ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — In an effort to reduce rundown properties around Atlanta, city leaders are working to implement a new tax they hope will act as a financial weapon against negligent property owners.
Blight – or run-down property – plagues neighborhoods across most major cities, including Atlanta. City leaders are now utilizing a state law that will let them tax owners of properties declared blighted at 25 times the normal rate. The hope is the financial burden will force action on bringing homes and apartment buildings back up to code.
“It’s a tool designed to bring folks into compliance, quickly,” said Courtney English, chief of staff to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “It disrupts the economics involved in leaving blighted properties blighted for too long.”…