Stone Mountain city leaders are considering creating a blight tax to incentivize property owners to keep their homes and businesses up to code.
City staff are drafting the policy, which would levy temporary tax increases for violators who do not maintain their property. City Manager ChaQuias Miller-Thornton, who pitched the idea to councilmembers, said it would be a tool the city could use in addition to code enforcement.
“We have a couple of business owners that are creating blight, but they don’t own the building,” she said during a Tuesday meeting. “Maybe citing both parties would get someone’s attention and it would get something done.
In 2002, Georgia voters amended the state constitution to allow local governments to increase property taxes on blighted properties. Several cities and counties, such as Powder Springs and Cobb County, approved policies to punish the owners of run-down properties.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
In a memo to council, Miller-Thornton said there’s inconclusive research on the effectiveness of blight tax programs. She said that’s primarily because the owners of blighted properties “often do not pay the taxes on the properties anyway and there are sometimes challenged in identifying ownership to serve notice.” However, she said a blight tax would still be a useful tool for the city.
Miller-Thornton said blighted properties often require more government services, namely public safety and code enforcement. Since the city could increase taxes on vacant properties, a blight tax would also incentivize those property owners to make use of those parcels.
Blight taxes, which are sometimes phrased as a community redevelopment tax incentive, can disproportionately harm low-income families, Miller-Thornton noted. Landlords could increase rent to offset increased taxes or demolish blighted structures altogether. The policy would not apply to tax-exempt property owners in the city.
The initial draft of the policy is currently under the review of the city attorney. State law does not regulate how much local governments can increase property taxes for blighted properties.
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