City of Dunwoody 2025 Retreat recap, tax increase possible, City Charter change discussed to allow special tax district?

The Dunwoody City Council spent two days in North Georgia with Dunwoody City Leadership discussing a handful of important topics in order for City Office Directors to get a flavor of where we as a City should be going, doing and setting priorities.  There was no member of the public in the room the first day and I am unsure how many people were able to follow along on the zoom connection for more than 6 hours and then the second day we only had Dunwoody Crier Reporter, Mr. Hayden Sumlin in the room who was able to put together a nice article linked below.  I have included all the documents provided to Council for discussion and linked a few other recaps from Councilman Rob Price, Facebook Posts and a post from The Other Dunwoody Blog which is a blog that has been around for many years giving his opinion on city decisions.

We as a Council discussed street lights missing on main corridors and how to fix this, we discussed the 12 ft path moving forward on Mt. Vernon, staff wants us to think about reducing our fire codes for residential buildings, we discussed park needs and Peachtree's Field that we are obligated to maintain, staff would like to add employee retirement benefits for medical, we discussed City Service contracts that are about to be rebid and possibly bringing more staff in house to save money?, we discussed police staffing / raises, drones and EMS Service and finally we also discussed (very limited conversation) City Charter changes to add emergency powers, judge term limits, council compensation and finally special tax districts.

The city has been aware of this operational financial issue coming toward us for years with our main source of revenue locked at the maximum tax rate, our home values locked, with salaries and service desires of the community escalating faster than revenue is growing.  

There was no real discussion of service cuts (but they could be on the table) and many of the financial constraints written into the charter (property freeze, 1 mil reduction, and possibly the maximum tax limit) would need to be removed by a referendum, therefore the easiest solution being brought forward was a special tax district for public service as a separate line item on the tax bill.   Of course the devil is in the details and at the moment there are no details available so I started asking if there was special service tax issued would the general millage rate (that now funds public safety) be reduced to a lower level and I received push back on the line of questioning.  Here is a link to a Facebook post where there is lots of good conversation on a possible tax increase.  If this special tax district for public safety is enacted what is stopping a future Council for enacting a special service district for Parks next?  The operational funding issues are real and service cuts haven't been discussed but they may be on the table soon?

Dunwoody City Council discusses tax increase at strategic planning retreat - Dunwoody Crier

Mayor Lynn Deutsch said the elephant in the room is the city’s looming shortfall in operational funding, while also pointing to the fact that Dunwoody has not spent its reserves yet. While the city has budgeted the use of reserves for the past two years, its conservative budgeting has kept it out of the red.
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Councilman John Heneghan, elected to the inaugural City Council in 2008, said former officials told residents that any tax increase would come to a citizen vote via a referendum.

Heneghan asked if the special tax district for public safety would be a back-end property tax rate hike, or if the city’s existing millage would be reduced to even out an increase.

“I’m all in on public safety, it’s the number one reason for government,” Heneghan said. “Back in the day, we said we were going to go to the residents with anything above the tax rate that we’re currently at.”

Other elected officials pushed back on a measure reducing or evening out city revenue, saying the point of a special tax district would be to increase operational revenue.

Rob Price Recap of Retreat

Recapping 2024 Retreat Direction and Deliverables

Council SWOT Analysis/Setting 2025 Retreat Direction

Streetlights

Mt. Vernon/Ashford Dunwoody Corridors

Concrete and Steel in Construction

Federal Funding Update

Retiree Medical Plan

Public Investments to Improve Commercial Areas

Defining Downtown Dunwoody (What, Where, Why)

Veterans Memorial - Funding

Homecoming/Wildcat Parks

Peachtree Middle School Turf

Drones / Flock / EMS Service / Staffing / Technology

Speed Limits   

Boards and Commissions

Municipal Service Rebidding

Proposed Charter Changes 2025 and proposed 2020 changes.

2024 City Manager Monthly Reports

2024 Quarterly Departmental Reports

2024 Quarterly Financial Reports

Redevelopment opportunities discussed for the Southeast side of the City of Dunwoody.

Full Presentation & Market Study 

This evening there was a presentation on the financial market forces affecting future re-development of the aging apartment complexes on the Southeast side of Dunwoody along Peachtree Industrial Blvd and abutting 285 at North Peachtree Road.  There was also a list of suggested improvements for the meeting attendees to vote upon which ranged from redeveloping the Winters Chapel area, adding mixed use to some apartment complexes, having public trails added through the large apartment complexes and other sidewalk and beautification suggestions.  Some of these ideas might sound great but know that the landowners have full control as to when they want to redevelop and where the trails will be allowed, therefore based on the current profitability of the apartments and the rate of return, the expectations are that change to these large parcels will be slow in coming.  That being said, these meetings are setting the stage for an action plan when redevelopment is eventually proposed.

Dunwoody ballot question on Redevelopment Powers Law

Presentation

I saw that there were a few questions in the comments on my blog regarding the ballot item on Tax Allocation Districts, therefore I found the presentation given to the city and posted it above.  I could probably find the video too if needed?  If this is approved it does nothing but put another tool in the City Council's tool box in case there is a way to improve blighted or distressed areas within the city.  If the Council wanted to use this tool there would be public notice, hearings and would need a majority vote of those sitting on council.  There are no immediate plans that I am aware of to use this tool, but it is a means that someday may want to be used therefore it is now on the ballot.
 
“Shall the Act be approved which authorizes the City of Dunwoody to exercise redevelopment powers under the ‘Redevelopment Powers Law’ as it may be amended from time to time?”

The Redevelopment Powers Law enables local governments to embark on projects that will foster public/private partnerships and spur economic growth. If approved, Dunwoody would be granted the authority to sell bonds to finance infrastructure and other redevelopment costs within a specifically defined area. Unlike general obligation bonds, these bonds would be secured by a tax allocation increment, which is the increase in property tax revenues resulting from the redevelopment activities taking place within the Tax Allocation District (TAD).

Tax increment financing allows cities to charge the costs of constructing public facilities and infrastructure directly to the businesses that use them rather than the public at large. In return, the businesses benefit from the construction of facilities that might not otherwise be available to them. If approved, the City could designate a specific geographic area that has the potential for redevelopment, but is presently economically or socially distressed. As public improvements and private development take place in the area, the taxable value of property in the area increases. The City collects the total revenues, putting the increase in revenues as a result of new development into a special fund to pay off the bonds that financed the public improvements, while the remainder goes back into the city’s general fund.

The TAD is dissolved when the bonds have been retired and any other public financing has been repaid.