At their June 9, 2026, Regular Session, the Lowndes County Commissioners added an item about El GHOST or something to the agenda. That turned out to be a Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (“LHOST”).

The Commissioners unanimously approved sending a draft act to the legislative delegation for the mid-June, 2026, Special Session of the Georgia General Assembly. We now have a copy of that draft Act. Which says the Act has to be approved by a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House, and then placed on the November ballot.

Yes means an additional one cent sales tax, for a total of nine cents, starting January 1, 2027.

That tax will apply only to the unincorporated areas of Lowndes County. Which should be interesting for chains that have stores both in unincorporated Lowndes County and in Valdosta: you’ll get to pay a penny more in the county.

The effect of this new tax would be further homestead ad valorem tax exemption for property owners, with the difference paid for by everyone who pays sales tax. This is the most regressive type of tax, in that even the poorest people have to pay it. Also, the businesses that collect this sales tax will get no benefit from it. Well, businesses in the city may get a benefit of more customers because they do em collect this tax.

Proposed Local Act for Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST), SB 33 of 2026, HB 581 of 2024 @ LCC 2026-06-09

LAKE previously got the 20-minute slide presentation by County Manager Paige Dukes, which is also appended below to have it all in one place.

According to the agenda finally updated on the county website, that’s:

7.f. Proposed Local Act for LHOST

Here is the substantive part of the agenda sheet:

Senate Bill 33 passed in 2026 authorizes a Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (“LHOST”) to fund homestead exemptions granted by local Act of the General Assembly and approved by voters by referendum.

Staff and the County Attorney have prepared the attached draft proposed local Act providing for an LHOST in Lowndes County. It is based on a sample prepared by ACCG.

OPTIONS:

1. Approve submitting the attached proposed local Act to the local delegation of the General Assembly representing Lowndes County
2. Redirect

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Option 1

DEPARTMENT: County Manager Department Head: Paige Dukes

ADMINISTRATIVE COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATION:

Agenda sheet for item 7.f. LHOST
PDF

In response to a LAKE request of 4:11 PM June 10th, we received today, June 15, at 4 PM, the draft proposed local Act. In other words, exactly to the hour the three-work-day response limit required by the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA).

Why the county does not just put their entire board packet on their own website continues to be mysterious.

Meanwhile, that draft local Act as received by LAKE is on the LAKE website:

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2026-06-09-lcc-packet-lhost-local-act/Agenda-Item-LHOST-06.09.2026.pdf

Images of each page are below.

And here are links to each LAKE video of the relevant bits of that June 9 Regular Session.

• Chairman Bill Slaughter requests adding item 7.f. to the agenda @ LCC Regular 2026-06-09
  Apologies for the camera acrobatics, but you can hear what he said.

  https://youtu.be/xYYudQYFPII?si=xAwStPwDV4XPKtLZ

• 7.f. LHOST Consideration, SB 33 Special Local Homestead Option Sales Tax @ LCC Regular 2026-06-09

  https://youtu.be/K1W_ttwbaic?si=UZPeIWxWCus9Q54o

• More about 7.f. LHOST and SB 33 @ LCC Regular 2026-06-09

  https://youtu.be/A-3OyRamqXI?si=jeiNwsfY0BVgbW58

Here is a LAKE playlist of those three videos:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLshUv86fYkiGIaZMmRvl1CdyGXBeHLUCz&si=ssTqG_ClTCvc3Ra2

AN ACT To grant an exemption for homestead property from Lowndes County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in the amount determined annually based on the net proceeds of a new Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST)…
PDF

Section 1. (b) The governing authority of Lowndes County shall impose within the special district of Lowndes County a LHOST at the rate of 1 percent to be levied to fund the exemption of homestead property within the special district of Lowndes County from ad valorem taxes…
PDF

Section 2. Two-thirds majority on both Senate and House; Section 3. Election on the November ballot
PDF

Ballot referendum text
PDF

Boilerplate
PDF

You may have difficulty finding O.C.G.A. 48-8-109.50 through 48-8-109.60 in the usual online references. That’s because those sections are in SB 33 and apparently haven’t precolated through to the other references yet.

For example:

73 48-8-109.51.
74 (a) Pursuant to the authority granted by Article IX, Section II, Paragraph VI of the
75 Constitution of this state, there are created within this state 159 special districts. The
76 geographical boundary of each county shall correspond with and shall be conterminous
77 with the geographical boundary of one of the 159 special districts.
78 (b) The territory of each special district shall include all of the territory within the county,
79 including all municipalities, to the extent the municipal boundaries lie within the
80 geographical boundaries of the county.
81 (c) The territory of each special district shall exclude any territory within which the tax
82 provided for in Article 4 of this chapter is levied.

So the Lowndes County LHOST special district is the entire county minus the City of Valdosta, which chose to take the state Homestead Tax exemption provided for in HB 581 of 2024.

Lowndes County and the Lowndes County School System chose to opt out of the state homestead exemption, saying that the county already offered better homestead exemptions. The voters of Lowndes County ratified that decision in November 2024.

HB 581 also enabled the option of this LHOST one-cent tax, which Lowndes County now wants to exercise, subject to votes by the state legislature and a referendum of Lowndes County voters.

Here’s how the Georgia House Budget and Research Office explains HB 581:

2024 Policy Brief on HB 581 property tax reform, 2024-07-01 –David Hartman for Georgia House Budget and Research Office
PDF

Slides

PDF

Here is a picture of County Manager Paige Dukes starting her slide show, with images of each slide below.

7.f. LHOST Consideration, County Manager Paige Dukes, County Chairman Bill Slaughter, 2026-06-09 –jsq for LAKE

PDF

The Impact of Rising Costs on Community, LowndesCounty, Financial Considerations 2026, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Why Lowndes County is Concerned, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Increasing Values, Inflation, Home Affordability, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Increasing Values, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Inflationary Impacts, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Home Affordability, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

VULNERABLE DEMOGRAPHICS ARE BEING PRICED OUT OF HOMES, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Policy Levers: What Officials Can Do, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Homestead Tax Relief, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Millage History, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Transparency, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Local Homestead Option Sales Tax, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

Our Commitment, 2026-06-09 –Paige Dukes
PDF

-jsq

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