The House Study Committee on Local Government Taxation, Funding & Budgeting held its most recent hearing on September 23, 2026, in Moultrie. Sales tax revenue and transparency were the focus of the meeting.
The hearing began with the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR) explaining how various local sales taxes are collected and distributed to Georgia’s cities, counties, and schools. GMA and ACCG then followed with an overview of the different sales tax options available to cities and counties. Georgia school officials also participated and addressed the importance of local sales taxes to the funding of the state’s public-school systems.
After the overviews, local officials had the opportunity to provide their thoughts on specific improvements to Georgia’s sales tax laws that would provide more flexibility and transparency.
Ballot Fatigue
Albany City Commissioner Chad Warbington spoke to the growing number of sales tax votes officials are asking of residents, sharing with the committee what he called “OST voter fatigue.” Describing the difficulty in explaining LOST, SPLOST, TSPLOST, FLOST, and LHOST to voters in the same election cycle, he said “To the average citizen, it’s like Greek to them.” He mentioned that Albany residents will have two sales taxes questions on the 2028 ballot alone. His proposal to the committee was to extend the renewal terms for these taxes to seven or eight years.
Warbington also raised the idea of allowing sales taxes that are limited to capital costs to be expanded for what he termed “startup operations” of operating a new facility once it opens. As an example, he pointed to Albany’s new $10 million recreation center, built with SPLOST funds. It had no funding mechanism in place for the first year or two for staffing and operations. He also advocated for the expansion of the Municipal Options Sales Tax (MOST) for other cities in Georgia beyond the four cities that can currently utilize it for water and sewer projects.
Ryan Bowersox, GMA associate general counsel, then touched on the need for point-of-sale data, broken out by incorporated and unincorporated. “It’s also important as we’re talking more and more about sales tax reliance to know where that’s being generated, what is generating it, and how we can grow that base within these communities,” he told the committee. Bowersox suggested that lawmakers revive HB 1444 from the 2026 legislative session, which would have required sales tax collections to be reported by vendors to DOR by municipal jurisdiction. He closed by stressing how this data is important for LOST negotiations and economic development planning.
A Process for LOST Disputes
Sandy Springs city manager Eden Freeman testified to the committee on behalf of the Georgia City/County Management Association. She provided a detailed look at how LOST is used in her city, relating that it generated nearly $37 million in 2025, about a quarter of the city’s general fund and equivalent to 3.5 mills of property tax. LOST is of particular importance to Sandy Springs as the city’s charter caps its millage rate to 4.731 mills which can’t be raised without a voter referendum.
Freeman also had requests of the General Assembly, specifically a binding, time-limited process for resolving LOST negotiation impasses. Noting that a prior form of binding arbitration was struck down, she said, “We would appreciate more concrete, definitive rules coming from the state on how that negotiation should happen and to give us a means of having an impartial dispute mediator that is binding.”
ACCG also had recommendations on behalf of counties, to include proposed changes to FLOST eligibility and accounting rules. It also encouraged the state to consider tying the 1% administrative fee DOR charges to collect local sales taxes to the actual cost of collecting the tax as opposed to it being a flat rate, and recommended that there be a periodic review of sales tax exemptions with consideration of expanding the tax base to include more digital services.
The committee will meet again in Perry on October 21 and in Savannah on November 18, with a potential final meeting in Atlanta in December.