A Taxing Problem
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If you live in a City you are paying more taxes than you should. Both the County and the cities agree that it amounts to millions of dollars a year. What they disagree on is the amount. The cities believe the amount is in excess of $10 Million – the County claims it is under $3 Million. The question you should have is the same one the State is asking. Why hasn’t this been fixed?
The County provides a number of services (road maintenance and traffic control, police, street lights, water, etc.) that must be paid for through taxes. But many cities provide some of these same services and tax their residents accordingly. The State recognized this and passed a law some years back that said, in effect, that the County must reduce the taxes of those living inside a city before March of 2009 or the cities and County would each face penalties. The cities were ready to start working this out over a year ago, but the County has asked for delay after delay – and now the deadline has come and gone.
Unfortunately the County filed a lawsuit against all the cities and because of that litigation neither side is able to comment. So it is up to us to guess as to why this drags on and wonder about possible resolutions and motives:
1 – Who benefits under the current plan?
The only party that benefits by postponing a resolution, as I see it, is the County. The cities will get no additional revenue, but once settled your local Mayor will be all too happy to announce a tax cut for his citizens.
2 – Who loses once the plan is approved?
The County will see its revenue drop by as much as $10 Million. Those living in unincorporated Gwinnett also lose if the County tries to fix this shortfall with a tax increase.
3 – Who loses while the plan is in limbo?
Every County resident. Until this is resolved the State is withholding tens of millions of dollars in grants and stimulus money that could go to work on needed projects. If it drags on too long this money may go somewhere else.
4 – How will this be resolved?
Unfortunately it looks like the County may be trying to get the State Legislature to pass a law giving it more time. This is like the parent counting to “three”, but when he gets to “two” he starts counting in fractions. They had years to work this out – how will more time help? The cities and the County are in agreement on most of the services they provide. Why can’t they work out the final points?
This case will probably go to some sort of arbitration, which I think the citizens will be happy to see. I honestly hope this gets resolved quickly and with as little upset as possible. The County could really use some good press.
P.S.
The Gwinnett Daily Post has been following this, but if you are like many people you have just skipped over the stories on “Service Delivery”. Now that you have the background I hope you will watch for more articles on this topic in the future.
P.P.S.
This story dovetails nicely into several others you can find on the talkgwinnett website:
Are You Ready for Higher Taxes?
We Have Two Options – We Can Give Up Or We Can Keep Swinging
Poor Charles. He must be overworked again. It seems to me that the Board of Commissioners do not work enough hours to get the job done, although Charles Bannister has complained in the past how much and how hard he works for so little compensation. Maybe the Commissioners can find a little free overtime to resolve this problem. WAKE UP CHARLES. It is time to act. It appears that the County thinks it has enough money to solve the problem (check out the new budget) maybe what is needed is a a prescription for the Board’s obvious short attention span anyone got some ritalin? While the County is losing grant money hand over fist as well as some well deserved stimulus funds the Board seems to be content to just sit by the wayside and hope for better times to magically appear. What will it take to wake Charles and the rest of the Board up so that they can do the job they are paid to do? What will it take to wake voters up to see what and who the problem really is? What would happen to us if our Boss said “get this done or else” and we continued to ignore our responsibilities, we would get fired that’s what. Maybe voters should look at some type of consequence when those who are in charge don’t or won’t do what is expected of them. Maybe a little time off without pay would help them understand what is expected of them. It works for the rest of us when it is necessary.
The problem as I see it is those of us who live in un incorporated Gwinnett do have the most to lose. I live in un incorporated Lilbi=urn and the last thing I’m interested in is having the city of Lilburn annex as part of that city.
Lilburn’s a mess – look at the HWY29 – Beaver Ruin – Killian Hill coridors – who wants to try and have government straighten out that mess? Personally, what Lilburn should have done is fired all the brainac’s on the planning board that turned the city in a concrete corridor. But they don’t do that in Lilburn, instead they promote the same idiots to city government.
At least with the Gwinnett BOD I’m fairly sure what I got – with Lilburn’s city government overrun by developers and old school politicians who know every angle in passing taxes on property owners while turning their investments into tax havens I’ll stick with what I got.
That’s a NO on Lilburn’s annexation – they created the mess – they can solve it.
While local governments do bring higher taxes, most provide better services. I think this is primarily because local government just works better. This goes back to the way our country was founded. If you live in Unincorporated Gwinnett you have to reach up to your County Commissioner for help – and that can be a very long reach. But you can easily get to know your local City Council. You will see them at all local events (ever seen your Commissioner?) and even bump into them at the grocery store. Show up at a City Council meeting and if it is your first visit there is a good chance someone, maybe even the Mayor, will come over and himself. It is also much easier to effect change at the local level, and if things are wrong, as in your case, easier to get them fixed. You can even run for City Council without spending $100,000 like you need for a County seat.
David
David writes “If you live in Unincorporated Gwinnett you have to reach up to your County Commissioner for help – and that can be a very long reach. But you can easily get to know your local City Council. You will see them at all local events (ever seen your Commissioner?) and even bump into them at the grocery store.”
The problems with Lilburn City government is the special interest groups who have created the planning and zoning nightmare. When you have zoning and funding decisions being directed by officails like Eddie Price and Doug Stacks all you end up with is larger more expensive government that is funded by these increased taxes.
Lilburn City government isn’t going to bring services to un incorporated Gwinnett that we want or need. Doug Stacks already got rejected at the ballot box when he ran for Beaudreau’s district 4 seat.
Rather then address Councilman Price’s issue of not owning up to his fraudelent use of a homestead exemption on property deeded in his wife’s maiden name it appears he is quite willing to accept the county’s offer of only making retribution on three of the six years he claimed this exemption.
Since Councilman Price served on the Zoning Board of Appeals from 2004-2005, and he is currently a member of the Downtown Development Authority, while serving on the City Council isn’t he ultimately responsible for the mess Lilburn has?
You are right through, with his history of taxing others while using his position to avoid paying his own taxes he becomes a target for anyone wanting to run for city council.
They definitely would have my vote.
I’m not looking for bigger government that answers to all the special interest developers – give me less government that keeps their noses out of my yard and focuses on providing safety and security instead.
Commissioner Kenerly Responds:
Your email asked about an agreement between cities and Gwinnett County on who would provide services. You may not know that this round of service delivery strategy (SDS) discussions kicked off in 2006 and have been going on since then.
We at the county have put many hundreds of hours into this matter. We truthfully think we are on a firm footing. But, some of the parties’ emotions may have taken control. As to when this will be finished, I cannot say right now. I do know that the County would like to get this finished as soon as we can.
Probably the best thing that can happen right now is for all of us to get in front of a mediator who can take us through some type of formal process. If you have further questions, please contact Lisa Johnsa at lisa.johnsa@gwinnettcounty.com or Mike Comer at
michael.comer@gwinnettcounty.com.
Thank you
Kevin Kenerly
Gwinnett County Commissioner, District 4
It appears that Gwinnett is taking serious the issues raised at a the March 3rd BOD meeting on misuse of the homestead exemption. From the AJC
Counties try to keep eye on homestead exemptions
By PATRICK FOX
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
More than a few homeowners are overreaching when it comes to property tax breaks. And whether intentional or not, it’s keeping county offices busy.
In 2008, the Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner’s Office removed or denied some 617 current or past filings for homestead exemptions. Of those, seven were rentals whose exemption was pulled in the audit process.
Ironically, our county attorney’s office is not quite as appreciative –
Recent headlines:
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• Metro and state news Had all 617 gone through, the county could have lost close to $260,000 in revenue based on the average county homestead exemption of $420. This includes about $240 from the state’s homeowners tax relief grant.
“They don’t in any way represent 617 attempts to beat the system,” said Richard Steele, director of the property tax division of the Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner’s Office. “[They were] denied simply because they were, in fact, honest on the application.”
Homestead exemptions give property owners a break on property taxes for their primary residence. To qualify, a property must be used as a primary residence by the owner and be in the same county in which his or her vehicles are registered. Single or married, you may claim only one homestead exemption.
Like most other metro counties, Steele said, his auditors check applications against vehicle registrations, returned mail and postal records.
Steele said the law only provides penalties if an applicant intends to commit fraud. In such cases, property owners can be charged double the tax originally due. Proving intent, Steele said, is next to impossible.
So is assuring against it.
Each month, Cobb County Tax Commissioner Gail Downing said her office presents a list of properties to the board of assessors that have been discovered to be ineligible for the exemption. Last year, the office removed 222 homestead exemptions. The county’s average homestead exemption is about $500.
“I wish I could say it was infrequent, but it’s not,” she said. “In some cases it’s honestly just a misunderstanding or where they’re not aware that they’re not supposed to have it.”
Downing said she has pursued penalties in several cases. Most of the time, though, she said she gives the property owner 60 days to pay before penalties and interest kick in.
Fulton and DeKalb counties also employ auditing techniques to flag errant filings.
Fulton’s average homestead exemption is $500. Last year, its homestead division removed 16,341 exemptions.
The stakes are higher in DeKalb County. Thanks to the county’s homestead option sales tax, qualified owners receive an average homestead exemption of $1,073. Last year, the county removed 862 homestead exemptions not related to property transfers/ownership changes which are automatically removed.
If an application gets through the checks, auditors have one last tool: tips from neighbors.
“Our auditors get those kind of tips pretty much on a daily basis,” Steele said. “We’re very appreciative of that information.”