Doraville TAD

Tax Allocation District (TAD)
   Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Doraville and DeKalb County
   Doraville TAD Bleakly Report (outlines the rationale, boundaries, fiscal data and potential projects for the TAD)

GM Plant Site Developers
Straighten Out The Facts
May 16, 2016 – A few days ago WABE 90.1’s Martha Dalton and Rose Scott took a Closer Look with Egbert Perry and Eric Pinckney, developers of the Doraville GM Plant site. “DeKalb County experienced $1.6 billion dollars lost in its tax digest over the last 5 years while everyone else was growing during the recovery from the recession. I don’t believe that’s coincidental” –Egbert Perry.

FactChecker Reviews Chairman Johnson on the TAD
By FactChecker Staff
May 9, 2016 – The FactChecker staff is very concerned about Dr. Johnson’s understanding of the Doraville TAD and how TADs work among other numerous other inaccurate statements he made on WABE 90.1 last week.

TAD Talk
By Commissioner Nancy Jester
May 6, 2015 – Nancy Jester wrote this colorful piece reflecting on Dr. Johnson’s interview. Early in the interview, Dr. Johnson said, “all funds generated by tax dollars should go to student learning.” He went on to say, “We are judged by how we manage our funds. We are judged by the product and student outcomes.” That sounds wonderful, right?
Sadly, DeKalb Schools does not even comply with state law requiring 65% of total operating expenditures be spent on “direct classroom expenditures”. Right now, we’re paying 23.73 mils. Do you think that extra 3.73 mils is helping? If it was, wouldn’t we see fewer schools on the OSD list rather than the net +3 that were added as targets for state takeover? DeKalb has more schools on that list than any other district.

Transcribed Interview of Dr. Johnson on WABE
WABE 90.1
May 3, 2016 – Closer Look: Doraville’s GM Plant. Dr. Melvin Johnson, DeKalb County School Board Chairman, discusses the stalled funding redevelopment of the GM plant in Doraville on ”Closer Look.”

TAD – Q&A – Open Discussion
By Stan Jester
Apr 29, 2016 – A majority of the Board of Education declined coming together to learn more about the TAD. Luke Howe, the Economic Development Director for the City of Doraville, answers my questions about the TAD and the Assembly project.

Superintendent: DeKalb Schools won’t be part of Doraville TAD
By Marlon A. Walker – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jan 10, 2016 – Superintendent Steve Green said DeKalb County Schools would not contribute financially to what could be one of Atlanta’s most significant mixed-use developments since Atlantic Station, saying he would not gamble with millions in tax dollars meant to educate children.

Doraville Tax Allocation District
By Commissioner Nancy Jester
Dec 22, 2015 – Every dime of property taxes for this property must be paid. The TAD does not change that. The business community and investors have expressed their concerns about DeKalb’s business climate. The GM site redevelopment is one of the largest projects in the Southeast. Successfully redeveloping this area will improve DeKalb’s reputation, bring thousands of jobs to the area, and improve land value; resulting in a larger commercial tax base for everyone.

DeKalb Schools – Not a Fan of the TAD
By Superintendent Stephen Green
Dec 16, 2015 – I have several serious reservations about committing school resources over the course of the 25 years of the TAD for this project.

1. Our core business is teaching and learning, not speculative, unpredictable real estate projects.
2. Two of the three current TADs in DeKalb County have not succeeded in meeting their tax revenue projections. The Kensington and Briarcliff TADs have decreased in tax digest value since their inception with Kensington showing a decrease in excess of 20 percent.
3. After several years, the ongoing inability of the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Public Schools to fulfill their intergovernmental agreement based on a TAD for the financing of the Beltline project demonstrates how unforeseen pitfalls can be costly to the local school system.
4. The school tax digest for the Doraville TAD would be fixed for 25 years with a best case scenario of nine more additional years before the School District would recoup taxes that had been given up.

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