Atlanta City Council members passed a new law Monday that will penalize absentee owners with higher taxes for abandoning or neglecting their properties.
The legislation allows officials to tax blighted property owners 25 times higher than the current millage rate. It passed 11-1, with District 12 Council Member Antonio Lewis the only holdout.
Lawmakers introduced the measure in July. At that time, Mayor Andre Dickens said he was teaming up with District 3 council member Byron Amos to create the so-called “Blight Tax” ordinance, cracking down on corporate and absentee owners who sit on properties which have a negative impact on neighborhoods.
Amos said after the law passed that vacant, neglected properties create a dangerous environment for children and residents. The new measure would hold owners accountable while giving them the opportunity to clean up, he said.
“The properties in the city that have been declining for years have caused health concerns and decreased the property value in several of our historic neighborhoods,” he said in a statement. “The scars of dilapidated homes have a damaging impact on surrounding communities.”
Blighted homes are not only eyesores and magnets for crime but the city says it has to foot the bill for government services, including code enforcement and public safety, to deal with them.
The law amends the city’s tax laws and piggybacks on state and national efforts to incentivize owners to remediate or redevelop properties that have fallen into disrepair.
According to the ordinance, a property is blighted if it is an “uninhabitable, unsafe, or abandoned structure” or it lacks “ventilation, light, air, or sanitation.”
District 5 council member Liliana Bakhtiari said at City Hall before the vote that she was worried the law might have some unintended consequences.
“My concern is that this could potentially be weaponized against low-income homeowners. And I wanted to ensure we are not going to be displacing anyone,” she said.
Amber Robinson, an attorney with the city’s law department, eased Bakhtiari’s fears.
“It states that real property on which there is situated a dwelling house which is being occupied as a primary residence of one or more person, shall not be subject to official identification as maintained in a blighted condition and shall not be subject to increased taxation,” Robinson said.
A municipal judge would have the final say on a property’s condition, if owners request a hearing within 30 days of receiving notice the property is blighted or remediation was inadequate.
Larger developments must be remediated in line with a neighborhood’s priorities for infrastructure, development and amenities, Amos added. If a property is properly cleaned up, owners could get then get a reduced tax rate.
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