- Vigil for Kevin Davis – former Sawicki’s employee – held in Downtown Decatur [Decaturish]
- What happened the night Kevin Davis died? [CL]
- Decatur to ask legislature for more homestead exemptions [AJC]
- House transportation bill: we can do much better [Saporta Report]
- Can CEO Keith Parker convince Atlantans to ride MARTA? [Atlanta Magazine]
Kevin Davis vigil photo courtesy of DecaturSquared via Twitter
Homestead exemption increases for seniors – great idea. I’ve been saying for the past 25 years that I don’t mind paying Decatur school taxes even though I have no kids because I want to live in a community with educated citizens. But it would be nice to get a break so that I can afford to be a retired senior citizen in this educated community.
Yes, but the difference is that you get a choice as to whether you subsidize educating others’ children. Apparently I won’t have a choice as to whether I subsidize your retirement.
And FWIW, I agree that we all benefit from an educated society and we should all (including seniors) pay school taxes, even if the benefit received isn’t equal.
There is a strong argument in favor of a break for seniors — i.e., after so many years, they’ve paid enough, especially since they have no longer have kids in the schools. But let’s broaden that logic so that there’s a lifetime cap on school taxes, regardless of age. One which varies depending upon whether you have kids in public school.
That argument is an extremely slippery slope. How long before some candidate for Governor suggests that senior citizens have paid enough taxes in their lifetimes and should no longer have to pay state income tax? It has been hinted at by prior candidates, but never flat out proposed.
And even if I shared your opinion, “rewarding” those who have paid “enough” isn’t the stated purpose of the proposal, and it doesn’t apply to all seniors. The stated purpose is to make CoD more affordable (and only for those with low(er) incomes), which is a subsidy. Retiring in CoD isn’t a right or entitlement.
I would also strongly support a lifetime max on income taxes!
But seriously, the slippery slope was my point. Some of the strongest arguments for the senior tax break apply with even greater force to classes of people who aren’t seniors. And of course I strongly agree that retiring in place is not an entitlement.
It appears I pulled a Warren Buffett and completely missed the sarcasm in your post.
This feels like a pretty hollow proposal. The tax break would be for an owner-occupied assessed at less than $200,000. How many of those are left in Decatur?
Quite a few. Remember, it is assessed value, not appraised value. The assessment ratio in Decatur is 50%.
I’m not sure that’s the case anymore. A few years ago they flipped the appraisal balance from house to land. I’d be surprised it there are too many parcels falling below 200k now or in the next few years in CoD.
Also, assessment is 50%? I haven’t seen that at all. If you purchase a new house, your assessment is your purchased price. Maybe there’s a disconnect from homes purchased prior to the recent boom and their current market values, but I’d still dispute your 50% assertion.
No, the appraisal is your purchase price. The assessment for tax purposes is 50% of that.
But are we sure that’s what the proposal is referring to, the 50% of appraised value?
We can only look at what the mayor said, which was “assessed” at $200,000 or less.
Yes, it specifically refers to assessed value and the Mayor made that point in his remarks.
Look at your tax bill from last year. The assessed value is exactly 1/2 of the appraised Total Value.
What the mayor has apparently proposed is a cap of $200,000 for assessed value. Your tax bill shows two things – a total value, which is the assessment, and a 40% taxable assessment. There is no appraised value on your tax bill. An appraisal is a separate issue. The question to me is whether the mayor means the target is the assessment or the taxable assessment.
The “Assessment” column on the City tax bill (I just looked at mine online) is the 50% number, the number to which to Mayor is referring. You are correct, there is not an appraisal on the tax bill. That’s on the appraisal notice you get every year from the County. The 40% you refer to, BTW, is the County ratio. Perhaps you were looking at your County bill.
So a senior who never lived in Decatur moves in to a new home and pays almost no taxes while getting all the great services we have to offer. Not sure this makes logical sense
All those seniors moving to the area who want to upsize to 2,500+ square feet, uncovered parking, and a couple more stairs?
I know of at least one building in Decatur almost entirely occupied by seniors. The units are approximately 500k.
With all the multi family construction underway, well off seniors moving in is a real possibility.
It may make no logical sense if the balance sheet is your only measure of community value but I’d suggest you’re missing one of the most valuable commodities a community can possess and which seniors have in abundance: time to give. I don’t know how involved you are with Decatur volunteerism or social services but I can tell you that such efforts feature the contributions of many seniors, as do many less visible nonprofit initiatives happening all around us. Especially those efforts that take place Monday through Friday, during the day.
Seniors can be, and often are, the largely unrecognized glue of community. Personally, I question the leadership of communities where this is not recognized. Even if seniors get a financial tax break, they still tend to pay in in meaningful ways.
But are they going to volunteer to teach our kids AP Biology? What about the kids, Scott? WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?!?!?
Right on, Scott (waving my cane in the air.)
You still have a choice. You can live somewhere with different homestead provisions. That’s no different than expecting fixed income seniors to move somewhere else because they cannot afford to subsidize your child’s education or all of the city’s services, many of which they do not use.
Isn’t it also true that the appraised value (which is 2X the assessed value) is usually lower than the resale value, at least in Decatur. House prices go up faster than county appraisals can keep up.
Fair market values for tax purposes are typically lower than what a property would typically sell for. However, the county Assessor’s office typically chases those sales and assesses them right at the sale prices the following tax year.