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June 2, 2022 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Dunwoody weighs tax hike Revenues fall short of resident wish list By JEFFREY ALBERTSON newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Dunwoody City government is facing a revenue dilemma that would be softened by increasing property tax collections. Assistant City Manager J. Jay Vinicki spoke at length about city revenue collection and the impact from homestead exemptions at the May 23 City Council meeting. Absent exemptions like those for owner-occupied residences, the city’s tax digest – the value of all property within the city – is almost equally split between residential and commercial. The value of all property is close to $5 billion. Factoring in residential exemptions lowers the taxable digest by about $1.5 billion. Most city tax collections come from one-time revenue sources, not ongoing revenue. Only 5 percent of the overall property taxes paid in DeKalb County winds up in city coffers. Commercial property accounts for about 70 percent of city revenue. While the city has eight months of revenue reserves and has cut expenditures during the pandemic, there are concerns about revenue collection and a multi-million-dollar expenditure defi-
JEFFREY ALBERTSON/APPEN MEDIA
City revenue and expenditures have been the focus of community attention as the Dunwoody City Council considers a bond referendum to fund special projects. Current property tax exemptions and home valuation freezes have left the city hamstrung to tackle new developments. cit. Despite the drawdown, the city has increased services and raised police salaries while facing a pay-as-you-go approach to other projects, like public works or parks. Adding to the dilemma is that home values are locked for city taxes, meaning that some residents pay the same amount of property taxes as 2009. The current 2.74 millage rate has
not changed since the city’s incorporation. Many residents leverage a homestead exemption, decreasing that rate to 1.74 mills. Combining the property value freeze and homestead exemptions means that some residents pay less than 1 mill in taxes. “When people start talking about their millage rate of 2.74, you can take off almost 60 percent at this time,”
Vinicki said. “Houses are taxed at about 40 percent of the rate that ac-
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