Montgomery Tax Commissioner to Push for Discontinuation of Mobile Home Decals

Montgomery County Tax Commissioner Renee Wooten-Perry plans to continue to petition the Board of Commissioners to pass a resolution which would dismiss the requirement for the distribution of mobile home decals.

“I am passionate about it because I think it helps the county, it saves the county and it was not a good thing that our local officials [did not] enact it,” said Wooten-Perry.

According to Georgia state law, mobile home owners receive a sticker decal to denote taxes paid and permit ownership. However, due to Georgia House Bill 193, local counties can opt out of the requirement instead.

Several neighboring counties have discontinued the use of decals, including Bacon, Toomes, Jeff Davis, Dodge and Treutlen. The Treutlen County Board of Commissioners passed a motion to discontinue use of the decals during their January 6 meeting, though no official resolution was passed.

According to Wooten-Perry, the discontinuation of decals would provide benefits to both savings and manpower. The Montgomery County Tax Commissioner’s Office spends approximately $1,000 annually to produce and distribute the decals via mail, a price which will only increase as postage costs rise.

More importantly, employees of both the Tax Commissioner’s Office and the Tax Assessor’s Office would save much more time in their schedules. Each decal must be distributed individually and checked individually, and Montgomery County has between 1,400 and 1,500 fixed mobile home properties, as well as 352 mobile homes not affixed to the property.

In contrast, the Tax Commissioner’s Office, which distributes the decals, has only one tag specialist and a recent part-time hire, and the Tax Assessor’s Office, which checks mobile homes for decals, has only two employees in total.

“We have to get almost 1,400 – 1,500 or less mobile homes a decal, and then there’s this big book that we have to check off because the ones that are homestead, they are – we have to mail them out,” said Wooten-Perry. 

Wooten-Perry also considers the decals to be an imperfect system for determining which mobile home owners have paid taxes. While the owners are required by law to display the decal on the mobile home, many do not display them due to aesthetic preference, leading to misreporting by the tax assessors and drawn out court cases.

Instead, Wooten-Perry wishes to rely on the pre-existing forms and documentation created by the tax payment and permit application processes to keep track of mobile home owners.

The Montgomery Board of Commissioners first heard the resolution to opt out of the decals in their July work session, where they voiced concerns that discontinuing the decals would lead to poorer tracking and less collected taxes. So, the Board voted against the resolution unanimously in their main meeting.

“I think the concern was the tracking and accountability of paying their property taxes,” said Wooten-Perry.

The Board heard the resolution again during their August work session, and allowed the resolution to fail without a motion in their main meeting. Following the vote, Wooten-Perry spoke to the board during public comments, stating her intention to place the resolution on the board’s agenda every month until it was passed.

Wooten-Perry has confidence the resolution may see adoption, as she plans to speak with the commissioners during their September work session to clear up any potential confusion regarding the decals.

“This is not something that I am coming off the top of my head and say I just want to do,” said Wooten-Perry. “I would never do that. I will follow the law, and I will be transparent about it, and I am passionate about it, because I want to save money.”