The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled against a challenge to the use of school taxes used by the city of Atlanta to fund redevelopment projects.
The decision found that challenges brought by John Sherman of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation to halt the spending of the school tax revenue “lack merit.”
The case stems from plans by the city to fund redevelopment projects in the BeltLine and Perry-Bolton tax allocation districts. These projects use borrowed funds that are repaid by the increases in property tax revenue.
The court noted that the Legislature previously passed a constitutional amendment, which voters ratified, that allowed the use of school taxes to pay for TAD projects, as long as school boards approved the use.
“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,” Justice David Nahmias wrote for a unanimous court.
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