Dekalb Ballot —suspension of of Homestead Option sales tax and approval of equalized option sales tax” (Atlanta: rental)

[jeoff]

So this is on the Dekalb Ballot —“suspension of of Homestead Option sales tax and approval of an equalized homestead option sales tax”. What do you know about it, the advantages and disadvantages?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by jeoff

So this is on the Dekalb Ballot —“suspension of of Homestead Option sales tax and approval of an equalized homestead option sales tax”. What do you know about it, the advantages and disadvantages?

An existing part of DeKalb sales taxes is a 1 percent levy called the Homestead Option Sales Tax (HOST). If voters approve, all HOST revenue would go toward reducing residential property taxes. Currently, 80 percent of HOST funds go toward property tax relief, and the rest is distributed to city and county governments.

DeKalb County sales tax bill passes Georgia General Assembly

[bu2]

Commissioner Jeff Rader's take:

On September 26, The DeKalb Board of Commissioners joined twelve DeKalb Cities to place two referenda on the November 7 Election Ballot.* The first referendum will determine if the Homestead Option Sales Tax (HOST) is amended to devote 100% of the penny sales tax to homeowner tax rebates, and erasing the differential between municipal and unincorporated rebates.* The second referendum will determine if an additional 1% Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) will be collected in DeKalb for the next six years to fund capital investment in transportation, public safety and capital repairs.* Both referenda must gain voter approval for either to take effect, if one fails, both fail.* Read on to understand some of the complexities of the referenda, and how they would affect DeKalb residents.

Equalization HOST
First, let’s look at the HOST amendment, called the “Equalization Host” or E-Host.* DeKalb is one of two counties in Georgia that has such a tax, which offsets or rebates property taxes on owner occupied residences.* The current structure only provides home-owner tax relief on the portion of the bill levied by the County government.* It directs the difference in the rebate that would go to city homeowners (if they were not in a city) to city governments, based on the value of owner occupied homes within the city.* These funds were unevenly distributed, with those cities having a lot of high priced, owner occupied homes receiving many times more than those cities with higher shares of rental property and/or lower home prices.

The new E-HOST would offset an equal portion of every homeowner’s tax bill, regardless of municipal status.* Municipal homeowners would see an increase in their rebate, and unincorporated homeowners a slight decrease, because the overall share of the tax bill offset by the E-HOST will decline as more homeowners receive an equal rebate.* The net effect is financially beneficial for municipal homeowners, but not for unincorporated homeowners.* It does not correct the intrinsic regressive nature of the HOST, because as before, only homeowners receive the rebate and the more expensive the home, the bigger the rebate.

The E-Host will only take effect if voters agree to impose an additional one cent sales tax for the next six years.* The two issues are linked because, since 2007, municipal governments with high value homesteads have become reliant on the redistribution of HOST funds from the County to them to offset the unequal rebate awarded their homeowners.* With the E-HOST now providing an equal rebate, no funding is left to redistribute to the richer cities.

The DeKalb SPLOST
The DeKalb SPLOST (DSPLOST) is unlike the SPLOST used in Gwinnett, Cobb, or any other Georgia County (the Statewide SPLOST), because it was created by DeKalb legislators to meet their priorities.* DeKalb is not eligible for a Statewide SPLOST, because the state specifies a cap of 2% on locally imposed SPLOST.* DeKalb reaches that ceiling because of the MARTA sales tax and the HOST.* Instead of exempting one or both of those pennies from the cap (since they fund tax relief and critical infrastructure), our legislative delegation created something new.

The Statewide SPLOST is broadly applicable to a wide range of capital improvements, including new buildings.* It also has provisions for mandatory cost sharing for County-wide investments in shared infrastructure that are the County’s financial responsibility, like the courts.* The DSPLOST has no mechanism for shared funding, except by unanimously approved intergovernmental agreement, and the DSPLOST is restricted to transportation, public safety, and a maximum of 15% for maintenance of existing public facilities.* The DSPLOST is strictly allocated on a per-capita basis between the municipalities for their jurisdictions, and the County Government for residents of the unincorporated areas.* About 39% of DeKalb (excluding Atlanta, which is excluded from the DHOST) now resides in cities.* The County and the cities did unanimously adopt an intergovernmental agreement to extend the tax from a five to a six year term, and to use 2016 population figures, rather than the 2010 Census figures that are the legislative default.* However, the cities rejected a unanimous agreement to share the cost of countywide improvements for fire and facility maintenance.* Importantly, the DSPLOST exempts food and medicine from the sales tax.

[jeoff]

Thanks for the info guys!

[Radical_Thinker]

Living in unincorporated Dekalb, this will be a massive screw-job for this homeowner.

I will be voting NO on both. This will go down in flames - who wants to pay another cent on the sales tax just to pave a few roads and give city dwellers an unfair tax break?