During his State of the City address last week, Decatur Mayor Jim Baskett announced the city is asking the General Assembly for additional Homestead Exemptions, particularly for those over 65 with fixed or low incomes.
“We are committed to ensuring that our older residents can continue to afford to live in Decatur,” he said in his speech. “If we are successful … it would effectively eliminate taxes for city operations for any taxpayer over age 65 in an owner-occupied house assessed at $200,000 or less.”
The city commission approved a request for legislation to expand the city’s current homestead exemption back in December. This would include increasing the general HE for persons 65 or older from $1,000 to $10,000, while also creating a $15,000 general HE for persons 62 or older whose income doesn’t exceed $50,000.
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