MINISTRY
FINANCE
Faith in matrimony
Bargain shoppers rejoice!
For the second year in a row, a Lithonia church has picked up the tab for members who want to get married. 6
Macy’s will open its first Backstage outlet store in DeKalb County on June 17 at its Mall at Stonecrest store. 8
Let’s Keep DeKalb Peachy Clean Please Don’t Litter Our Streets and Highways
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2017 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
June 10, 2017
Volume 23, Number 6
www.crossroadsnews.com
School Board holding hearings into property tax increase By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
DeKalb homeowners won’t be getting a millage rollback from the DeKalb School Board this year. Instead, the Board of Education said June 1 that its tentative $1.1 billion general funds budget will require a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate. “The DeKalb County Board of Education today announces its intention to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by 5.06 percentage points over the rollback millage rate,” the board said on its website. Under state law, the board is required to announce its intention to raise taxes and hold hearings to allow the public an opportunity to express opinions. It will hold three public hearings – on June 12 at 6:15 p.m. and at 11:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. on June 27.
The School Board accounts for 54.4 percent of a DeKalb County property owner’s tax bill. Its current millage rate, in effect since 2013, is 23.38 mills. Although it is proposing to keep it, taxpayers will end up paying more if the value of their home changes. For example, if your home was valued at $125,000 in 2016, your gross taxes were $1,169. With homestead exemption, it was $876.75. If the assessed value of your home increases this year to $150,000, Sheri Boritz, the DeKalb Tax Commissioner’s director of property tax, says you will pay $1,402.80 in gross taxes, an increase of $233.80. With homestead exemption, you will pay $1,110.55, an increase of $233.80. Dr. Mike Bell, the School District’s finance director, said the county’s projected property tax digest growth is 6.75 percent – covering both reassessments and new construction
– and is projected to bring in an additional $29.8 million for the district. “These funds will be used to cover numerous future [FY 2018] General Fund expenses such as prior year approved pay raises, state-mandated TRS retirement contribution increases, state-mandated health increases and others to be finally approved,” he said. The board must approve the budget by June 27. The board’s 2016 budget was $962.7 million without a property tax hike. It was up $70.2 million, or 7.9 percent, from the fiscal 2016 budget of $892.5 million. The last time the board millage rate changed was in 2012 when the values of the county’s 227,694 properties declined $3 billion, or 6 percent, going to $44.2 billion from $47.2 billion in 2011. When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, state law requires a rollback mill-
Three public hearings The Board of Education is hosting three public hearings for input from citizens – on June 12 at 6:15 p.m. and on June 27 at 11:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. The hearings will be held in the J. David Williamson Board Room, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd., Stone Mountain. To speak at one of the public hearings, email your name and contact information to Margaret_Francois@ dekalbschoolsga.org.
age rate be computed to produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred.
Waiting list growing for Lithonia apartments Interest in city piqued since building began
Granite Crossing general superintendent Mike Giemont, left, discusses plans with two crew members on June 2.
By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
As the 75-unit Granite Crossing Apartments complex rises from the ground in downtown Lithonia, interest is building in the project that is transforming the look of the tiny city. Already, the $10 million affordable housing project has a waiting list of 169 applicants even though it cannot begin to accept applications until 120 days from completion. Mayor Deborah Jackson said prospective residents are sharing in the excitement by lining up to wait for the opportunity to apply for the one-, two- and three-bedroom rent-controlled apart- Deborah Jackson ment units scheduled for completion in December. “The project is changing not only the look of the downtown area but also its potential,” Jackson said June 5. “It is a visible demonstration that something positive is happening in the city.” Granite Crossing, which is being built on city-owned property, is a public-private partnership between the city of Lithonia and Wendover Housing Partners LLC. Both broke ground on the construction last November – 13 years after the project was first visualized. Jackson said that back in 2003 when the community talked about some of the changes it wanted to see in the city, residents and city leaders had no idea it would take this long for something to happen. “But with perseverance and determination,
Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
it has finally come to fruition,” she said. “The project is scheduled to be completed with families moving in by Christmas this year.” This week, the site was a bevy of activity with crews framing the third floor of the building and grading the land for the installation of roads and driveways. Gary Brink, Wendover Housing Partners construction manager, said recent heavy rains set construction back about two weeks but they are still on target for the December opening. “I am supposed to be finished by Dec. 15,” Brink said Monday. Until then, people who express interest in renting the apartments are put on a waiting list, but they will be referred to the
online application process when it is ready in September. To qualify for the units, applicants will undergo a background and credit check. Eligible applicants must meet federal income guidelines and their annual rent cannot exceed 30 percent of their household incomes. Individuals can make $23,000, and a family of six, up to $47,520. Based on 2015 federal income guidelines, monthly rents will range from about $498 for individuals to $800 for a family of six. Any adjustment in the guidelines will be made before actual rents are released next year. To make way for Granite Crossing, which faces Max Cleland Boulevard, the city demolished its old 80,000-square-foot
former city hall building that adjoined the Lithonia Plaza. Residents had hoped for a mixed-use development in the heart of the downtown, and Jackson says that even though Granite Crossing only has a residential component, the city will still have a mixeduse commercial area since there are businesses on Main Street as well as in the remaining portion of the Lithonia Plaza. The best part is that apartment construction has helped spark what Jackson calls “new interest in Lithonia.” “It has attracted about five new businesses to Main Street and the existing businesses Please see LITHONIA, page 2