I thought this was an interesting little Decatur tidbit.  From the city’s Decatur Tax Blog…

…the largest tax exempt property owners in Decatur are DeKalb County, Agnes Scott, the City of Decatur, Columbia Seminary, the Decatur Housing Authority, DeKalb Medical, the First Baptist Church, Decatur First United Methodist Church, MARTA, and Decatur Presbyterian Church. Two final notes: 1) Decatur’s tax-exempt owners do pay stormwater bills and 2) they’re also some of the largest employers in town.

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.

In referencing AP article about the general strength of the health care industry during an economic downturn, Russ dropped an interesting little tidbit about the Decatur economy over on the Decatur Tax Blog…

Although I don’t know what commercial property owner’s vacancy rates are in Decatur, I estimate that at least 11 percent of office-based businesses in Decatur are tied in some way to the health care industry. (Our biggest sub-groups are mental health providers, physicians, and dentists.) That percentage is based off of the number of businesses that have a medical-related NAICS code.

From a business licensing standpoint, it does seem like turnover in retail businesses such as restaurants and shops is more common than healthcare businesses in Decatur, but there are no reports I can easily run in our business licensing system that would back up that observation.

There definitely has been a noticable influx of doctors and health care facilities in the past 2 years, with Kaiser’s spot along West Ponce the most obvious addition.

The 2010 has come bearing gifts for the city of Decatur in the form of MORE online information!

Launching January 1st, Decatur News Online is the brainchild of resident Geoff Koski, which pledges to be a “journalistic internet news source for the citizens of the City of Decatur, Georgia— covering community events and issues” and already includes a variety of postings by contributing residents.

And just today, we received word via The Decatur Minute that the city was launching a third blog with the new year.  The Decatur Tax Blog promises to provide “fresh, non-partisan content about national & local tax and housing developments, timely reminders about tax deadlines for residents, special announcements, and educational posts about your tax bill.”

In his first post, city employee (and now “blogger”) Russ Madison makes one thing quite clear…

…this blog will in not be a political platform or forum about tax rates. For concerns about tax rates I would encourage you to contact your elected officials or visit privately-run blogs. Also, the information provided on these pages shall in no way constitute legal advice about your individual tax circumstances. Please seek the advice of a tax professional for dicey personal situations.