No surprises to report from Tuesday’s commission meeting.  The city commission voted unanimously to defer any plans of large scale annexation for two years.  (However, commercial on College Ave might still be on the table)

And this quote from the city manager reaffirms my suspicion that few were satisfied with the student enrollment data once the inconsistencies were brought to light,

“It appears we have time for some breathing room to get better data and do more research,”

But while this key data roadblock was what ultimately stalled the effort this go-round, I’m intrigued by the mayor’s reiteration that he believes the tax descrepancy between DeKalb and Decatur will shrink in the coming years.  He cites the incorporation of the City of Dunwoody as the main reason why DeKalb property taxes will soon come closer to parity with Decatur, so I thought I’d dig a little and see how the county is preparing for this loss of revenue.

Within CEO Ellis’ 2009 budget recommendations (pdf), he conservatively projects that the loss in property value from the creation of Dunwoody will raise the millage rate by 79/100 of a mill in unincorporated DeKalb, but also states “Final digest values, which will be available in May 2009, could have an additional impact on Tax Funds millage rates.” So bottom line: right now 79/100ths…but it could go up.

However, for now, the CEO plans to “nullify” this increase by dedicating more HOST money to property tax relief.  This sounds like a good temporary solution to not raising the millage rate, until we see just how temporary it could be.

As stated in the budget recommendations, HOST’s source of funding – sales tax revenues – are declining thanks to a down economy, plus the # of people who qualify for the HOST homestead exemption (owner-occupied residences) has increased more than 18,000 since 2000.

Add that to the outstanding lawsuit that Decatur and other DeKalb cities’ have against the county for short-changing them on HOST funding (Decatur estimates its owed over $8 million at last count) and it very well looks like the mayor’s prediction could be right.

And speaking of budgets, Decatur’s budget process for next fiscal year begins at the end of this month.  The schedule can be found HERE.