Developers of a major project in Doraville with the power to bring thousands of jobs say the resistance of the DeKalb Schools to a tax allotment district plan could doom the effort. But is it the job of the DeKalb superintendent and Board of Education to encourage and subsidize development?
Yes, said a delegation of civic and economic leaders who came to the AJC this week. The DeKalb school board takes 56 cents of every tax dollar collected in the county, giving them a critical role in development projects that require taxpayer investment.
The plans to turn the dormant GM plant along I-285, shuttered more than eight years ago, into a vibrant work, play and live community called Assembly would revitalize Doraville and spur development across the region, says Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman. Without development, the schools earn little from the dormant tract. So, schools win, too, Pittman says.
But Superintendent Steve Green disagrees. “DeKalb schools have never before participated in tax allocation districts. Schools are our business…For the Doraville TAD, the school tax digest would be fixed for 25 years with a best-case scenario of nine more years before DeKalb would recoup lost taxes. What advantage does a 25-year commitment to freezing the school tax digest give students and schools?”
To read more about this issue dividing county leaders and the school board, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.
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