Decide DeKalb reports $27.9M in combined TAD assets; advisory committees forming

Decide DeKalb’s redevelopment team gave the Planning, Economic Development & Community Services Committee a Q4 2024 update on the county’s five tax allocation districts, reporting combined TAD assets just under $27,900,000 and tax‑increment revenue of just over $8,000,000 for calendar year 2024.

The presentation, delivered by Tiffany Willis, vice president of redevelopment for Decide DeKalb, spelled out five TAD funding mechanisms open for applications: a predevelopment loan fund, an urban renewal fund (upfront financing for acquisition/construction/renovation), pay‑as‑you‑go reimbursement, TAD bonds (upfront financing that would require Board of Commissioners approval), and a small business property improvement grant. Willis said small business grants can cover eligible equipment such as point‑of‑sale systems and grease traps, and confirmed that “those funds can be used for code violation[s]…Yes. That’s correct.”

Why it matters: TADs are a financing tool that captures future property tax increases to support redevelopment today. The TADs and their programs can fund property acquisition, renovation, and small business capital needs in targeted areas; decisions about bond issuance would come back to the full Board of Commissioners.

Details from the presentation noted that interest income and expenses were modest (almost $200,000 in interest and roughly $231,000 in expenses), yielding net TAD income in 2024 of about $7,900,000 subject to audit adjustments. Willis said Briarcliff/North Druid Hills produced a notably larger increment this year because several private projects came online there; some of those projects did not use TAD funding. By contrast, Kensington and Avondale have seen slower redevelopment. The Market Square and Southwest DeKalb TADs were created more recently (2022 and 2023) and have been managed by DeKalb since inception, Willis said, which is why there is no separate DeKalb asset line for those districts.

Committee members pressed staff on how TAD advisory committee members will be chosen. Willis said the county is finalizing the legal structure and will deliver the document to commissioners this month. Commissioners may nominate advisory members: the county recommended nominees be identified within two weeks to a month. Commissioners raised concerns about a strict requirement that nominees both live within a TAD footprint and that some TADs contain little or no residential property; Commissioner Ted Terry said that could be “very limiting” for TADs that intentionally avoid residential lots. Willis said staff would confirm whether commissioners must formally record appointments on the county record or whether the Decide DeKalb board process can handle approvals, and that staff were open to flexibility on geographic buffers (for example, considering nominees who live within one to three miles of a TAD footprint) to address districts with few residences.

On bonds, Willis reiterated that TAD bonds provide upfront funding but “will require additional approval from the board of commissioners, as they will be the conduit issuer for the bonds for those transactions.” Committee members asked staff to return with details about nomination deadlines, feasibility of staggered onboarding/training sessions for advisory committee members, and whether the small business grant program could reach capacity if demand is high because applications are being accepted on a rolling basis.

Next steps: Decide DeKalb will finalize the legal structure for the TAD advisory committees and deliver it to the commissioners this month; commissioners were asked to identify nominations within the requested timeframe so onboarding and training can be scheduled.