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Atlanta can tax owners of neglected properties
The Atlanta City Council has approved a blight tax on Atlanta property owners who neglect their homes and apartment buildings. Members say the goal is to make Atlanta more beautiful.
ATLANTA - Atlanta city leaders are expected to slap a blight tax on property owners who neglect their homes and apartment buildings.
Mayor Andre Dickens and District 3 Councilman Byron Amos collaborated on the blight tax.
Dilapidated and neglected homes have been a huge problem in Atlanta.
Councilman Amos says the passage of this legislation will soon change that.
With only one council member objecting, an aggressive new law targeting negligent property owners has passed.
Dickens and Amos say it is time to crack down on investors and corporations that abandon real estate and reduce our quality of life.
"Blighted homes in the city of Atlanta, along with blighted commercial properties is a huge issue. It deteriorates the quality of life, and it brings down property values. So, we have created a tool that can helpfully help us fight this battle," District 3 Councilman Amos said.
The Blight Tax allows the city to apply 25 times the average tax on a property that has gone through a process that the city deems blighted, and the owner has been given the opportunity to bring that property up to code.
Councilman Amos makes it clear, indigent homeowners are not the target here.
"We are looking at uninhabited properties. So, we are not talking about the grandmothers, the individuals that have fallen on hard times. We want to help you. This piece of legislation is looking at, first and foremost, commercial properties, uninhabitable properties that we all know have been sitting in our neighborhood, destroying the fabric and quality of life.
The councilman says the goal here is to improve Atlanta communities.
"This tax is to offer some encouragement to these properties owners to do something better with their property," Councilman Amos explained.
This legislation allows the city to apply the additional tax directly to the property owner of record, without having to go before a judge.