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the BeltLine, but would still be forced to pay the extra tax. Martinez said small business owners who rent their spaces would see the tax burden passed on by the property owners. Similarly, apartment dwellers would likely see an increase in their rents to cover the additional tax.

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Director Rob Brawner said an estimated 3,675 properties along the BeltLine would be subject to the tax. Brawner said most luxury apartment complexes along the corridor would only see a $17 per month, per unit increase when the SSD was applied. He used the Ansley II strip shopping center across from Ansley Mall on Monroe Drive as an example of what tenants might pay, stating “the entire SSD on that entire piece of property is $950 per year.”

Single-family homes are notably absent from the SSD. Westmoreland explained taxing homes along the BeltLine is permissible under the law but were left out of the legislation as not to negatively affect legacy homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods.

Higgs said he’d spoken to a number of homeowners willing to pay the tax and there was some discussion about excluding homes valued below $400,000. “However, from a legal perspective, if you tax one home you have to tax them all.”

Brawner said the SSD revenue would be used to finance bonds that would be exclusively used for trail completion. “The bonds are expected to be issued as 30 year bonds to keep the millage rate as low as possible. As the SSD grows over time, that means we pay off the bonds sooner. Currently, the projection is 15 to 20 years to pay off bonds and then the SSD sunsets.”

Matthew Rao, co-founder of advocacy group BeltLine Rail Now, said his organization opposed the SSD because it didn’t include any funding for transit along the corridor. BeltLine Rail Now released a proposal on Jan. 28 to fully fund the transit portion of the corridor by 2030 to the tune of $2.5 billion.

Rao said a “trail only” approach to completing the BeltLine would accelerate gentrification and would not address issues of affordable housing, equity, and mobility problems.

Old Fourth Ward Business Association Executive Director Emma Tinsley, who moderated the meeting, said she’d heard from many business owners in the district who felt like the SSD legislation was a “done deal.”

“The community and its stakeholders can change this legislation and make it better,” Tinsley said. “I urge the city council to listen to these folks.”