One thing the candidates in the Statesboro mayoral race — challenger Raymond Harris and incumbent Jonathan McCollar — disagreed on during a candidate forum was the Floating Local Option Sales Tax, or FLOST.

A yes-or-no question on the proposed new 1% property tax to replace revenue from a share of county and city property taxes and proportionally reduce the millage rate is one of two sales tax referendums on the Nov. 4 Bulloch County ballot. The other is the Board of Education's proposed five-year extension of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or E-SPLOST. For Statesboro resident voters only, the mayoral race appears on the same ballot with those questions. Early voting is now in its third and final week.

Unlike the E-SPLOST, which would continue a penny of tax, the FLOST would add a ninth penny of sales tax in Bulloch County. 

A question to Harris and McCollar during the Oct. 14 forum hosted by the Statesboro Herald at the Emma Kelly Theater was whether they support some forms of property tax relief, such as FLOST, or if there might also be some level at which sales taxes also become burdensome.

McCollar expressed support for FLOST while also, at one point, referring to sales tax as a "regressive" form of taxation.

"I want to say this in twofold," he said. "I am in support of the Floating Local Option Sales Tax, and let me tell you why I support it. If we're able to get that passed by the citizens, the city of Statesboro is projected to bring in about $3.3 million, and what that means is we'll be able to lower your millage rate by 3 mills."

Statesboro's city property tax rate, currently 8.625 mills, would then be reduced to 5.625 mills, he asserted.

"And that means that you're saving 30-plus percent off of your current taxes," McCollar said.

City officials also supported a homestead exemption that gives homeowners a $2,000 break, he said. An exemption of this kind has actually been in place for many years. But a new statewide policy, which local officials didn't have to approve but merely chose not to opt out of, creates a "floating" exemption that will limit inflation in local property values as assessed for taxes to the national Consumer Price Index rate.

With neither the county commissioners nor any of the four city councils in Bulloch County opting out of the exemption, they were then able to call a referendum for the Floating Local Option Sales Tax.

'Regressive' comment

"But here's one thing that we have to understand," McCollar continued. "If we pass this in November, this is going to be what's considered a regressive tax. Now 'regressive tax' means that it's going to cost a little bit more to buy groceries, a little bit more to buy things that you need for your home, but it is going to provide relief to our property owners."

Then he put forward an argument that has often been used to promote sales tax proposals in Bulloch County, one that derives from Statesboro being a shopping hub for surrounding counties. 

"I support this is because the city of Statesboro is in a very unique situation," McCollar said. "About 30 percent of every dollar that's collected on our (sales) taxes comes from individuals that do not live within our community, and so that means that the city of Statesboro and its residents put up 70 cents, and those that come from areas like Evans County, Jenkins County and Effingham to shop here, they put up the other 30 percent."

So, people who live in other counties but choose to shop in Bulloch will be helping provide relief to its property owners, he said.

Harris opposes FLOST

When the same question, about property tax relief and specifically FLOST, was put to Harris, he indicated that he opposes adding another sales tax, even one promised to offset property tax.

"I'm actively opposed to it, and let me tell you why," Harris said. "We've been told over the last couple of years, the tax increases, that will be the last one, or we're going to get everything eventually done, and so we have another tax increase and another tax increase. The citizens are burdened by this."

Now, with FLOST, officials are saying that property taxpayers will benefit from a rollback funded with sales tax, "taking 3 points off of the mill rate," he said. "But we have to trust our government that they're going to do that. Can we trust them to do that? There's no guarantee. They could take the mill rate and leave it as-is and we're still paying 9 percent."

Actually, under the 2024 state law passed as House Bill 581, which authorizes FLOSTs as a local option, if county citizens approve one in a referendum, the county and city governments that receive shares of this new sales tax are legally required to roll back their property tax millage by an amount proportional to the new revenue. 

During the forum, McCollar pointed this about three minutes later, in rebuttal time after an unrelated question.

"I do want to do a point of clarification about the Floating Local Option Sales Tax, and the question of whether or not we will do what we say," McCollar said. "The way the legislation is wrote with the Floating Local Option Sales is that once it is passed, every local municipality has to reduce it based on the income that it has received. So it's not a question about whether you can trust your government or not. The law says specifically that if we pass it, we have to reduce it."

He went on to claim that it was "simply not a fair discussion because there's been so much misinformation that's been put out there, and so many people in our community believe this misinformation."

All of the Statesboro Herald's stories that have gone into any detail about the FLOST proposal have stated that the property tax rollback is required. They have also explained, repeatedly, that the rollback will not be immediate because of a legal requirement for the sales tax to accumulate in a special fund for more than a year before it is distributed among the local governments.

Follow-up call

In addition to reporting McCollar's rebuttal, the newspaper went back to Harris for a follow-up to see if he has changed his position on FLOST. He is still opposed to it but is focusing more on the city having a need to reduce spending and not add yet another "income stream," he said in a Monday phone interview.

"I have since been doing a little more research, and I find that the bigger problem is not so much us being taxed over and over again; it's a spending problem," said Harris. "We have more income streams than we've had in previous years, but we still yet have shortfalls, and the only reason that is, is because of spending. If you stop the wasteful spending, you'll have a surplus. You'll be able to pay your bills."

(To be clear, the mayor and council did not raise the millage rate this year, but by holding the rate steady at 8.625 mills, they had to announce an 8.5% "tax increase" because of inflation in assessed values. The city's only forecast shortfalls in recent years have been covered in advance by spending previously accumulated surpluses or shifting money from one city fund to another, such as from the general fund to the fire fund.)

But Harris said he hears from people who are considering leaving Statesboro because of "the taxes and the fees and the fines," and that because he's not in the city government, he doesn't have all the answers about "whether they're going to lower the millage rate or tax us more or bring in more fees."

But again, what about FLOST?

"Well, due to the fact that I've been here 16 years and I've been through this before and have voted in favor of it and still didn't see a decrease in my property tax, yeah, I'm still very opposed to it," Harris said, alluding to other kinds of sales taxes in previous elections.

This is the first time FLOST has been on the ballot for a local referendum. Just a year ago, in November 2024, voters statewide approved a statewide referendum on the House Bill 581 provisions, but that didn't enact a FLOST without a separate local election.