BeltLine funding wins court ruling
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a lawsuit that sought to stop the city of Atlanta from using school taxes to fund redevelopment projects.
In a unanimous decision, the court found no merit to a challenge against the use of school tax revenue for the Atlanta BeltLine and Perry-Bolton tax allocations districts.
Over the past decade, a number of lawsuits have attacked the use of local school taxes for general redevelopment purposes such as the BeltLine. Monday’s ruling rejected a lawsuit brought by John Sherman of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation.
TADs encourage development in blighted areas by freezing tax payments for a period of time. Instead of paying higher taxes when property values rise, developers use the money to pay down project costs.
In early 2008, the state Supreme Court ruled that Georgia’s constitution prohibited TADs from funneling school tax money to redevelopment.
The General Assembly responded quickly to that ruling. It allowed voters to decide in November 2008 whether they wanted to amend the constitution and allow TADs to tap into school revenue. The amendment passed.
On Monday, Justice David Nahmias, writing for the court, said the constitutional amendment and revisions to the law governing TADs allow counties, cities and local school boards to approve the use of school taxes for redevelopment purposes.
“The Georgia constitution ‘is the supreme state law,’ and our constitution can be amended to make constitutional things that were once declared by this Court to be unconstitutional,” Nahmias wrote.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
