Mayor Andre Dickens wants to extend all Atlanta tax allocation districts
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens wants to extend the life of Atlanta’s tax allocation districts to help fund neighborhood revitalization efforts and address inequality as the city continues to grow.
Dickens previously floated the idea of extending the Beltline tax district, but the sweeping plans announced Tuesday go much further. It would dedicate almost a fifth of the city’s tax digest to what are essentially restricted funds separate from the city’s general revenue.
Tax allocation districts, commonly referred to as TADS, are designated areas in which property tax revenue growth is allocated to pay for infrastructure within its boundaries. The area’s property tax value is frozen, and any revenue generated above that goes toward reinvesting in the community.
The Atlanta City Hall atrium was lined on Tuesday with names of neighborhoods at the center of the plan to revitalize parts of the city that have historically been overlooked — areas on the city’s south and west sides.
Most of the districts are set to expire in 2030, but Dickens urged Atlanta leaders to extend them beyond 2050.
The lofty plan requires buy-in from both Fulton County and Atlanta Public Schools, which have both pushed back against TADs in the past. But the slashing of federal funds to cities by the Trump administration has put pressure on officials to find new ways to pay for things like infrastructure and housing initiatives.
Dickens described the effort — called the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative — as an “ambitious vision” that will make “purposeful investments in the people and places that have, for far too often been left behind.”
“What Atlanta has had is tremendous growth, but what we have lacked is balanced growth,” the mayor said.
Dickens said his administration has identified $5 billion worth of potential investment if the TADs were extended, money that could go to everything from transit and affordable housing to green space and infrastructure.
He declined to say specifically how much of TAD revenue would go toward transit efforts like the four new MARTA stations between existing stops he proposed last year or light-rail.
The initiative’s launch gives insight into the mayor’s priorities as he looks forward to an expected second term.
During his first term, Dickens consistently echoed the administration’s goal of making Atlanta the best place to raise a child, with a focus on bringing additional resources to historically underserved areas.
But, if reelected, one of Dickens’ toughest challenges may be how to propel Atlanta forward in the business and development sectors while offsetting unbalanced growth across neighborhoods.
Atlanta remains one of the cities with the highest levels of disparity, particularly along racial lines — financial and educational gaps between Black and white Atlantans are still on the rise as the city’s population also continues to grow.
City officials point to stark statistical differences in areas like literacy, incarceration and homeownership rates among children growing up in more affluent, northern neighborhoods versus the south and west sides of Atlanta.
Courtney English, Dickens’ interim chief of staff, described the initiative as a “herculean effort” to fight against years of “malicious policy decisions” that created a city of haves and have nots.
“This is nothing more than another opportunity for Atlanta to show the world how to get it right, how to close the book on a tale of two cities,” English said.
But getting Atlanta City Council, Atlanta Public Schools and Fulton County government to agree to extend all the city’s tax allocation districts will be a tall task.
It requires the school system and the county to give up tax revenue they would otherwise receive — and county officials have said they need TAD revenue to help pay for a new jail facility and renovations to the existing structure.
Dickens said Tuesday he hopes all three bodies will support the plan.
“We’ve had conversations with them, they understand all that’s at stake,” he said. “They are committed to public service, and time will tell.”
In July, Fulton County commissioners specifically discussed exiting the Westside tax allocation district, saying that there were other needs within the county that the money should go to instead.
In a statement following Dickens’ announcement, Atlanta Public Schools and the Atlanta Board of Education said they “appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the plan” and “look forward to continued conversations.”
“APS is navigating a challenging budget season, and every decision we make will remain grounded in our core mission: supporting the education and long-term success of Atlanta’s students,” the statement said.
Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts could not be reached for comment.
The money from the extended TADs would go to Atlanta’s economic development arm, Invest Atlanta, for the organization to oversee.
Eloisa Klementich, president and CEO of Invest Atlanta, called TAD funding a “a flexible tool” with a “high rate of return,” saying that for every $1 dollar of public funding, Invest Atlanta has been able to leverage $12 dollars in spending from private sources.
“With an extension, we can do more,” she said.
But public financing experts questioned the decision to put a substantial portion of the city’s revenues under the control of the nonprofit group, which gets less City Council and public oversight.
Dan Immergluck, a professor emeritus at Georgia State University who wrote a book about gentrification in Atlanta, said the mayor’s proposal “begs the question of why.” By extending the TADs, the city “would be siphoning off dollars that should be going to schools, basic city services and citywide affordable housing,” Immergluck said.
And that success of TADs like the Beltline, where property values have risen substantially since the beginning of the TAD in 2005, are an argument in favor of letting them expire as planned. Extending the Beltline TAD isn’t likely to stimulate any more growth than what’s already underway, he said.
Still, community leaders praised the idea of dedicating funds directly to revitalization of communities to help offset future gentrification.
John Ahmann, president and CEO of Westside Future Fund, said the plan comes at a defining moment in Atlanta’s history.
“Imagine you’re in a desert and you see water tanks, and the water’s not being shared,” he said. “Given the challenges that (these) neighborhoods have suffered — with people leaving and all the disinvestment, all the redlining that occurred — we need those water tanks.”
About the Authors
Riley Bunch is a reporter on the local government team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covering Atlanta City Hall. She covers the mayor and Atlanta City Council while also keeping an eye on the city’s diverse neighborhoods.
Sara Gregory covers transportation for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Previously, she covered local government in DeKalb County. A Charlotte native, she joined the paper in 2023 after working at newspapers in South Carolina and Virginia.
