DeKalb County has postponed eight road and sidewalk projects planned for this year -- a third of the total dollar amount it expected to spend -- because it didn’t get as much money as planned from a local homestead option sales tax, or HOST.
The problem is not the economy. Instead, the county must for the first time share the HOST revenue with nine DeKalb cities to comply with a state Supreme Court ruling in July.
The county hadn’t paid any share to the cities during a decade of litigation, making DeKalb’s cities among the few in the state that received no sales tax funds for their budgets.
“We won the case and we lost money,” Commissioner Jeff Rader said of the ruling that said the county doesn’t owe for the past decade but must share going forward.
This year, the cities will split $10 million for their own capital projects. Dunwoody, which benefited from legislation when it incorporated in 2008 that lets it pocket sales-tax funds, will receive an additional $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
To offset the loss, the county is cutting $4 million from its $12.2 million budget for roads, sidewalks and bike trails. Sharing with the cities did not cut into the $73 million in HOST money that the county used to offset property taxes this year.
The largest cost being cut is $850,000 set aside for school sidewalks in the Flat Shoals, Henderson and Salem areas. The county also cut $650,000 from an extension to Lithonia Industrial Boulevard, $500,000 from the Church Street trail project and other smaller projects countywide.
None of the cuts are permanent. They will be the top priority for work to be done next year with the tax revenue, said Ted Rhinehart, head of the county’s Infrastructure Department.
Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Lithonia, Pine Lake and Stone Mountain all began receiving their portion of the HOST money in August and will get the full amounts by January.
The cities had delayed many projects during the lawsuit, when they received no sales-tax money, that can now finally be started.
Chamblee, which expects to receive about $500,000, plans to have a retreat early next year to discuss options for its share, Mayor Eric Clarkson said.
The money could be used as the city match for grants to improve the Chamblee-Dunwoody corridor near Chamblee High School or other projects in its downtown and near the MARTA station.
Decatur plans to use $500,000 of its projected $2.3 million share on an ongoing renovation to its 53-year-old recreation center. The $6.9 million overhaul is expected to take a year.
The city also could use HOST money on everything from sidewalk projects to park pavilions, though no official list has been prepared. City Manager Peggy Merriss said she plans to introduce a policy for spending that money in February.
“We have got plenty of projects that need to be done,” Merriss said. “We won’t have any problem coming up with a list.”
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