The Atlanta Public Schools’ and the City of Atlanta’s tilting over property and taxes continues to drag on and get worse.
It started when APS agreed to give up some property taxes through the tax allocation district that is helping fund the Atlanta Beltline, a green space and development project Mayor Kasim Reed is eager to finish. In return, the city promised annual payments to APS, totalling $162 million through 2030. When the recession hit, Atlanta fell behind and owes more than $13 million to the schools. Reed has been unsuccessfully trying to talk APS into giving up its claim to those payments and has not been above political maneuvering to make that happen.
Atlanta holds deeds to a number of school properties because the district was once under its control, and it refuses to give APS deeds to surplus property so APS can sell those.
In late March, APS filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court that will try to wrest the deeds out of the city’s hands.
Reed has said the Beltline’s growth and international popularity is a boon to the city and school system, and that restructuring the deal would ultimately benefit both.
But the school system has insisted that the city should pay what it currently owes. Both sides say they’re working toward a compromise. Still.
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