City of Decatur Annexation (North Decatur, Druid Hills: house, neighborhood, buy)

[travelinFool]

The City of Decatur is considering annexation of several of the surrounding areas.
Midway Woods, a neighborhood of 700+ homes is one of those areas. Many of the arrivals to the neighborhood from within the last 5 years are Officers of the Midway Woods Neighborhood Association.
They are making a push to be included in the annexation. In the rouse of investigating the pros and cons and only speaking to neighbors they know are for annexation they are trying to ramrod the neighborhood into the current annexation.

Fact: Old or Young, property taxes will increase 40% in the first year alone. this will provide severe hardship for older neighbors that are on fixed income. Tax exemption start at age 70 in Decatur and 65 for DeKalb plus there is no tax freeze in COD.

Secondly, COD website claims your property value will increase 30-50k, sounds good, but there are no hard facts regarding this. The last time they annexed, 10 years ago, we were in a totally different market.

If however, the above is true and your property value increases that means the 2nd year your property taxes will increase even more because Decatur doesn't have a tax freeze .
If annexed schools which are already overcrowded, Winnona Park Elementary has trailers in the playground area, will become if more so.

Trash pickup in COD is once a week and you must buy your trash bags from the City. Yes, you heard me correctly. The more trash you deposit the more you pay.

Recycling-they only go up to #5 which means you can't recycle as much as in Dekalb County

Diversity-City of Decatur over the last 20 years has changed dramatically from one majority to the other, namely income. The income has increased dramatically and evidenced by smaller homes being bought for the land and torn down and Prairie-style mcmansions being built.

Also, we can't forget race. I'm not making a judgement one way or the other and am only stating facts but it's becoming very homogenous. Again, not a matter of judgement, just facts.

So considering all of this, which way would you vote if:
A) you had children
B) you didn't have children

The reason why I only give the two options above is because when it comes to a vote it'll be mainly decided by that factor alone.

[cittic10]

I'm sorry to hear that you're in this situation.
Property taxes are one of the most unfair, regressive form of tax there is.
As long as the county is meeting your needs and providing a good level of services, I would vote no.
If they aren't then I might vote yes or I would just move. It would depend on what it was.

[arjay57]

I'm not a fan of cities gobbling up land unless there is some evidence that it's going to improve things.

[lastminutemom]

In this case, I would beg to be part of City of Decatur, especially if I had purchased my home pre 2007. The DeKalb school system will make things very difficult over the next few years for home sellers in many parts of DeKalb. Perhaps the CoD can work out some kind of phase in for property taxes.

However, I am not sure City of Decatur wants this neighborhood because their schools are already crowded. City of Decatur is interested in commercial areas far more than residential ones.

By the way, in tomorrows (Sunday's) AJC, there is an article about DeKalb, new cities and annexations. The AJC no longer publishes every story from the paper online, so if you are interested in this issue, I would recommend purchasing the paper.

[aries4118]

One thing that has changed big time recently is that the Midway Woods neighborhood is now in the Druid Hills cluster instead of the Avondale cluster.

Those with children may not feel so hard-pressed to be annexed by the City of Decatur as they were in the past.



And--CoD does need to annex more commercial areas in order to expand their tax base and tax burden. The city should be totally focused on annexing the Suburban Plaza Area, the DeKalb Industrial Way Corridor, The Church Street Corridor north of the city, and along North Decatur east of Scott Boulevard.

[aries4118]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/19583328-post14.html

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by aries4118

One thing that has changed big time recently is that the Midway Woods neighborhood is now in the Druid Hills cluster instead of the Avondale cluster.

Those with children may not feel so hard-pressed to be annexed by the City of Decatur as they were in the past.



And--CoD does need to annex more commercial areas in order to expand their tax base and tax burden. The city should be totally focused on annexing the Suburban Plaza Area, the DeKalb Industrial Way Corridor, The Church Street Corridor north of the city, and along North Decatur east of Scott Boulevard.

All DeKalb schools, regardless of how good they are, are suffering in the current mess. Huge class sizes, inadequate classroom resources, etc are really difficult to swallow because of the mismanagement.

I know people in the Lakeside area who wish they could be annexed by Decatur!

[aries4118]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/26204302-post15.html

[10 feet tall]

Originally Posted by HausZweiHomes

The income has increased dramatically and evidenced by smaller homes being bought for the land and torn down and Prairie-style mcmansions being built.

Slightly off topic here, but Decatur is definitely getting the "tear down and build the McMansion vibe". Just because it is "craftsman-style" doesn't mean it blends with the neighborhood folks. If you build a house that takes up every square inch of the lot and take down the trees it won't fit. LOL.

It won't be long before Decatur is a victim of its own success, and all the "charm" is evaporated. But the schools will likely remain quite good and property values high.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

All DeKalb schools, regardless of how good they are, are suffering in the current mess. Huge class sizes, inadequate classroom resources, etc are really difficult to swallow because of the mismanagement.

I know people in the Lakeside area who wish they could be annexed by Decatur!

Well, I didn't say they were happy or and wouldn't want to see a change in their schools.


I just said they may be less hard-pressed (to want to be annexed) as they were in the past.