Revenue & Technology Manager for the City of Decatur, Russ Madison, reports on the Decatur Tax Blog he’s finally gained some traction in getting Bank of America to resolve this “lost escrow check” issue…

After several phone calls between my office and Bank of America yesterday and today, I was able to open a formal “research request” with Bank of America’s tax department this morning.

One of their tax specialists informed me that he was submitting the request to higher levels within his department to research and reissue payment for the affected customers, with an estimated completion date of February 3. Bank of America should pay the penalties and interest, and the late payment would not affect their customers’ escrow accounts.

Thank goodness it’s FFAF!

Use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here in the past week.

Comments are closed on Monday.

A new bike advocacy group in the city of Decatur, “Bike Decatur“, recently sent a list to the Decatur city commission of ten action items they hope to see funding for in the 2010/2011 city budget.  According to member Thomas Stuart, membership is open to all Decatur residents with completion of a short survey, which can be found on their Google group site.

1. Church Street Bike Lanes – Install bike lanes on Church Street from downtown to city limits.
2. Gateway Signs – Install “Decatur Supports Bicycling” or similar signs at city limits on major arterials (e.g., Columbia, Candler, Ponce/Scott, Clairemont, Church, College, etc.).
3. Ponce de Leon Ave Bike Lanes – Completion of Ponce de Leon & W. Trinity bicycle lanes with TE grant funding.
4. Bicycle Parking – Install 25 city-funded bicycle racks throughout commercial districts;
5. Shared-Lane Markings (also known as “sharrows”) Implement a Shared-Lane Marking (“sharrows”) pilot project along a central artery used regularly by bicyclists Read the rest of this entry »

For those with mortgages at Bank of America, take note!  Robert just wrote this into the Oakhurst Message Board…

For any of you un-lucky enough to have both BANK OF AMERICA as lender and DECATUR your city, you may be getting a collection letter from Decatur saying you are delinquent on your property taxes even though you have been paying into an Escrow account with BOA that should have automatically paid your taxes with Decatur.

I was blessed with this letter today

After calling both Decatur and BOA lender couple times, here is what I found out:

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you seen this great, new home appraisals map/search feature on the AJC?

You type in your home address and it compares your 2009 home appraisal AND a previous appraisal with other residences in your immediate neighborhood.  (Note: you have to have an AJC sign-in to see appraisals for other properties.)  Also, it will provide a “return value” of the property if a homeowner appealed the 2009 appraisal.

A quick look shows me that we were one of just a few homes that received a lower appraisal in 2009 than 2008 (though that may be due to the County lowering our heated square footage space in 2009).  Five of 21homes in my area appealed their appraisals.

h/t: Political Insider

Aw heck…

Georgia appears to have won as little as $750,000 from the $8 billion pool of high-speed rail grants that President Obama was scheduled to announce this week…

The money to be announced Thursday would pay for three feasibility studies, at $250,000 each…

Last fall, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a number of states, including Georgia and Florida, that they had better get their act together on rail transit or risk losing out on the high-speed rail grants. In a special session weeks later, Florida voted additional annual funding for one rail transit line and expedited buying track for another.

According to the AJC, it looks like Florida will be the big high-speed winner in the Southeast.  I guess the fed wasn’t all that concerned with investing in a state that could serve as a regional hub.

Or we just totally blew it.

h/t:  Terminal Station (actually I also used Ben’s cut-and-paste)

From our friends at the Decatur Minute…

What: Decatur for Haiti. Local Decatur merchants and restaurants donating to the Haiti earthquake relief.

When: Monday, Feb. 1

Who: The following businesses have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds from Feb. 1 to the American Red Cross.

See the full list of participating shops and restaurants after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »