2026-04-20 April 20, 2026 Pre-Council Meeting Minutes - FINAL
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April 20, 2026 6:30 PM City of Smyrna Mayor and Council Meeting 2800 King Street SE Council Chambers Page 2 of 3 ATH2026-055: Kristin Robinson, Deputy City Administrator / CFO, provided the following background: HB 581, also known as the "Save Our Homes Act" in Georgia, was approved and signed into law during the 2024 Regular Session and is a bill that aimed to provide property tax relief to homeowners by implementing a statewide homestead exemption. The City opted out of HB 581 because the City’s current floating homestead exemption was more advantageous to the taxpayer. All required hearings were held in 2025 and the opt out was filed by the deadline. A provision of this bill was that the local governments had to provide an estimated rollback rate to the County Tax Commissioner to be placed on tax assessment notices. Finance and Administration, in consultation with legal, provided the anticipated millage rate of 8.99 mills to the County to be included on assessment notices. During the 2025 Regular Session, HB 92 made several modifications to the previously HB 581 to clarify several key areas. One of those was to require a formal vote by the governing authority to certify the Estimated Rollback Rate for the tax assessment notices. This item will provide the formal certification as required. ATH2026-049: Kristin Robinson, Deputy City Administrator / CFO, provided the following background: The City maintains property and liability insurance with an annual coverage period of May 1, 2026– April 30, 2027. Rates are based on a look back of past claims, losses, and liability exposure. For the 2026-2027 renewal, we are recommending removing Auto Property Damage (Comp/Collision) from autos except those that are 2016 or newer or with a cost new value of $50,000 or greater. Additionally, we are recommending applying a $5,000 deductible to all auto property damage. Rather than the current deductible structure of $2,500 for regular units and $5,000 for emergency units. These changes result in estimated savings of roughly $42,000 compared to the expiring term. This proposal also includes Umbrella coverage for $1,000,000. Some contracts require the City to maintain these excess limits for the agreement to remain valid. Staff recommends approval to renew the property liability insurance with Traveler’s Insurance, Cyber Liability with Corvus, Drone Liability with Global Aerospace, and Inmate Medical Liability with Sirius America, with Oakbridge/Saville as the brokers of record in the amount of $1,332,564.64 and authorize the Mayor to sign and execute all related documents. 4. Other Business / Staff Comment Mayor Norton and Council Members discussed the updates they will announce for the Mayoral Report and the Ward and Staff Reports including the new voting location at the Baptist Church, Jonquil Jog, Spring Jonquil Festival, drought level 1, golf tournament, park dedication, Rebuilding Together Atlanta, Smyrna Education Foundation, and Juneteenth.