There was a lot of talk on FFAF this past week as property owners around Decatur and DeKalb County received their annual property tax bills for the coming year, many reporting large increases in the value.  You may recall all the hubbub back in 2012 when county had to do a number of reassessments.

Well things are still confusing for many residents.  John wrote in detailing his own recent findings, which show the odd trends that still exist along single streets…

Well, here we are again at property re-assessment time.  Based on your prior reporting of a 6% average increase, I was prepared to see something in that range.  Alas, being DeKalb County, it has to be something more complicated than that.  As was noted a few years ago, the assessors “flipped” the amount for each of the assessment’s components (*previously*, the LAND value was the lower, fairly constant amount among neighboring properties and the IMPROVEMENTS value was the higher, quite variable amount among neighboring properties – these were the components “flipped” a few years ago). 

Now, looking at several property values under the new assessments, some of the assessments have reverted back to the previous low land, high improvements values while other assessments remain at the recent high land, low improvements values.  In addition to being inconsistent and, frankly, looking haphazard, this makes it very difficult to adequately compare property values among competing properties.

Here are some of the assessments I came across (from properties on same street):
Property 1              LAND  236,300       IMPROVEMENTS 101,900
Property 2              LAND     85,200      IMPROVEMENTS 188,900
Property 3              LAND   184,300      IMPROVEMENTS   49,570
Property 4              LAND     85,200      IMPROVEMENTS 322,700

Nonsensical.

So, we all know the state of Georgia has no money, right?

And thanks to new House Bill 143, when the state has no money, it no longer has to pay local governments to fund the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant.  How convenient!  So guess what?  Come on, just take a guess…

You got it! Say good-bye to that substantial HTRG reduction on your property tax bill!

However, unlike many metro governments that are just hoping to avoid total financial anarchy, Decatur’s reserve fund seems to be helping the city keep a clear head.  And instead of trying to figure out how much they’ll need to raise taxes during a recession, the Decatur city commission is talking about tax relief at tonight’s commission meeting.

According to a note (pages 25 to 27) from Asst. City Manager Andrea Arnold included with tonight’s city commission agenda, the commission recently asked city staff for options that can provide quick tax relief to residents, since the HTRG reduction won’t be on the second installment of our 2009 bill.  Arnold has come back to the commission this week with the determination that there is currently only one option available to provide immediate relief on the second installment of the 2009 tax bill.

This is the GS1 or low-income senior exemption that is available to resident homeowners that are 62 years of age or older and the household income does no exceed $25,000.  Currently eligible homeowners receive an exemption of $30,000 for City taxes and an exemption of $50,000 for school taxes.  The City Commission has the legal authority to increase this exemption up to $50,000.  Once the exemption is increased, it cannot be decreased.

Arnold recommends increasing the exemption to the full $50,000 for city taxes, which will reduce revenue available to the City by about $100,000.

Longer term Arnold notes that in future years if the commission wishes to increase the city’s homestead exemption they would need to go before the General Assembly and then face a voter referendum.  This means that the earliest an increased exemption could make it through all the red tape and onto your tax bill would be April 2011.  She also suggests the possibility of “creating a new homestead exemption through the General Assembly that would provide a temporary (i.e., one year) exemption if the household income drops below a certain threshold.”

So, by now you’ve probably heard about the city staff layoffs and proposed property tax increases in Atlanta to pay off their big, fat $140 million debt, but were you aware that Avondale Estates is also considering a tax hike?

The AJC reports that Avondale is considering a 5.96% increase as a result of the new city budget.  A closer look at the budget (by yours truly) shows that unlike Atlanta’s blatant overspending, the Avondale property tax increase is due to the city’s new “Master Plan”, which redevelops much of the tutor-style downtown and needed improvements to an aging sewer system.

You want to improve your community, you gotta foot the bill!  As Decatur residents are well aware…

OK, pardon me if I just don’t get it.

I WAS admittedly born and raised in a state neighboring “Taxachusetts” and often get unholy pleasure when I pay my city and county taxes. So maybe its just me and my sick liberal fetishes, but this initiative to cap property tax assessments in the state legislature doesn’t even seem worthy of print in the AJC.

Why are GA state legislators even beginning to opine and evaluate the accuracy of property assessments (and by extension property values) in this insanely topsy-turvy real estate market? Yes, soaring real estate prices these past 5 years have allowed local governments to announce tax cuts while assessments and property values have risen. But when Decatur cut the millage rate this past year, I don’t recall ANYONE trying to pass it off as this wonderful favor they passed along to residents. It was just calmly explained that rising property values allowed the city to reduce the rate a tad. Great!

If there is a problem with over-assessments in the state, perhaps we should, at a minimum, wait until the real estate market calms down before throwing around terms like “back-door tax hikes” and instituting caps of 2% for residential and 3% for commercial that didn’t work 20 years ago and won’t work today. Because what do you do in a city like Decatur, where houses in my neighborhood are still going off the market in 1-2 months? What if property values rise 5% this year (he said hopefully), yet the assessment can only go up 2%? How then does the assessment accurately represent 40% of the property’s value?

If my property value increases and I enjoy the benefit when I turn around a sell it for a mint, the city is absolutely in the right to get an equal share of that increase. How the heck else are we going to continue to pay for all the great events and services that we enjoy in our little haven?

If there is a problem with over-inflating property assessments in some more shady locales, then its those local residents that should get out in the streets and demand reform. Providing a blanket, statewide cap can’t work in an arena so local as real estate prices.

Give ‘em hell Mayor Floyd. The next time I attach a stamp with a little American flag to my Decatur tax bill, it’ll represent more than just 41 cents; it will be a symbol that I for one do not take my city services for granted.

h/t: InDecatur