Clayton County is coming after Atlanta airport’s property tax break
While the city of Atlanta’s airport sits mostly in Clayton County, the city has not had to pay county property taxes on the roughly 4,000-acre property for about 80 years.
Some Clayton County state lawmakers are pushing to change that, and a bill to cut into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s exemption is poised for a vote in the Georgia state House.
The bill’s sponsor estimates the change could bring in nearly $50 million annually for the county and surrounding cities, but Atlanta officials warn it would be detrimental to the world’s busiest airport’s ability to stay competitive.
“We have tried for years to sit down with people from Atlanta and have conversations about this airport, to get some type of resolve for the people that live in Clayton County. Nothing,” said Democratic state Rep. Sandra Scott, a cosponsor of the bill. “So this is the next step.”
“We have never come this far. And so, it’s high time we get some support for what we need.”
The bill represents a major salvo in the yearslong fight Clayton County has waged to try to reclaim an estimated $18 million in tax revenue it lost in 2018 when the state removed its ability to tax jet fuel after a federal rule change.
The Federal Aviation Administration mandates airport revenue be used at the facility from which it is generated.
An estimated 80% of Hartsfield-Jackson’s footprint sits within Clayton.
“We’re not interested in making that kind of change,” Mayor Andre Dickens told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday about the bill.
“I don’t understand it. We’re working with Clayton County to get a better understanding, and hopefully we’ll see what their interests are, ultimately, to try to be as helpful as we can.”
“As it stands, I don’t think it’s legal, and I don’t know if it works,” he said.
While Atlanta funds services within the airport’s fence line, including police and fire rescue, Clayton County argues it shoulders a burden as well, including surrounding infrastructure and the cost of housing those arrested at the airport who are often sent to Clayton County Jail.
The bill’s lead sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Rhonda Burnough, told the AJC that Clayton’s years of attempts to replace its lost county and school district tax revenue haven’t worked.
“This has been going on since we lost our jet fuel tax,” she said. “We have had meetings with Keisha (Lance Bottoms). We’ve had meetings with (Atlanta Mayor) Andre (Dickens) and then even their lobbyists. … This is seven years’ worth of work.”
“They don’t care about us,” Burnough said. “This is our time.”
The bill was added Wednesday to the House floor calendar but hasn’t come up for a vote. If it does, it will likely face intraparty opposition, including from neighboring Atlanta members.
Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb, whose district includes part of Atlanta, told the AJC he strongly opposes the bill.
“It is being rushed through without an understanding of its impact on the airport, which is a critical asset that generates economic development and activity in our state,” Holcomb said in a statement.
“Among other things, it will impact bonds that have been issued, and it will have other deleterious financial impacts. On its own merits, it should not pass.”
During a brief hearing in a House Ways and Means subcommittee on Monday, Walter Vinson, the airport’s assistant general manager of government affairs, warned the move would expose Hartsfield-Jackson to “significant property tax liability.”
“This airport is not simply a piece of city-owned property. Is the busiest and most efficient airport in the world and one of the most powerful economic engines in the United States,” he said.
The consequences of new property taxes would not just be “symbolic,” he said.
“It will be financial and operational. Airport revenues are not general surplus funds. These funds are required to help the airport be self-sustaining in accordance with FAA regulations.”
General Manager Ricky Smith told the AJC Thursday that adding costs to the airport “doesn’t just affect the airport, it affects all the operators here that provide valuable services to our community.”
“We’re still trying to understand that impact,” he said. “But I think it’s intuitive that anytime you add additional cost, it’s going to have some fiscal impact.”
The change would divert money used for projects like terminal upgrades and runway improvements, Vinson testified earlier this week. It could force the airport to increase fees on airlines and ultimately decrease its competitiveness on a global scale.
“This is not just an Atlanta issue or Clayton County issue. Hartsfield-Jackson serves the entire state,” he said.
The bill “risks undermining a statewide asset that fuels Georgia’s economy.”
The bill’s supporters, however, point out that the absence of property tax revenue from the airport has put an additional burden on the rest of Clayton County’s paying property owners.
“Is it fair for Clayton County property owners to pay taxes on land improvement and personal property, when the city of Atlanta escapes paying property taxes on land improvements and personal property under the guise of using property for public and governmental purposes?” Burnough asked in committee.
“I don’t understand how they feel that Clayton County deserves nothing,” Scott said.
“We deserve something, and if it takes the General Assembly to give it to us, then we would be all so grateful.”
About the Author
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
