$150K in tax refunds owed to Dunwoody homeowners

Questions raised by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution led to the discovery that the city of Dunwoody hadn’t given about $150,000 worth of tax refunds owed to homeowners in 2013 and 2014.

Both the city and DeKalb County originally told AJC reporter Mark Niesse that Dunwoody didn’t have a tax break to mitigate the effects of rising property assessments.

But Sen. Fran Millar, R-Atlanta, pointed out that the Georgia General Assembly had passed and voters had approved the tax exemption in 2010. DeKalb Commissioner Nancy Jester confirmed with the county tax commissioner that the tax deduction hadn’t been given to Dunwoody residents, and the county began a review of previous tax bills.

The city of Dunwoody acknowledged it hadn’t notified the county about the tax change.

Dunwoody residents entitled to the tax deduction will be mailed refund checks.

The city of Dunwoody will send refund checks to roughly 1 in 5 homeowners because it has overcharged on property tax bills over the last two years.

About $150,000 in refunds will be distributed to 2,748 Dunwoody residents whose home assessments increased in value, according to a review conducted by DeKalb County, which handles the city’s tax billing. Some homeowners will get back as little as 10 cents, while others will receive up to $525.

Reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution helped uncover the city's error when a reporter asked why the tax break wasn't included on Dunwoody property appraisal notices that arrived in residents' mailboxes last month. Since then, the county has been evaluating tax bills to determine who is owed money.

The city plans to mail refund checks within the next 30 to 45 days, said Dunwoody Finance Director Christopher Pike.

“If someone paid more than what is legally owed, we want to make sure those refunds are paid back to them as quickly as possible,” Pike said Monday. “We’re grateful it was brought to our attention.”

Dunwoody voters approved a tax exemption during a November 2010 election, but city officials didn’t notify the county that the exemption should have been included on 2013 and 2014 tax bills.

The tax break provides residents with a discount on the city portion of their tax bills to negate tax increases caused by rising home values. Only residents whose homes have risen above the base value they were assessed at in 2009 or later are eligible for a refund.

The city will send letters to residents that will include either a check or a note informing them that their refund will be sent to their mortgage company. The Dunwoody City Council was considering how much interest the city should pay.

“Whoever paid the taxes will receive the refund,” said Pam Partain, DeKalb County’s property tax director. “We’re identifying who the refunds should be mailed to.”

Thousands of homeowners across Metro Atlanta are facing higher property taxes this year because property assessments have jumped this year as the housing market bounces back from the Great Recession.

Dunwoody and Brookhaven are the the only two cities in DeKalb that give residents a tax exemption for the city portion of property taxes. All DeKalb residents receive a similar property assessment for the county part of their tax bills. School taxes aren’t covered by the tax exemption.

Dunwoody, which became a city in 2008, included the assessment freeze in its city charter, with the provision that the tax break would expire after 2011. Dunwoody residents overwhelmingly made it permanent in 2010, supporting the measure with 81 percent of the vote.

Employees in the county tax commissioner’s office spent at least 40 hours recalculating tax bills to determine how much was owed, Partain said. They handled the project during normal work hours.

Dunwoody will spend from its reserve funds to pay the refunds, Pike said. The county is still finalizing exact amounts owed.