Perry County voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether homeowners 65 and older may freeze the assessed value of their homes for property tax purposes, under a local constitutional amendment the Legislature sent to the county’s ballot this spring.
Gov. Kay Ivey’s proclamation ordering the election, which the county’s legal journal must publish for four weeks before the vote, sets out the amendment proposed by Act No. 2026-343. Under it, a resident 65 or older who owns a single-family home in the county, lives in it as a principal residence and has done so for at least five years could claim a senior property tax exemption that freezes the property’s assessed value at the level of the year before the claim.
The freeze would last as long as the owner keeps the home as a principal residence. The owner would remain eligible for the homestead exemption and any other exemption allowed by law, the property would remain subject to any change in millage rates, and the assessed value of any addition built after the claim would be added and taxed on the increase.
If voters approve, the exemption could be claimed beginning Oct. 1, 2027, for the property’s value on Oct. 1 of this year. Claims must be made in writing with the Perry County Revenue Commissioner between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31.
The amendment was introduced in the House in March as HB573 by Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville. It passed the House 94-0 on March 17 and the Senate 32-0 on April 2, according to the Legislature’s record, and became law without the governor’s signature. Because it applies only to Perry County, only the county’s voters decide it, on the same ballot as the Nov. 3 general election.
The proclamation will be published in the Times-Standard-Herald’s legal notices for four weeks beginning Oct. 8, the same weeks as the notices of the statewide amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot.
