ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council is strongly considering enacting a proposed ‘blight tax’ to combat absentee property owners and abandoned properties throughout the city.
Mayor Andre Dickens and councilmember Byron Amos proposed the ‘blight tax’ and aim to enforce owners of abandoned or neglected properties to increase by 25 times the current tax rate.
According to the plan, the ordinance would let the city push property owners to either fix or redevelop the blighted properties while empowering the municipal court to impose the blight tax on the properties in question.
According to Amos, once a property is deemed blighted, its owner would have until January of the following year to repair it or sell it. If they fail to do so, they will face the higher ‘blight tax.’
Any properties that are occupied would be exempt from the blight tax program to ensure nobody living there is involuntarily displaced.