--- title: HB 749. Carroll County; Board of Commissioners; chairperson and members; change annual salary collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb749 cite_as: HB 749, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb749 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb749.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb749/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71274 date: 2025-05-13 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb748.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb750.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 885 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb749.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 749 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-05-13 last_action: Effective Date 2026-01-01 sponsors: - Tyler Smith - Lynn Smith - David Huddleston - Jutt Howard text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB749/2025 upstream_id: 1996843 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - Carroll County government - local government salaries - county commissioners pay - county contract authority --- # HB 749. Carroll County; Board of Commissioners; chairperson and members; change annual salary ## Text 25 LC 44 3127/AP House Bill 749 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representatives Smith of the 18th, Smith of the 70th, Huddleston of the 72nd, and Howard of the 71st A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act amending, revising, superseding, and consolidating the laws pertaining to1 the Board of Commissioners of Carroll County, approved February 28, 1989 (Ga. L. 1989, 2 p. 3546), as amended, so as to revise the annual salary of the chairperson and members of the3 commission; to provide for contractual expenditures; to provide for related matters; to4 provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:6 SECTION 1.7 An Act amending, revising, superseding, and consolidating the laws pertaining to the Board8 of Commissioners of Carroll County, approved February 28, 1989 (Ga. L. 1989, p. 3546),9 as amended, is amended by revising Section 7 as follows:10 "SECTION 7.11 Compensation.12 (a) The chairman shall receive an annual salary payable in equ al monthly installments13 from funds of Carroll County. Such annual salary shall be equal to the base annual salary14 H. B. 749 - 1 - 25 LC 44 3127/AP and annual cost-of-living adjustment of the sheriff of Carroll County as computed under15 paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 15-16-20 of the O.C.G.A., plus16 $25,000.00. Such annual salary shall also be increased by a longevity increase as provided17 by Code Section 36-5-29 of the O.C.G.A. The chairman shall also be furnished with the18 use of an automobile provided by the county at county expense.19 (b) Each member of the commission other than the chairperson s hall receive an annual20 salary of $20,250.00, payable in equal monthly installments from funds of Carroll County. 21 Members of the commission shall be treated as full-time salary employees for the purposes22 of cost-of-living increases. On and after July 1, 2025, whenever Carroll County employees23 receive a cost-of-living increase, the annual base salary of th e commissioners shall be24 increased by the greater, of either the same percentage or the same amount applicable to25 such full-time salary employees or the percentage or amount pro vided for under Code26 Section 36-5-28 of the O.C.G.A., whichever is greater for the applicable calendar year. If27 the cost-of-living increase received by such full-time salary c ounty employees is in28 different percentages or different amounts as to certain categories of such full-time salary29 employees, the amount to which the commissioners are entitled, if applicable under this30 subsection, shall be increased by a percentage or an amount not to exceed the average31 percentage or average amount of the increase in salary granted to such full-time salary32 county employees. A budget resolution may state the average pe rcentage increase or33 average amount increase when necessary.34 (c) In addition to said salaries, the chairman shall receive a n expense allowance of35 $7,700.00 per year from county funds, and each other member of the commission shall36 receive an expense allowance of $3,100.00 per year from funds of Carroll County.37 (d) The amounts set forth in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section shall be subject to38 annual adjustments as provided for under Code Section 36-5-28 of the O.C.G.A., except39 that if the increase is a dollar amount, then it shall be converted to a percentage by dividing40 the amount by the average full-time salary of Carroll County employees."41 H. B. 749 - 2 - 25 LC 44 3127/AP SECTION 2.42 Said Act is further amended by revising paragraph (22) of subse ction (a) of Section 8 as43 follows:44 "(22) To authorize all contracts, except for contracts of emplo yment, involving the45 expenditure of county funds in excess of $35,000.00. The amoun t set forth in this46 paragraph shall be subject to annual adjustments based on changes in the Consumer Price47 Index (CPI) for the United States. The CPI used for this purpose shall be the All Urban48 Consumers (CPI-U) for All Items for the United States, as publi shed by the Bureau of49 Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. On July 1, 2025, and each50 anniversary thereof, the amount authorized by this paragraph for the following fiscal year51 shall be increased by the percentage increase in the CPI for th e most recent 12-month52 period available prior to the anniversary date. Any increase resulting from this provision53 shall be rounded to the nearest dollar."54 SECTION 3.55 This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2026.56 SECTION 4.57 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.58 H. B. 749 - 3 - ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. House Bill 749 changes how the chairperson and members of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners are paid, tying the chair's salary to the sheriff's pay and adjusting members' cost-of-living raises and expense allowances. ### Plain-language summary This bill amends the 1989 local law that governs the Carroll County Board of Commissioners, updating how much the chairperson and other commissioners are paid. The chairperson's annual salary would be set equal to the base salary and cost-of-living adjustment of the Carroll County sheriff, plus $25,000, along with a longevity increase and continued use of a county-provided car. Other commissioners would receive an annual salary of $20,250, with future cost-of-living increases tied to whichever is greater: the increase given to full-time Carroll County employees or the amount set under state law (O.C.G.A. § 36-5-28). The bill also raises the county contract approval threshold that commissioners can authorize without a vote, from an unspecified prior amount to $35,000, and ties future increases in that threshold to the national Consumer Price Index. The changes take effect January 1, 2026. ### What it does - Sets the Carroll County Board chairperson's annual salary equal to the sheriff's base salary and cost-of-living adjustment, plus $25,000, plus a longevity increase and a county car. - Sets other commissioners' annual salary at $20,250, with future raises tied to the greater of county employee cost-of-living increases or the amount under O.C.G.A. § 36-5-28. - Sets the chairperson's annual expense allowance at $7,700 and other members' expense allowance at $3,100, adjusted annually under state law. - Raises the dollar threshold for contracts commissioners can authorize without special approval to $35,000, adjusted yearly based on the national Consumer Price Index. - Sets the effective date of the changes as January 1, 2026. ### Who it affects The chairperson and members of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners, whose pay and expense allowances would change, and Carroll County government more broadly, since the bill also affects how county contracts above $35,000 must be authorized. ### Why it matters The bill changes how much Carroll County commissioners are paid and how those salaries keep pace with cost-of-living increases, linking the chairperson's pay directly to the sheriff's salary. It also raises the spending threshold requiring commission approval for county contracts, affecting how county funds are managed. ### Key provisions - Section 1 rewrites Section 7 of the 1989 Carroll County Act, setting the chairperson's salary to match the sheriff's base salary and cost-of-living adjustment (O.C.G.A. § 15-16-20) plus $25,000, plus longevity pay under O.C.G.A. § 36-5-29. - Section 1 sets other commissioners' salary at $20,250 with cost-of-living increases tied to county employee raises or O.C.G.A. § 36-5-28, whichever is greater. - Section 1 sets expense allowances of $7,700 for the chairperson and $3,100 for other members, adjusted annually under O.C.G.A. § 36-5-28. - Section 2 revises Section 8(a)(22) to raise the contract authorization threshold to $35,000, with annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) starting July 1, 2025. - Section 3 sets the effective date of the Act as January 1, 2026. - Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-13) - Last action: Effective Date 2026-01-01 (2025-05-13) - Sponsors: Tyler Smith, Lynn Smith, David Huddleston, Jutt Howard - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71274 > The history, votes, and amendments (885 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb749.md?full=1