SeniorHomestead Exemptionupdate Upcoming

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City SchoolsofDecatur’s Senior Homestead Exemption Commission will deliver an update and discussion on a potential new Senior Homestead Exemption during an school board work session today from 6: 30- 8: 30 p. m. The virtual meeting can be accessed at https:// csdecatur. zoom. us/ j/ 91242530790.

In September the nine- person committee, meeting regularly since April, recommended two newexemptions fromschool taxes for seniors, one for residents 65- 69 and another for those 70 and over.

Butthatrecommendation, given to the school board, which has the fifinal vote on any exemption plan, lacked specifific data, particularly a breakdown on how much each exemption will cost.

The board has remained steadfastinnotwantingthenewexemptionto costmore than$ 1.2million, or at least $ 1.2million not counting three other school- related exemptions that have come out of CSD’s general fund for years.

“It’s kind of a two- step process,” said SuperintendentDavid Dude. “The fifirst step is getting the data ( from Georgia State) on what are the costs involved for a specifific exemption. ... It will help us understandwhere to set any values for, like, do we need income limitations, do we need a base value of exemption per homestead.

“The second step,” he added, “is gathering the stakeholder feedback from the taxpayers within the city of Decatur to fifigure out their level of support for that.”

As mentioned, there are three other tax exemptions that come out of CSD’s budget, not counting the most recent 65 and over exemption. These all overlap: There are smaller exemptions for 62 and over and 70 and over, and a total exemption from all school taxes for those 80andover andwith a household income of $ 40,000 or less.

Those three, for which a resident has to apply, are not expiring. The current exemption that expires at the end of next year is automatically taken out of a resident’s tax billwhen they turn 65.

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