The 2024 Legislative Toolkit is now available on the ACCG website. The Toolkit includes policy briefs on ACCG's top three Legislative Priorities as well as the association's Guiding Principles and Policy Objectives. The top three Legislative Priorities for 2024 include Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Funding, Mental Health Reform, and Property Tax Assessment and Appeal Reform.

Access the 2024 Legislative Toolkit by clicking here.  

Questions regarding any issues outlined in the Toolkit should be directed to a member of the Governmental Affairs Team.

More than half of Georgia's counties have adopted the mental health resolution. ACCG is encouraging every county to adopt the resolution urging the Governor and General Assembly to continue efforts to reform and improve mental health services for the citizens of Georgia. This resolution will demonstrate to the General Assembly how important mental health reform is to counties. Click here to download the model resolution.

ACCG asks for this to be adopted by Friday, December 8, 2023, prior to the start of the 2024 legislative session. Once your county has adopted the resolution, please send a signed copy to your local legislative delegation and Administrative and Policy Coordinator Tottianna Davis by emailing (tdavis@accg.org).

Click here for a special message from ACCG President & Baldwin County Commissioner Henry Craig on the importance of this effort.

For the past week, ACCG staff have been traveling around the state to host a series of fall Regional Meetings. Make plans to join us at the meeting of your choice to discuss hot legislative issues and other topics impacting county government, connect with ACCG, and to network with your peers from surrounding counties.

There is still a chance for you to join us. For a list of remaining meeting dates and locations, click here. Please contact your county clerk to register.

Update on ACCG and GMA SDS/LOST Negotiations  

On November 6, ACCG and GMA staff and members met for the fourth time to discuss possible changes to the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) and Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) laws. The negotiations teams are exploring the establishment of a formula to distribute LOST proceeds should cities and counties reach an impasse in negotiations and continue to work on a dispute resolution process for impasses in SDS negotiations. The groups will get back together in January to continue these discussions.  

Click here to view the presentation.

The House Ways and Means Ad Hoc Committee on Ad Valorem met again on October 18 at the capitol to continue its work. The Committee heard testimony from many chief appraisers, including Suzanne Widenhouse of Columbus-Muscogee County, who presented on the constitutional freeze on values for homesteaded properties in her county that went into effect in the early eighties. Her presentation addressed the effects of such a freeze over time, including the potential inequity between neighboring taxpayers. This highlighted potential concerns with the proposal from the October 11 Committee meeting to freeze the fair market value of all properties at the sales price. ACCG and the Georgia Municipal Association provided joint recommendations to the Committee members for their consideration.

To access a recording of the second meeting, click here.

The Senate Study Committee on Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) met in Chatham County on October 17 to hear testimony from ACCG on LOST. The prior Committee meeting focused on testimony from the Department of Revenue and the Georgia Municipal Association. ACCG presented on the history of LOST, issues with the eight criteria, and potential solutions. The Committee heard testimony from Greene County Manager Byron Lombard, Chatham County Attorney Jonathan Hart, and Jeff Davis County Administrator Heather Scott. The Committee will meet next in Spalding County. 

Click here to watch the meeting.

The Georgia Association of Assessing Officials (GAAO) held its fall seminar on October 23 in Towns County. ACCG Governmental Affairs Associate Dante Handel spoke to the group about the upcoming legislative session, including issues on which both associations are collaborating. These include removing the tax estimate from the assessment notice, the three-year lock, and the sales ratio study, all of which are included in ACCG’s “Property Tax Assessment and Appeal Reform” Policy Agenda item.  

On November 2, the Senate Public Safety Committee held a subcommittee meeting focused on the Fulton County jail. In the meeting there were presentations by the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, Georgia Jail Association, and the Fulton County Sheriffs’ Office. Presenters spoke on the mental health challenges that exist in jails, overcrowding of inmates, and the different types of detainees that exist in county jails, such as state prisoners. ACCG is monitoring the work of this Committee to observe if any legislation is produced.

On October 17, the Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments on Winder v. Barrow County, an important SDS case that has far-reaching, statewide implications on whether city residents can be taxed to pay for counties’ unincorporated roads. The main question in this appeal is the interpretation of the “primary benefit” clause in the SDS law, here in the county roads context. That statutory clause is among the criteria for a service delivery strategy: “The strategy shall ensure that the cost of any service which a county provides primarily for the benefit of the unincorporated area of the county shall be borne by the unincorporated area residents, individuals, and property owners who receive the service.”

Click here to watch the oral arguments.

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) selected 120Water to help the state manage the lead service line inventory database. 120Water will conduct webinars/trainings to help educate water system staff about the platform for submitting lead service line inventory data to EPD. They are offering several dates and times to ensure everyone has the opportunity to attend.

For more information on the webinars, click here.

Call for Projects: Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)

The GEFA call for projects is open for the Annual Base State Revolving Fund and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Supplemental Funding. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) is a federally funded loan program that provides funding for a wide variety of water quality and non-point source projects and water and energy conservation projects. The call for projects is open until Wednesday, January 31, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

More details on the CWSRF loan program can be found here.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program through GEFA is designed to local governments implement strategies to reduce energy use, lower fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency. Georgia will receive $2.9 million to disperse to local governments throughout the state.

For more information on how to apply, click here.

The federal Inflation Reduction Act included two rebate programs for home energy efficiency and home electrification projects. GEFA expects the rebates to be available to Georgia residents no later than September 30, 2024.

Click here to learn more about the home energy rebate programs.

Register for NACo's 2024 Legislative Conference

Click here for more information.

The Inflation Reduction Act introduced tax credits referred to as elective pay or often called direct pay, which allows tax-exempt and governmental entities to receive a payment equal to the full value of tax credits for building qualifying clean energy projects. The new provisions will enable states, local governments, tribes, territories, and nonprofits to actively invest in building a clean energy economy, help save residents money, and improve overall public health.

Click here to learn more about the tax credits.