State Sen. Rick Price and his reelection opponent, Mitch Seabaugh, are making a variety of proposals as they prepare for a runoff vote Aug. 8.

Price this week announced plans to introduce a property tax freeze, while Seabaugh has issued position papers on education and the state budget.

“In plain terms,” Price said in a press release this week, “property owners will not pay increased taxes simply because the value of their property has gone up. Technically, the bill and the accompanying referendum would provide a homestead exemption, for county purposes, equal to the increase in assessed value in any year.”

Price said he plans to introduce the bill in he 2001 session of the Georgia General Assembly. “This legislation will call for a referendum to be conducted in Coweta, Fayette and Spalding counties to ask the voters to approve a measure that will freeze property tax valuations at the level they are at on Jan. 1 of the year following approval of the measure,” he said.

The referendum, he said, will provide that the value of the home will change for tax purposes when the home is sold instead of changing it every year in the reappraisal process.

“This measure has recently passed in Gwinnett County by a large margin,” he said. “It is already on the ballot in Savannah and in Cobb County for a fall vote. Muscogee County has had this system in place for 20 years. It is time for the citizens of these three counties to be able to express their wishes on this change,” he added.

Price said if reelected, he will seek the support of county officials for the bill as well as key legislators.

“The Democrats have tried to keep control of this measure and would only let the legislation for Gwinnett, Cobb and Savannah pass this year,” he said. “The overwhelming support the measure received in Gwinnett means that they will no longer be able to stop this measure. Fairness to our local property taxpayers demands that the legislature allow us to take this step as soon as possible,” he said.

Seabaugh earlier announced an agenda for education, including “promoting safe schools, attracting and retaining quality teachers, focusing on academic skills but providing a well-rounded education, and eliminating bureaucracy.”

Seabaugh said if elected he will introduce legislation to implement a “three strikes and you're out” discipline policy.

To retain teachers, he called for a 10 percent increase in teachers' pay as proposed by state School Superintendent Linda Schrenko.

“Governor Barnes cut more than $189 million from the education budget,” Seabaugh said. “He cut money from the classroom and has added additional bureaucracy. After reviewing the numbers, I believe there is money there to support a teacher pay raise.”

Seabaugh said he also would work to restore funding for labs that was cut in Barnes' plan, and will push for the “Reading First” program. “We have to ensure our children can read by the fourth grade,” Seabaugh said. “We need to target those children who need special attention and ensure they are not left behind.”

He also called for a return to academics-based testing rather than performance-based testing.

“Barnes' program rewards those who are good at taking tests rather than mastering the material,” Seabaugh said. “We need to ensure that our children gain the knowledge necessary to succeed.”

Seabaugh's budget plan is based upon restricting the growth of the state budget combined with specific tax eliminations and a pledge to vote against any tax increases.

His budget items include aggressive support for the Tax and Expenditure Limitation Bill. “Just look at the growth of the state's budget over the past four years and then look at the items they have spent money on. We don't have a revenue problem, we have a greed problem,” Seabaugh said.

Under the TEL bill, any revenue received over the limited spending amount would be rebated back to the taxpayers.

“The more money we can keep out of Atlanta the stronger our local communities will be,” Seabaugh said.

Seabaugh also called for diverting money unrestricted back to the local communities.

Other parts of Seabaugh's plan include elimination of the state income tax through a $500 tax credit for dependent children and exempting $20,000 of interest and dividend income for retirees. He also supports restitution to taxpayers for erroneous tax assessments from the Department of Revenue.