MOULTRIE — Taking the Colquitt County Commission chairman up on his offer Tuesday night, resident Joe Taylor took issue with elements within the zoning ordinance enacted this month. He also took the opportunity to propose that Colquitt County push to freeze the valuation of property to spare those who can’t afford rising taxes.

Unprecedented growth has been driving up property costs and subsequently the revaluation of surrounding properties. Some subdivisions are building multi-million dollar houses, Taylor said, next to properties that have been valued at $2,000 an acre for decades.“…Now they put a subdivision next to it with $300,000 homes. Suddenly, they find that their property is being valued at $19,000 an acre, and they can’t pay the taxes on it,” he said. “…It doesn’t mean you can’t raise taxes. You just have to raise the millage rate,” he said.

Chairman Benny Alderman told Taylor the board will consider his idea.

“Where it’s been tried, it’s been a disaster,” said County Administrator J.D. Byrd after the meeting.

The Georgia Constitution allows counties to enact local homestead exemptions that will freeze the valuation of property at a base year valuation for as long as the homeowner resides on the property, information from the Georgia Department of Revenue Web site said. This exemption may be for county taxes, school taxes and/or municipal taxes.

The Department of Revenue lists the following counties, in addition to the City of Atlanta, as those which so far have implemented this type of exemption: Baldwin, Barrow, Camden, Carroll, Chatham, Clarke, Cobb, Dade, Dekalb, Douglas, Fannin, Floyd, Forsyth, Fulton, Gilmer, Glynn, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Henry, Liberty, McIntosh, Meriwether, Murray, Muscogee, Pierce, Putnam, Toombs, Walton, Ware and White.

Such a tax freeze would have to be approved by the county commission and introduced into the Georgia General Assembly as local legislation.

Resident James Tabor added that his “little bitty ole’” fifth-wheel trailer was reassessed at a higher value because of neighboring development.

“The taxes on that thing this year was $515. A poor man can’t afford that. I can’t hardly afford it,” he said.

Referring to a section in the ordinance that requires home construction started prior to the adoption of the ordinance be completed within a year of the date of passage, Taylor told commissioners he knows now he won’t be finished building his house in a year. He builds as he can afford it, he explained, and builds in his spare time.

Commissioners told Taylor that homebuilders can ask the board for an extension. Taylor asked that the ordinance section reflect a general consensus by the board to allow variances.

Taylor also asked that language be changed in an agricultural section referring to feed lots, poultry facilities and other livestock confinement facilities or structures. The section said that those that confine more than 100 animals or birds shall have a setback of at least 500 feet from any property line and a setback of at least 1,500 feet from any pre-existing residence and 2,000 feet from all residential zoned districts.

He wants the number of birds to be upped to 1,000, citing quail producers as an example where the ordinance would be burdensome.

“Basically, you have to have almost 24 acres of land to meet this requirement,” he said, if the lot was perfectly square.

Resident Jon Schwalls proposed that the board modify and simplify the current zoning ordinance to prevent the widening of the gap between the have’s and the have-not’s. Schwalls fears, he said, that the ordinance as written could dictate who will profit from growth and development and who will not.