Comments on: Could Decatur Do Its Own Property Tax Assessments?

By: Brianc

Brianc — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:57:30 +0000

“But are the services provided by the City of Decatur and the City Schools of Decatur at least 25% better than the services provided by Dekalb County and the Dekalb County School System? Hell yes.”

I’d probably go with 50 percent better, though obviously that would vary based on what school district in DeKalb we’re comparing with. IMO, for those with kids in the Decatur system the taxes are a very good bargain.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:31:48 +0000

Exactly. That’s the same reason why county commissioners don’t really want to do away with the CEO position. Both sides like to blame the other when something goes wrong and the public gets mad. If DeKalb had a county manager then the commissioners would take all the heat for every decision they made.

By: TOK

TOK — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:16:34 +0000

I don’t want to get into an argument over whether Decatur is X% better to live in than unincorporated Dekalb, because that obviously depends on what area of Dekalb you’re talking about, and it also depends on what sorts of things you care about to make an area better or worse–different strokes for different folks and all that.

But are the services provided by the City of Decatur and the City Schools of Decatur at least 25% better than the services provided by Dekalb County and the Dekalb County School System? Hell yes.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:08:29 +0000

in my opinion, %100 better.

By: taxus

taxus — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:40:56 +0000

yes, it’s a shell game designed to give the municipality wiggle room. But the difference is there is a legal limit to the millage. Decatur is close to it now. 50% is 25% more than 40%. Is Decatur 25% better place to live? In my opinion 10% better.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:58:24 +0000

It wouldn’t make much difference – they’d have to adjust the millage to produce a similar amount of revenue.

By: taxus

taxus — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:14:27 +0000

When the city shifted tax assessments to the county, the rate went from 40% to 50%. The only change I want to see is 50% going to 40% like most jusridictions in the state of GA.

By: No Suprise

No Suprise — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 05:29:13 +0000

To keep it separate allows both parties to have political deniability. The city can say that the county assessments went up , and the county can say the millage ( my Iphone auto corrected “millage” to “mullahs” – haha ) rate imposed by the city is too high.