The Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods has been active on numerous issues that affect us. As the organization founded to provide a unified voice to address and protect our common interests and quality of life issues, our mission is paramount to our initiatives.
Property Taxes by Beth Beskin:
Several new tax laws passed by the General Assembly in 2018 became effective this year and are reflected in the Annual Notice of Assessment you should have received in June. There are new homeowners’ exemptions for the City of Atlanta, Fulton County and Atlanta Public Schools, each of which is different.
The City of Atlanta 2.6% tax cap bill applies to the Atlanta General portion of your bill (see Box C at the bottom of your assessment notice). It provides that your effective property tax assessment will increase by no more than 2.6% per year and rolls your starting assessment, or “base year,” back to the lowest of tax years 2016, 2017 and 2018. The 2.6% cap is reflected as additional homestead exemption, which raises the previous $30,000 City of Atlanta homestead exemption by whatever amount is necessary so that your assessment effectively increases by no more than 2.6% per year. For this first year, your base year amount will be multiplied by 1.0423 for 2019 (to reflect the rate of inflation for those years), then will increase no more than 2.6% annually. The base year amount can be complicated for homeowners who previously appealed their property taxes and had a “frozen” assessment for some or all of those years, so please speak to the Fulton County Assessor’s office or your property tax advisor to make sure your numbers are correct.
The Fulton County homestead exemption was increased to $50,000 from $30,000 for homeowners age 65 and older. Please remember that the Fulton County portion of all homeowners’ bills has been capped to increase no more than 3% per year since 2005, so an odd-dollar exemption for the Fulton Operating part of your bill, rather than either $30,000 or $50,000, reflects holding your net taxable value for Fulton County purposes to increase no more than 3% per year, with the additional amount offset by an increased Fulton County homestead exemption.
The Atlanta Public Schools (Atlanta School Operating) homestead exemption increased from $30,000 to $50,000 this year (after the first $10,000 in assessed value), and will remain at $50,000 for three calendar years, through 2021.
Although the Annual Notice of Assessment reflects the new tax laws and homestead exemptions, your estimated tax is calculated based on last year’s millage rates. In June, the City of Atlanta voted to keep this year’s millage rate the same as last. Fulton County and APS have not yet set their 2019 millage rates.
APS will conduct public hearings on the 2019 millage rate on July 22 and July 29. Fulton County has advertised that it will conduct a public hearing and set its millage rate at its meeting on August 7, 2019. The estimated tax reflected at the bottom right of your bill may change if Fulton County or APS changes their millage rate from the 2018 amount.
Please note that the last day to file a written appeal of your 2019 property tax, as set forth in the Annual Notice of Assessment, is August 2, 2019.
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Public Safety: Requested that the City of Atlanta update Buckhead residents and businesses as to actions that could be taken to make us safer. Over 600 Buckhead residents attended the Mayor’s Town Hall Meeting in March where Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields outlined steps that would be implemented immediately. This has resulted in a reduction in crime in the Buckhead community. In accordance with BCN’s new advocacy role, an 11-point Public Safety Resolution was approved and was presented to the City’s Public Safety Committee on May 14 by Ret. APD Sgt. Valerie Sellers. One of the points made was to make certain that there is not a need for our Atlanta City Jail in our criminal justice system—prior to any re-purposing of the jail. This request was subsequently sent in a formal letter to the Mayor, the City Council, and the Fulton County Commission on May 30. Since that time, there have been over a dozen media reports discussing the fact that Fulton County’s Jail is, in fact, overcrowded and that conditions are “dire” (in the words of a former inmate). The first meeting of the Task Force to address the future use of the Atlanta City Jail is tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16th, 4:00 p.m. at Atlanta City Hall, 55 Trinity Avenue, SW, Atlanta, GA 30305. BCN will be there. Please feel free to join us.
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Streets by Debra Wathen
The Streets Committee has focused our attention in three areas:
?1. Because of the deplorable state of our streets and the huge number of potholes, we sent a survey asking for Buckhead residents to send in areas of concern in their neighborhoods. We compiled a list of over 200 areas needing attention. This list along, with photosof many of the items, was sent to the Public Works Department, The Chair of the Utilities Committee and the Mayor’s Chief Operating Officer. As a result, many of the potholes have been filled and several sink holes have been addressed, but there is still much work to be done to get every item addressed. Continue to send any street issues to 1) Debra Wathen: 6wathens@bellsouth.net, 2) your City Council Representative, 3) report them to 311.
2. In order to Protect neighborhoods from being sacrificed to commuter traffic, we have worked the surrounding neighborhoods on the Moores Mill / West Wesley intersection. Working with RenewAtlanta, the new plan is now more neighborhood friendly and is more in keeping with a residential neighborhood. RenewAtlanta has significantly reduced the footprint of the intersection and agreed to landscaping in order to maintain a better neighborhood feel for the intersection.
3. With safety as a priority, the Streets Committee has started to look at viable traffic calming alternatives to make neighborhoods safer for its residents and improve their quality of life. These including items such as speed cushions, No Left Turn signage and reduction of neighborhood speed limits.
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Transit – Traffic – Housing: Each of these Committee chairs has created a Task Force which is meeting this summer to address the suffocating effect of traffic on our neighborhoods. BCN’S Transportation Initiative is entitled Let Buckhead Breathe:
