Kennesaw hikes taxes 700 percent on blighted properties

Kennesaw approved a “blight tax” in April aimed at properties that are uninhabitable, unsafe, or have repeated illegal activity. The logic behind the property tax increase is that it costs the city more to perform services such as public safety and code enforcement at blighted properties. The Marietta Daily Journal reports:

KENNESAW — No residents spoke either for or against a proposed blight tax by the city of Kennesaw at two public hearings, resulting in an unanimous approval of the program Monday night. The program establishes a procedure to identify blighted structures and sets an increased rate of property tax at seven times the normal millage rate. The increase would be applied to the next tax bill cycle, which begins Oct. 1 of each year. After the vote, City Manager Steve Kennedy said Kennesaw residents understand the city should have an additional tool to address unsightly concerns, even though no actual properties were pinpointed during the council discussions as fitting the description “blighted.”

It's an interesting idea although the potential tax rate seems very steep, and may open the door to legal challenges if the ordinance is ever enforced.  11 Alive reports that Kennesaw’s new ordinance is “patterned after similar ordinances in other local governments in Georgia.”…

Part of HB 755 gets mixed reviews from tax officials

When a property is under appeal in Georgia, the property owner is generally billed for property taxes at 85 percent of the current year value. Last year, legislation was enacted that allowed the taxpayer to pay based on the 100 percent value if they preferred. House Bill 755, which was signed into law by Gov. Deal last month, includes further adjustments to the temporary value statute used for billing properties under appeal, with six different possible scenarios for determining the correct temporary value to use for billing based on the value of the property, whether or not improvements have been made to the property, and whether or not the property has been homesteaded.

Non-homestead properties valued at less than $2 million and homesteaded properties with no new improvements made to the property would pay 1) the 85 percent value or 2) the most recent final, settled value, whichever is less. 3) Homestead properties with new improvements would be billed at 85 percent. Non-homestead properties with proposed values greater than $2 million could pay 4) 85 percent of the proposed value, 5) 100 percent of the current year value, or 6) “the difference between the 85 percent tax bill based on the current year's valuation and the tax bill based on the valuation from the last year for which taxes were finally determined to be due on the property in conjunction with the amount of the tax bill based on valuation from the last year for which taxes were finally determined to be due on the property.”

When these different scenarios in the legislation were presented to the Georgia Association of Tax Officials at their annual conference in Athens last month, the response was unenthusiastic. During her presentation of legislative updates, Vicki Lambert, director of the Local Government Services Division (overseeing property and ad valorem taxation) of the Georgia Department of Revenue, said that the 6th possible calculation (referencing the difference between the values over two years) is too confusing to understand or explain.

Some county tax officials indicated that they would continue using 85 percent as their standard temporary value for most properties under appeal, but that they would include language on the bill or other printed materials describing the different possible values.

For the City of Decatur, we would base our bills on whatever value DeKalb County informs us is the temporary value—whether that is the 85 percent value or some other temporary amount dictated by law—and then adjust it by the same factor that we use to increase DeKalb’s 40 percent assessment to City’s 50 percent assessment (ie, 50 percent of the 85 percent value, or 50 percent of whichever value applies by law).

There are probably valid reasons for carving out all these different possible temporary values under the law, but it is a challenge to implement and communicate this clearly to taxpayers under appeal. Appealing your property value is already complicated enough without having multiple possible methods for calculating an accurate temporary value.

Decatur presents tips for maximizing revenues at national conference

Each attorney practicing law in Decatur is responsible for paying a $425 annual occupation tax to the City. Historically, our collection rate for this group has been low, and in 2012 we began taking steps to improve collections.

Over a one year period we were able to boost tax compliance for this group from 69 percent up to an 86 percent. We used performance measurements to identify the opportunity for growth and implemented process improvements to get there. After that experience we described our efforts in a case study submitted to the Alliance for Innovation, and the topic was selected for presentation during their Transforming Local Government 2014 conference in Denver, Colorado.

I had the pleasure of making the presentation in April along with communications chief Linda Harris, city manager Peggy Merriss, and revenue supervisor Shaun Shabazz. After presenting our experiences Linda conducted an interactive session called “The Dog Ate My Tax Bill” to help attendees brainstorm different ways to overcome nonpayment of taxes or other revenues.

It was a lot of fun, and as Peggy noted afterward, those who attended our session were very engaged. Thanks to her, Linda, Shaun, our city attorney Bryan Downs, and the folks at TLG including Brandi Allen who all helped make it a success!

Our case study doesn’t seem to be available yet on the conference archive, but here’s the PowerPoint I presented. This is useful information for local governments and businesses that are trying to collect on difficult accounts:

5 ideas to overcome delinquent payments without offending your customers

5 days until key tax deadline passes

Although property tax payments were due in Decatur on June 2, the City has offered a grace period until June 16 during which no penalties or interest will be applied to unpaid accounts. That grace period expires on Monday.

A 10 percent penalty and 1 percent interest per month will be applied to amounts that remain unpaid after June 16.

Over the last few years we’ve observed that about 80 percent of taxes are paid by the initial deadline in early June, with another 15 percent of property owners taking advantage of the two-week grace period.

City shares tax info during annexation meeting

City staff [from left, Andrea Arnold, Russ Madison, and Shaun Shabazz] discuss taxes and homestead exemptions with Parkwood resident during recent Q&A session

School and City staff from all departments including Administrative Services and the Revenue Division discussed property taxes and homestead exemptions with residents from Parkwood neighborhood during a Jun. 5 meeting at City Hall.

Although Parkwood’s annexation will become effective July 1, 2014, residents in the area will receive their normal tax bill in the fall from DeKalb County and no tax bill from Decatur in 2014.  Property taxes are always based on the status of the property as of January 1, and as of that date the homes were still in unincorporated DeKalb.

Parkwood residents will receive their first tax bill from Decatur in April 2015 during our 1^st installment 2015 billing.  We do not send individual bills to mortgage companies, so property owners should forward the bills to their lenders if paying taxes out of escrow.

I prepared a table showing how taxes may look over the next 18 months for these homeowners based on a few different property values in the neighborhood.  These estimates assume current millage rates, fees, steady property values, and a basic homestead exemption with the City and County.

100% County value	DeKalb 2014 bill	Decatur 1st install 2015 bill	Decatur 2nd install 2015 bill	DeKalb 2015 bill
$230,000	$3,000	$2,145	$1,835	$350
$350,000	$4,580	$3,160	$2,855	$550
$450,800	$5,890	$4,015	$3,705	$725

For a more precise estimate, tax calculators are available on this blog and at www.decaturga.com under “What’s New,” then “Annexation.”

Homestead exemptions are applied for separately with the County and the City.  Exemptions only have to be applied for once, and they renew automatically as long as there are no changes in ownership.  The Parkwood residents should apply for their exemption with the City prior to Mar. 15. 2015.  Our office will send a letter to the neighborhood explaining how Decatur’s exemptions work.

The last item that these new residents may need to know from our office is that any individuals with a home-based business would need to obtain a business license from the City pro-rated this year for $110, and $195 annually after that.

Quick note about DeKalb’s assessment notices

The assessment notices that DeKalb County recently sent to property owners say “City Exemptions May Not be Included in this Estimate” at the bottom of the notice. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have a homestead exemption with the City of Decatur. What it means is that DeKalb does not factor in what City exemptions you have when preparing the estimate.

If you’re not sure whether you have your homestead exemption with the City, you can look at your 2014 1st installment tax bill. If you have the basic homestead exemption, your savings from that exemption will be printed just above the tear-off line of the remittance coupon. Also, look at the exemptions column of your tax bill. You have the basic homestead exemption if a figure of $20,000 appears in the exemptions column on three rows of your bill. If you have all zeroes in the exemptions column, you do not have the basic homestead exemption.

You can also call our office at 404-370-4100 to confirm what exemptions you have.

Property tax payment deadline today

Property tax payments for Decatur's first installment of 2014 are due today. We honor postmarks, so as long as you get your payment in the mail today, no penalties or interest will apply. Payments are also accepted by credit card online with a convenience fee charged by our third party payment processor.

Commercial sanitation payments are also due today in order to maintain service.