There are three counties in the Metro Atlanta region that are in the process of changing their property taxes and tax assessments – Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb. Fulton recently underwent its most comprehensive review of home values in the area in over a decade, and with firm property values now on the books, the freezing of earlier (cheaper) values is coming to an end. While this should be no surprise given that Atlanta’s economy is booming, it can still come as an unpleasant shock to homeowners who have lived here for years or decades. Many of those homeowners have also not benefited as much as others from that booming economy as wages for middle-class families across the country have been stagnant for decades. For those homeowners who are already struggling with paying everyday bills, targeted tax relief from the county or state would be a welcome change.
Which brings us to DeKalb. County CEO Michael Thurmond announced recently that DeKalb homeowners would receive $660 million in property tax relief over the next six years, or $110 million per year. Despite the fact that DeKalb is growing and property values are rising, the county has effectively countered growing property taxes with initiatives like the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and the Equalized Homestead Option Sales Tax (EHOST). SPLOST funds will be directed to repairing roads, streets, and other infrastructure, while EHOST will minimize tax increases. Thanks to the forward-thinking vision of DeKalb leaders and voters, vulnerable homeowners won’t be forced to foot the bill for gentrification. Though Fulton had little choice but to reassess homes upward to their more accurate value, they should look to DeKalb to see how to mitigate homeowner heartburn in 2019 and beyond.
Cobb is a different story. The county has projected a $30 million shortfall for the 2019 fiscal year, giving them three options – significantly reduce services, increase taxes, or some combination of the two. Cobb faced an almost identical problem in 2011, and the solution they chose at that time was to increase property taxes by nearly 16% in a single year. A similar solution has been proposed this year to avoid any reduction in services, which could make life more difficult for struggling homeowners in Cobb.
In every county, rising property values are the natural result of a booming local economy. In theory, this is a good thing. In practice, however, the gains of booming economies are not distributed remotely equally across racial and economic strata. There are thousands of homeowners across Atlanta who can testify to that fact.
Property taxes are a significant expense for many taxpayers. Figuring out how to protect historic metro Atlanta homes and families from shocking year-over-year hikes in those taxes could be a compelling area of discussion on the campaign trail in our statewide elections this year. Voters are always looking for ways to keep a little more of their money and addressing rapidly rising home values could be an equitable way to do just that.
