Though there were reports of “record turnouts” at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, I’m sure there are a few of you out there – in addition to me – that have yet to see Mayor Floyd’s State of the City Address.
Well thanks to Andrea Berry and her crew, you can now watch a 12 minute video of the address over on Decatur eLife!
The mayor goes through a lot of topics we’ve discussed here over the months, but here’s one I got some clarification on.
Regarding his opposition to Georgia’s proposed HR 1, which would cap property assessments to 3%, Floyd doesn’t really have a huge problem with a residential cap, it’s the commercial cap that he opposes. If I may paraphrase his statement, 75% of the time when you cap commercial real estate assessments, you end up putting an even greater burden on residential owners. Savannah’s mayor argued the same point before the House last week.
Though our mayor doesn’t elaborate on the details in his speech, I have to assume that this scenario occurs in communities where commercial real estate is increasing in value at a faster rate than residential. A cap would level the playing field, shifting an additional burden onto residential.
UPDATE: Instead of voting on HR 1 last Friday, the House sent it back to the Rules Committee today. Rumor is that Republicans currently don’t have the votes to pass it to the Senate.