AVONDALE ESTATES, Ga. — The City of Avondale Estates, home of the original Waffle House location, announced plans in June to increase its property tax rate for the coming.
But at the June 30 city commission meeting, city leaders voted voted to do the opposite.
At the June 30 city commission meeting, the final public hearing on the city’s millage rate, discussion of increasing taxes by 10.12% flipped into a vote on decreasing the rate instead.
In a 4-1 vote, the move to decrease property taxes on homeowners passed.
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Instead of pushing the rate up to 9.55 mills, the city lowered the rate to 9.3 mills, with Mayor Jonathan Elmore saying during the June 30 meeting that the city was working with enough in their funds to give residents some tax relief.
Avondale Estates’ newly installed finance director, Toni Jo Howard, shared multiple projections of possible tax rate changes and how it would impact the city’s finances.
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The scenarios were based on requests made by the city council at a prior work session.
Eventually, Elmore suggested the decrease after several residents spoke on the rate changes.
“I know that setting a millage rate lower can affect us for years to come,” Elmore said about the decrease.
Still, in light of ongoing inflation issues, Elmore said he believed that some residents might be “struggling a little more than they want to let on,” and would be helped by the relief.
In terms of direct change, Elmore said the capital fund for the city was in a good place, and a small lowering of the property tax bill wouldn’t have a large impact.
“I just don’t think that lowering the millage rate to 9.3 and collecting $100,000 is going to bankrupt the city,” he said. “I know it’s not a lot but I think it’s worth doing.”
When the city commission voted, only Mayor Pro Tem Graham Reiney voted against lowering the rate. He was in favor of keeping the millage rate the same, rather than lowering it.
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