Decide DeKalb reports $100K Q1 tax increment; commissioners press for TAD advisory committees

Decide DeKalb told a DeKalb County PECS (Planning, Economic Development and Community Services) committee meeting that it processed six new tax allocation district (TAD) applications in the first quarter of 2025 and reported about $100,000 in tax increment revenue for the county.

Tiffany Wills, vice president of redevelopment at Decide DeKalb, said the organization opened new guidelines and applications in January and received six applications. Wills told commissioners the six pending projects have an estimated combined development cost of about $112 million and total TAD funding requests of $18.3 million. She said the county’s Q1 tax increment revenue totaled roughly $100,000, interest earned about $64,000 and administrative expenses about $53,000, leaving a net year-to-date figure of roughly $112,000.

Commissioner Ted Terry and other commissioners focused their comments on governance and transparency rather than the financial numbers. Terry and others said the TAD advisory committees promised when districts were created have not been fully formed and urged that those advisory bodies be established and confirmed by the Board of Commissioners before additional funding awards are approved.

“Two years later…Dorian and I have been working in the background trying to get the TAD advisory committees established,” Commissioner Long Spears said, noting a draft had been circulated to the law department and that Decide DeKalb’s board may reconvene in July. Terry said the lack of advisory committees and rotating commissioner representation creates an awkward accountability gap when Decide DeKalb manages long-term tax increment revenues that otherwise would go to county general revenues for decades.

Wills described the types of applications received: one Southwest DeKalb application sought $3.8 million in TAD funds for a $28 million commercial redevelopment and would be a pay-as-you-go award reimbursed from future property taxes. She said Decide DeKalb’s interactive TAD GIS map and online tools can confirm whether properties are in a given TAD.

Panelists and commissioners discussed next steps: confirming advisory-committee nominations and asking Decide DeKalb to present the TAD advisory committee proposal at its July special board meeting or at a special called meeting so that selections can move forward. Commissioners also asked the county law department and Decide DeKalb staff to share the latest draft advisory-committee documents and correspondence so the committee has a clear record before approving additional TAD funding.

Why it matters: TADs capture future property tax growth in targeted areas for redevelopment; decisions about TAD awards transfer future tax revenue streams away from the county general fund. Commissioners said advisory committees and rotating commissioner representation would increase transparency and ensure local input before long-term tax increments are committed.

What’s next: Commissioners asked staff to confirm whether Decide DeKalb has formally presented the advisory-committee plan to its board, requested that the item be placed on the July special meeting agenda, and asked the law department to circulate the draft advisory-committee documents to commissioners for review.