So, we all know the state of Georgia has no money, right?

And thanks to new House Bill 143, when the state has no money, it no longer has to pay local governments to fund the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant.  How convenient!  So guess what?  Come on, just take a guess…

You got it! Say good-bye to that substantial HTRG reduction on your property tax bill!

However, unlike many metro governments that are just hoping to avoid total financial anarchy, Decatur’s reserve fund seems to be helping the city keep a clear head.  And instead of trying to figure out how much they’ll need to raise taxes during a recession, the Decatur city commission is talking about tax relief at tonight’s commission meeting.

According to a note (pages 25 to 27) from Asst. City Manager Andrea Arnold included with tonight’s city commission agenda, the commission recently asked city staff for options that can provide quick tax relief to residents, since the HTRG reduction won’t be on the second installment of our 2009 bill.  Arnold has come back to the commission this week with the determination that there is currently only one option available to provide immediate relief on the second installment of the 2009 tax bill.

This is the GS1 or low-income senior exemption that is available to resident homeowners that are 62 years of age or older and the household income does no exceed $25,000.  Currently eligible homeowners receive an exemption of $30,000 for City taxes and an exemption of $50,000 for school taxes.  The City Commission has the legal authority to increase this exemption up to $50,000.  Once the exemption is increased, it cannot be decreased.

Arnold recommends increasing the exemption to the full $50,000 for city taxes, which will reduce revenue available to the City by about $100,000.

Longer term Arnold notes that in future years if the commission wishes to increase the city’s homestead exemption they would need to go before the General Assembly and then face a voter referendum.  This means that the earliest an increased exemption could make it through all the red tape and onto your tax bill would be April 2011.  She also suggests the possibility of “creating a new homestead exemption through the General Assembly that would provide a temporary (i.e., one year) exemption if the household income drops below a certain threshold.”

In a recent Decatur edTV video, school Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards talks with restrained irritation about the state’s funding shortfall when it comes to public schools, and discusses where Decatur will have to make cutbacks (travel, no overtime, hiring freeze, reduction in technology and maintenance…and even more going forward).

As noted in previous posts, about $250,000 of that $1 million was supposed to come from rolling back the “austerity cuts” on schools that Perdue implemented when he took office.  But apparently that was all talk.  The other nearly $700,000 is from the disappearing Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant money that the state can’t afford to pay back to the city (whoops!).

The state of Georgia seems to have planned as poorly as the sub-prime mortgage industry and all of its many patrons.

If you’d like to let Sonny know how you feel, here’s the link.

Not surprisingly, Mayor Floyd shares my exasperation with the governor for blaming local governments as he unceremoniously slashed our homeowner tax relief grants in order to soften the blow of his $2 billion budget shortfall.

Over on his blog (I still think its awesome that the mayor has a blog. “where else?”, I ask you), Mayor Floyd chastises Perdue for his tendency to lunge for a scapegoat (local governments!) instead of admit his own administration’s errors, and invites the Governor to a forum in Decatur to explain this “divisive approach”.

Unfortunately for us, the governor would never agree to something like that. Aside from the fact that there is little political upside, it would be quite difficult to explain these indefensible statements, which could only be made by someone who sat so high upon their ivory tower that they could conveniently ignore every protest shouted up at them.

But we can dream. Hey… maybe Sonny inherited the Marty McFly gene and if we dare whisper a single word, all rationality and thought of self-preservation goes out the window.

Chicken?

So you’ve probably already heard about the state’s billion dollar deficit, yeah? What with the sagging economy and…

“Local governments!”

Whoa. That was weird. Here I am trying to rationally explain the reasons for the state’s bad math and suddenly someone brings up local governments. Odd.

Where was I? Oh yes…so like many states, we have this massive deficit…thanks in part to overly optimistic projections. What to do?

“Local government spending is out of control!”

What the…? Now hold on just a minute! I’m trying to discuss a very important issue here and you keep attempting to distract me by shouting things about local government spending! What’s your problem?

“Local governments are spending ALL of your money!!”

Dude! Get your hands out of my face! I’m trying to explain what happened to Homeowners Tax Relief Grant money that we usually see in the form of a tax credit on our property tax bill and you’re all up in my business! Look I even brought along a pile of money as a prop to represent the HTRG money…hey…where’d it go? I could’ve sworn it was here a minute ago…

Governor Perdue! Stop! Bring that back here! What!? Yes, I know you’re short on cash, but couldn’t you try tightening your own belt before stealing my pile of money in broad daylight!? Sir! Sir?!

Hmm…you would’ve thought that the fact that the bills were multi-colored would have tipped him off that they were fake. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t question him…he is the professional.

Good luck sir! Spend it wisely!

…and surprisingly we will have to foot the bill!

What am I talking about? Well apparently due to the state’s budget shortfall, Sonny won’t be giving us back the funds handed over by the city to support the state’s “Homeowners Tax Relief Grant”. That means no HTRG relief on our second 2008 property tax bill. Which means expect a significant increase on your next bill, unless state Repubs and Dems convince the governor otherwise.

The mayor discusses it all (and tells you how much more he’ll be paying this year) over on his blog.