Study: Poor neighborhoods face unfair property taxes

Residents of high-foreclosure neighborhoods are suffering additional pain from property taxes that are too high, according to a new report from a housing advocacy group.

The Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership says the tax burden will hamper efforts to revitalize some of the metro area’s most downtrodden neighborhoods.

“The projected overpayment is greater in areas with a higher concentration of minorities, lower incomes and higher unemployment,” the report says. “A higher-than-deserved tax bill would only add to the reinvestment challenges these areas already face.”

The research says that if today’s assessments remain unchanged, the 15 ZIP codes with the highest foreclosure rates in five metro counties would pay $71.5 million in excess taxes.

ANDP will formally announce the results of the study Friday morning at a southwest Atlanta home that was foreclosed and later renovated.

The study, by Robert Charles Lesser & Co. for ANDP, looked at ZIP codes and neighborhoods in Fulton, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties.

In the past, the number of foreclosures has not been large enough to affect reassessments in subdivisions and neighborhoods. But because of lax lending, mortgage fraud and quick resales by investors, the number of foreclosures has soared to the point where their sheer numbers could devalue larger areas.

“What we’re finding in these high-foreclosure areas is that they are the majority of the market,” ANDP President and CEO John O’Callaghan said. “We think this data illustrates [that governments] have no choice but to have very significant adjustments to the values … and bring them down.”

The research also indicates that many homes in the five counties are assessed at values that are too low, O’Callaghan said. Cobb, for example, should be collecting almost $22 million more in taxes, according to the study’s projections.

In Fulton, the projected overpayment for the three ZIP codes with the highest foreclosure rates is $27 million, which is more than the projected overpayment for the entire county. That means other areas of the county are underpaying by $4.5 million.

“This is an issue about who pays the taxes,” O’Callaghan said. “You need to make sure citizens are paying what they’re supposed to be paying.”

Foreclosures and the general downturn in the housing market are likely to lead to a greater number of reduced assessments in 2009.

“We’ll probably have many decreases,” said Thomas Stump, DeKalb’s chief appraiser. But that doesn’t mean a foreclosed house will be assessed for what it sold for, because a deeply discounted price is considered exceptional, Stump said.

He said it will be “a judgment call” by the assessors when deciding whether foreclosures have dragged down a neighborhood. The Fulton tax assessors office, which values properties for Atlanta, also will look more closely at the effect of foreclosures when putting together the 2009 digest.

Fulton County Manager Zachary Williams said in an e-mail about the possible effect on revenues: “There are more families than ever in need of services, many directly related to the housing crisis. We continue to monitor conditions carefully so we can meet both our financial obligations and our service delivery needs.”

The study came about after ANDP looked at buying foreclosed homes in southwest Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood in order to provide affordable housing, and learned the rent-to-own payment would not cover the taxes.

Pittsburgh has the highest average projected overpayment per house — $1,571, the study says. The median sales price there was $54,250, but the median assessment was $143,550, the research says.

Excess tax bills

Here are the ZIP codes with the highest number of foreclosures in five metro Atlanta counties and project tax overpayments in those areas.

* Under $1 million

Sources: ANDP and RCLCO