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County considers leases totaling over $400,000 for office space in 2025 By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Forsyth County commissioners considered lease agreements for county departments ahead of completion of an administrative campus that will later house them. The leases, introduced at the at a Jan. 15 work session, would cost the county a total of $148,884. Commissioners considered leases for water and sewer, public facilities, building and licensing, and employment services departments. The county also considered a lease for the former Health Wellness Center, which the county plans to sub-let because the service was discontinued, said Russell Brown, Department of Communications director. All of the leases are for spaces at a Cumming office park about a half mile west of the county’s current administrative center at 110 E. Main St. The agreements make up a fraction of the total office space leased for county business.
See COUNTY, Page 12
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Forsyth County officials hope to complete in 2026 a 130,000 square foot facility County Administration Campus that would house 17 county departments. The county plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on leased office space in 2025.
North metro governments plan to integrate new floating homestead exemption By ZOE SEILER zoe@appenmedia.com NORTH METRO ATLANTA — Georgia counties, cities and school districts have a month to decide whether to participate in the statewide floating homestead exemption established in House Bill 581. The bill’s aim is to protect owner-
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occupied homeowners from wild fluctuations in property tax assessments. Voters across Georgia approved a referendum in November that puts HB 581 into practice. The bill caps annual property assessments at the inflation rate, which is based on the consumer price index. The law went into effect this month. A floating homestead exemption
generally offsets or softens increases in the taxable value of property. “The intent is to protect those homeowners. It does slow the growth of the digest for your residential homestead properties,” said Dante Handel, associate director of governmental affairs at Association County Commissioners of Georgia, which lobbies for and advises all
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159 counties in the state. Under the new law, residential property assessments — or the taxable value placed on a home – cannot increase more than the inflation rate each year. Only residential, homesteaded properties are eligible. The tax break does not apply to commercial,
See HOMESTEAD, Page 14
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