Back in 2007 when the economy still looked quite rosy, Georgia state representatives and senators introduced a bill for the City of Decatur that would give the city the power to exercise the powers under the “Redevelopment Powers Law”.

While the “Redevelopment Powers Law” itself may not ring a bell, the tax allocation districts (or TADs) created by the law certainly might.  TADs are most famous for single-handedly funding the creation of Atlantic Station and the lawsuit that struck down the Beltline’s TAD requiring the passing of a constitutional amendment in 2008 to put the funding option back on the table for many communities.

Then the economy intervened and these days, many TADs are turning sour since they depend on increasing property values to pay off bond debt.

Through all of this bond fun, Decatur has been trying to get the Georgia Legislature to pass a bill that would give the city the option to pursue a TAD district.

At tonight’s city commission meeting, City Manager Peggy Merriss informed the commissioners that after four legislative sessions, Senate Bill 279 was finally passed.  According to Mayor Bill Floyd, the process was initiated back in 2007 at the request of East Decatur Station property owners.

This means that Decatur residents will see this on the November ballot…

Shall the Act be approved which authorizes the City of Decatur to exercise redevelopment powers under the ‘Redevelopment Powers Law,’ as it may be amended from time to time?”

With the current state of the economy, neither the city manager or the city commissioners at tonight’s meeting seemed particularly eager to create any TADs in the near future.  In fact, the main concern of the commissioners in hearing this news was that it would be clear to voters that the November vote would not authorize any specific TADs in the city, only giving the commission the power to create districts if they saw fit in the future.

I can’t help but write a follow up the DeKalb County Commission’s “surprise” TAD approval yesterday.

Apparently the DeKalb County Commission prioritizes like a 4th grader. They make sure to schedule time at recess (aka commission meetings) to flex their muscles and throw dirt at each other about issues that affect a small portion of the population that live near raucous bars, but can’t seem to find the time to ask a favor of the kid who’s lunch money they’re constantly stealing (aka DeKalb County School Board). Unfortunately in this case, that kid controls 72% of the available TAD money.

Here’s Commissioner Rader via the AJC…

“I regret not doing that [getting the school board on board]. I just have not had a great deal of time to think of it on a purely political basis,” Rader said. “We’re not asking them to make a decision at this point. I did not conceive this [vote] as putting them on the line for anything.”

He also sounded resigned to waiting it out.

“We recognize the school board doesn’t have the information it needs to decide whether they should go forward,” Rader said. “We don’t expect them to make a decision until they have that information. We need to talk an awful lot about this.”

Don’t have the time to talk about 72% of available TAD funds? Or can’t take responsibility for a bad ongoing relationship with the school board?