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Duluth and Gwinnett Property Tax Bills: A Closer Look

The Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner has posted a sample 2026 bill for a homesteaded house in unincorporated Gwinnett. It is dated September 8, 2026, for a home with a total value of $428,400. The county section shows $1,459.83 removed by the Value Offset Exemption, and county taxes come to $773.68 after exemptions. Below that, the Board of Education section shows a column for the statewide floating exemption with $0.00 in it. School taxes total $2,966.70, which the bill says is 79.32% of the home's ad valorem tax.

That bill shows how Gwinnett's protections are weighted. The best-known freeze in Gwinnett is real and generous, but it covers the county share, and on the sample homestead bill the school share is far larger.

One bill, three different sets of rules

A home inside Duluth city limits pays three taxing bodies, and each one made its own choice about Georgia's 2024 floating homestead exemption, HB 581. That law limits yearly increases in a homestead's assessed value to inflation.

Taxing body	2026 rate	How it treats a homestead's rising value
Gwinnett County government	6.95 mills general fund	Opted out of HB 581 on Feb. 18, 2025. Uses its own Value Offset Exemption, in place since 2001, which holds county assessed value at a base year with no inflation adjustment
Gwinnett County Public Schools	18.70 mills operations, 1.45 mills bond	Announced in 2025 that it intended to opt out. The school line on the 2026 sample bill shows no floating exemption
City of Duluth	6.551 mills	Opted in to the floating exemption as of tax year 2025. Assessed value increases are limited to CPI, listed at 2.7%

The Gwinnett Tax Commissioner's 2026 rate table lists 31.60 combined mills for the Duluth district before the city's rate. Adding the City of Duluth's 6.551 mills gives a nominal 38.151 mills before exemptions. The two school rates make up more than half of that total.

The frozen share and the school share

Gwinnett County has published its own example of how the freeze works over time. It follows a Suwanee home whose county base was set in 2013. Between 2021 and 2024, its market value rose from $420,300 to $746,500.

County tax held at $1,254.71 in each of those four years.
School tax rose from $3,510.56 to $6,059.83.
City tax rose from $828.83 to $1,472.10.

The county calculates that the Value Offset Exemption saved that owner $5,691.11 over the four years. The same page also says that most of the property tax increases Gwinnett homeowners have seen in recent years came from school and city taxes.

Exemptions, tax relief and rates

Gwinnett's senior school exemption is coded as L5A. The Tax Commissioner's brochure says the exemption covers all school and school bond tax.

Georgia's Department of Revenue says HB 439, signed May 12, 2026, put $950 million in the Amended FY2026 budget for a Homeowner Tax Relief Grant. The grant reduces a qualified homestead's assessed value by $18,000. It appears as a credit on the bill, not as a check, and it cannot be larger than the taxpayer's liability. On the sample Gwinnett bill, the credit totaled $479.70 and was not applied to the school bond line.

The rate itself also matters. At its August 10, 2026 hearing, Duluth proposed keeping its 6.551-mill rate. The city's packet says that is 0.185 mills, or 2.91%, above the rollback rate and would bring in about $525,644 in reassessment revenue. Citizen Portal's coverage of the August 24 meeting reports that the council adopted it.

Two bills on two calendars

Duluth homeowners get two separate property tax bills.

Gwinnett County bill. The Tax Commissioner has mailed the 2026 bills, and they are due November 15.
City of Duluth bill. The city handles its own billing. It said 2026 paper bills would be mailed by October 2, 2026, and they are due December 15, 2026. The city asked new owners who had not received a notice by October 15 to contact it.

FAQ

Does Gwinnett's school district cap assessed value increases for homesteads? Gwinnett County Public Schools announced in 2025 that it intended to opt out of HB 581. On the 2026 sample bill, the school line shows no floating exemption. Under HB 92, a district that opted out may rescind that decision by March 1 of a given year for tax years 2026 through 2029.

If you are comparing Duluth homes or preparing to sell one, Julia Sosa-Rocha and our team can help in English or Russian. Request Your Free Home Valuation.