Petrea-Stephens-Franklin-Watson Tax Relief Act; enact

School tax relief for Bryan homeowners

The law creates a Bryan County school tax break, subject to voter approval on November 3, 2026. Approval requires more than half the votes cast. With approval, the exemption applies to tax years beginning January 1, 2027. It removes qualifying home value above the base-year assessed value from school taxes for educational purposes. Final assessed values set through appeals count. The home can include up to five adjoining acres. The base year generally is the year before the exemption first becomes available to the most recent owner. Homeowners generally must apply to the Bryan County tax commissioner, who provides forms. As of December 31, 2026, qualifying recipients of two existing adjusted base-year exemptions qualify automatically. Recipients under the 2025 Watson-Stephens-Petrea-Franklin Tax Relief Act use 2026 as their base year. Recipients under Georgia Code Section 48-5-44.2 use that exemption’s base year. The break excludes school bond repayment taxes, improvements and land added after January 1 of the base year, and other jurisdictions’ taxes. Removing property from the homestead adjusts the base value and exemption; value outside the exemption remains taxable. This break adds to other school homestead exemptions and renews automatically while the owner occupies the home as a homestead. A surviving spouse can keep it while occupying the home as a homestead. Claimants must notify the tax commissioner when eligibility ends. Without voter approval, the exemption is automatically repealed on the 365th day after the election.