-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The Rome City Commission has followed the Floyd County Commission in passing a resolution, asking the local legislative delegation to introduce legislation during the 2026 special session of the Georgia General Assembly to have a referendum to let voters decide on a local homestead option sales tax.
The LHOST was created by the legislature during this past session and allows local counties and municipalities to levy a 1% sales tax dedicated entirely to subsidizing and reducing property taxes for homesteaded properties.
“The way this would theoretically work, based on our understanding, let’s assume there is no intergovernmental agreement, that the city and the county do not have to come to any kind of terms, the county would have to approve this,” said Rome City Manager Sammy Rich. “Then, if we would like to participate, we would have to approve here. So, that’s why we start with this resolution. Basically, what we are saying is that we would like to give access to the voters to make this decision.”
The LHOST is different from the FLOST or floating local option sales tax, which was voted down by Floyd County voters last year, in that it focuses on homestead property tax relief—those who own their primary residence and have signed up for the homestead exemption.
“I get it–some folks are going to be opposed to an additional sales tax, and I understand that,” Rich said. “The thing that we hear most about is property taxes, so this is a unique opportunity because, as we all know, by state law, we don’t have a lot of revenue opportunities to offset how we pay to provide government services. So this is a new tool so that we can simply do that.”
Rich stated that the intention is to eliminate property taxes on homesteaded properties.
“If you don’t hear anything else I say, please hear that the law requires that this money go to offset property tax,” he said. “This is not net new money for the city or county. It is simply going to replace the property tax piece and how we use that to fund government.”
Another difference from FLOST is that the relief would start sooner.
If the collection of the penny sales tax starts in January, property tax relief could start as soon as August.
Commissioner Mark Cochran, who opposed the FLOST, admitted the LHOST does seem better, but still voted against the LHOST resolution on Monday.
