City Provides Annexation FAQ and Tax Estimate Calculator
Decatur Metro | January 3, 2009Over on the city’s website, there’s a new annexation FAQ page, along with a tax estimate calculator (based in Excel) that let’s you see the difference in property taxes between Decatur and DeKalb dwellers.
Though the FAQ doesn’t really provide much new info to those that have followed this process closely, its a good one-stop-shop for those new to the conversation.
As for the calculator, folks have been clammoring for one for months.
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That’s been there for a while now, for what it’s worth. It’s rather stunning that what’s available for download is the City Report from 10/20, not the one from 11/15. And even the one from 11/15 we all now know is badly out of date. Also, the map available for download is version 4, whereas there has been a version 5 since November. Make of all this what you will with regard to the politics of annexation.For these reasons, those new to the question would do far better reading through past threads here at DM.
You can begin by noting that the proposal could mean growing the city’s population by almost 50%, with a potentially massive impact on the schools. The School Board voted and did not vote to support annexation. Members of the commission have reportedly said that they would not move forward with annexation if the schools didn’t support it. After the school board vote, the commission decided to delay their vote until January 20.
So I would suggest contacting commissioners and asking them where it stands and to confirm that the commission will not move forward without the support of the school board.
There are actually transcripts in the public record where the commissioners have stated that they will not move forward with annexation without the school board’s support. The school board does not support annexation, particularly of areas 4-6. The Commissioners will have a hard time going back on their word when we have it on record. Of course they could always just go back on their word, such things happen all the time in politics. I would like to think that our city leaders, particularly our mayor (who is on record two times stating that annexation won’t happen without the school board’s support) are above lying though.
The people in Area 2 are adamantly opposed to annexation. Area 1 has very few students. Only apartments are in Area 3 plus businesses. The apartments could bring in tons of students whose parents want their children in CSD. CSD superintendent has said that the schools could hold from 100- 200 extra children. So, I am still hopeful that some of us in Areas 5 and 6 will added. I am giving up hope only after the vote on January 20th. But, Stephen, you are probably right.
Thanks for pointing out that the city website did not have the November 15 report on it. We posted it but for some reason it did not go “live” and we did not notice. Thanks for pointing it out. Anytime you have a question or notice something like that on the website, we really appreciate your letting us know so we can address it. We have issues with our content management tool and are working on an update of the site to address them.