Wednesday, June 29, 2011

DeKalb County Property Tax Increase... Awesome


Own property in DeKalb County? Well it's your lucky day! You're about to get to give the almost broke County a nice big bailout with their proposed increase in millage rate (aka property tax increase). If you would like to voice your opinion on this new increase- DeKalb County is hosting public hearings on Tuesday, July 5 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and on Tuesday, July 12 at 10 a.m. in the Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur.

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners has tentatively adopted millage rates, which will require an increase in property tax rates as listed below (Area, 2011 rate, Rollback Rate, and % Increase):
  • Atlanta: 10.39, 8.938, 16.25%
  • Avondale Estates: 15.41, 13.464, 14.45%
  • Chamblee: 13.71, 12.223, 12.17%
  • Clarkston: 15.06, 13.242, 13.73%
  • Decatur: 10.82, 10.087, 7.27%
  • Doraville: 13.60, 12.607, 7.88%
  • Dunwoody: 13.35, 11.357, 17.55%
  • Lithonia: 15.33, 13.280, 15.44%
  • Pine Lake: 15.61, 13.541, 15.28%
  • Stone Mountain: 13.90,  12.980, 7.09%
  • Unincorporated: 19.62, 18.017, 8.90%
  • Countywide Debt: 1.08, 0.647, 66.92%
  • Unincorporated Debt: 0.66, 1.631, -59.53%
This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 21.36 mills in the unincorporated area (goody-this is where we are), an increase of 4.50 mills in the incorporated areas. The large millage rate in the unincorporated areas is due to the fact that these residences and business don't pay the extra city taxes and don't receive city services and must rely solely on county services.

These millage rates are prior to the application of the Homestead Exemptions and credits from the Homestead Option Sales Tax. In 2010, the Board of Commissioners granted a 56.6 percent HOST Credit for County operations and maintenance based upon the use of 97.3 percent of last year’s HOST receipts. In 2011, the Board of Commissioners has voted to use 80 percent for the HOST Credit.

The hearings are open to the public and citizens are encouraged to attend. Whether or not you own property in DeKalb, these tax increases affect everyone including renters, shoppers, and customers!

5 comments:

  1. This is good info. Thanks. I am also in an unincorporated area and I see where it says the millage rate is 19.62 in one spot and 21.36 mills in another. I am sure I'm missing something....I'm a bit confused about the "large increase" being due to us not paying the extra city taxes. It seems that the unincorp. area is about in the middle of the pack with its percent increase. I understand why we pay the largest amount of tax but don't understand why the large increase is because of this. I'd really appreciate your feedback. Just trying to understand! Thanks

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  2. Polly-

    The total mills is the unincorporated rate (19.62) + the countywide debt (1.08) + the unincorporated debt (0.66) which is how we arrive at total unincorporated millage rate of 21.36. The "large increase" we were talking about was just millage rates in general. While our specific unincorporated rate increase is middle of the pack (+8.90%) as you said, we still pay the highest millage rate due to unincorporated areas not having city services and paying city taxes. We did reword that line above as it was a bit confusing. Thanks for reading!

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  3. Just recevied my 2011 Real Estate Tax Statement for Dekalb County... up 25% from 2010. I'm showing three new line items: 1) Police Servc, 2) Dekalb Sani and 3) Stormwtr Fee. When did these get added to the bill? They make up the bulk of my increase. Otherwise it's just a 4.4% increase. - David

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  4. Here are the updated Millage Rates for DeKalb County. These were approved in June http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/TaxCommissioner/pdf/Millage.pdf

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  5. However, if the contract includes a regular supply of materials - such as toner and paper in a copier contract, that will usually make the contract taxable. Even in states that don't tax repair labor. These types of contracts essentially become a pre-purchase of TPP and become taxable.

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