DeKalb County: $131 million property tax relief on the way

DeKalb County property owners will receive $131 million in property tax relief soon. Tax Commissioner Irvin Johnson has announced that property tax bills will be mailed the week of Aug. 12.

“DeKalb is committed to delivering high-quality services while providing substantial property tax reductions for the second consecutive year,” said DeKalb County CEO .

The county rolled back the Combined Countywide Operational rate, which was 10.364 mills in Fiscal Year 2018 to 9.952 mills in Fiscal Year 2019, reducing the rate by 0.412 mills.

The projected value of the millage rate rollback is $12 million, which will provide a property tax reduction of $41.20 on properties valued at $250,000. The benchmark millage rate for unincorporated DeKalb will remain at 20.81 mills.

DeKalb homeowners will also benefit from $119 million in property tax relief generated by the Equalized Homestead Option Sales Tax Credit (EHOST). The tax reduction is the result of the passage of two measures in November 2017: Equalized Homestead Option Sales Tax (EHOST) and the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).

DeKalb is the only county in Georgia with an EHOST, which is 100 percent dedicated to homeowner tax relief. In Fiscal Year 2019, the EHOST property tax relief measure will deliver an average tax cut of $889 to residents owning a home valued at $250,000.

Combined, these two efforts will generate $131 million in property tax relief for DeKalb County property owners and were included in CEO Thurmond’s approved Fiscal Year 2019 midyear budget.

Property tax bills are mailed during August of each year and installment due dates for DeKalb County taxes are Oct. 1 and Nov. 15. Property owners can also pay the full amount in one payment by Oct. 1.