Two Republican legislators from Cobb are accusing a Democratic candidate for a seat on the Cobb Board of Education of improperly claiming a senior exemption from school taxes.
State Reps. Ginny Ehrhart of West Cobb and John Carson of Northeast Cobb are alleging that Catherine Pozniak is violating state law for claiming a homestead exemption from paying school property taxes in 2021.
“Ms. Pozniak stole from the students of the Cobb Public School system by failing to pay duly owed school property taxes,” Ehrhart said in a press release over the weekend. “What’s worse, she illegally used the senior tax exemption of a deceased individual to claim a fraudulent homestead exemption. This action is inexcusable. No one should commit such a violation, and most certainly not someone running for the Cobb School Board.”
Ehrhart wants the Cobb Solicitor’s office to conduct an investigation.
Pozniak is challenging Republican incumbent David Chastain for the seat in Post 4, which includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters in what has become an increasingly bitter campaign.
She responded by saying that “for Mr. Chastain and his political cronies to retaliate with a smear campaign launched on a family tragedy is beyond reprehensible.”
In Cobb County, homeowners aged 62 and older can claim an exemption from school property taxes if they are the official homeowner as of Jan. 1 of a given year.
Pozniak, a Sprayberry graduate, is listed on Cobb property tax records as the owner of a home that previously belonged to her father, who died in April 2020.
Those records indicate that a senior exemption was reflected on 2020 and 2021 tax bills with Edward Pozniak listed as the property owner.
The 2021 bill was issued on May 13, according to tax records.
A Cobb real estate deed dated June 9, 2021 listed Catherine Pozniak as the executor of her father’s estate and having granted ownership of the home to herself and her sister and then to Catherine Pozniak as the sole owner of the home where she now lives.
Her 2022 tax bill includes $3,019 in school taxes.
In a statement to East Cobb News, Pozniak said that “our family has ample documentation to show that we settled Dad’s affairs with honesty and integrity, just as he lived his life.”
She said the transfer of property took longer than expected due to his death occurring at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the Cobb Tax Commissioners’ office didn’t know of the ownership change when the 2021 bill was issued.
Pozniak said that “when I asked to pay for the exemption, the tax commissioner’s office said that they can’t bill a new owner for a previous owner’s exemptions.”
Senior exemptions are automatically renewed unless there is a change in the ownership of the property.
Ehrhart and Carson were sponsors of redistricting bills for Cobb commission districts and school board posts that sidestepped maps drawn up by the county’s Democratic-led legislative delegation.
The school board lines were drawn at the behest of the board’s Republican majority by attorneys at Taylor English Duma. Its affiliated company, Taylor English Decisions, a lobbying and political consulting firm, is run by Ehrhart’s husband, former legislator Earl Ehrhart.
The latest allegations come after Pozniak accused Chastain of campaign finance violations that include contributions from Ginny Ehrhart.
His campaign responded by calling it “baseless and politics at its worst.” On social media, Chastain denigrated Harvard, where Pozniak earned a doctorate in educational leadership.
In her statement Monday, Pozniak said that “with two weeks left in this race, David Chastain has already stooped to mining my father’s obituary and weaponizing the details of his death and his estate to launch personal attacks because Mr. Chastain has nothing to say about the fact that half of Cobb’s 3rd graders can’t read and half of Cobb’s students can’t pass algebra.
“My father served this country for 25 years in the Army, signed-up for two tours in Vietnam, and was a Bronze Star recipient. Mr. Chastain cannot trample on the reputation and memory of a decorated Vietnam Veteran to deflect from his own failures as a leader.”
Related:
- Accusations intensify in bitter Cobb school board race
- Candidate profile: JoAnn Birrell, Cobb Commission District 3
- Candidate profile: Christine Triebsch, Cobb Commission District 3
- Cobb early voting estimated wait-time map
- East Cobb Early Voting Guide: 2022 General Election
- Cobb Commission Democrats OK redistricting map
- Contested Post 4 seat on Cobb school board heats up
- Cobb 2022 general election sample ballot available
- Cobb to propose ordinance to redraw commission districts
- Cobb school board chairman trailing in campaign fundraising
- Cobb to add Sunday voting in 2022 general election
- East Cobb News Politics & Elections page
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