likely that millage rates will remain a political talking point for Republicans on the BOE.
• We at The Kicker believe that while this initiative potentially gives more transparency on millage rate governance, we have concerns about the millage rate being used as a political weapon combined with vouchers- which will no doubt be expanded in future legislative sessions - to further defund public schools. 

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.
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Using the 2025 approved budget as an example, this ballot initiative would have had the following impact:

• For the 2025 budget the assessment values of homes increased 4.89%.  
• A 4% cap would have required FCS to reduce its budget by $2.8 million (out of a budgeted $328.775 million) or increased millage to overcome the shortfall.
• For a household that pays $10,000 on the school district portion of their property tax, it represents less than $100 in tax reduction.

If you want to review how funding for our school district works, see our Kicker Edition that discusses it in detail.