To recap last week's post, a total year's property tax bill in Decatur in 2014 would be about 8 percent lower than for an equally valued property in DeKalb County if the property owner had no homestead exemptions (for example, commercial properties, rental properties, investment properties, second homes, etc). When Decatur and DeKalb's bills within the City are added together, they would be about 14 percent higher than what the property would have been taxed in unincorporated DeKalb:
The differences are larger if the property owner resides on the property and has a basic homestead exemption with both the City and County. The HOST credit on County bills is tricky to compute, but here are my estimates for 2014 factoring in owner occupancy:
Please note that these comparisons don't include fees for sanitation and stormwater drainage. Tax scenarios for senior residents with additional homestead exemptions would vary significantly based on age, income, and in some cases the nature of the income (ie, retirement income versus non-retirement income), and jurisdiction. There are additional differences across jurisdictions that could affect property insurance and flood insurance rates.
As always, this blog is not intended to give legal, political, financial, or tax advice, but to give information and answer questions generally about Decatur property tax issues. Please contact my office to discuss the specifics of your account; for tax advice please contact an independent tax professional.
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