Key points:
• Fulton County commissioners Bob Ellis and Khadijah Abdur-Rahman sponsored a resolution, adopted on July 15, opposing Atlanta’s proposed TAD extension.
• The resolution cites concerns that the proposed Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative violates the Georgia Constitution and diverts significant tax revenue away from county services.
• Because of the commission’s opposition, Atlanta needs its public school system to agree to the extension, which is expected to divert about $3 billion over the next three decades.
Fulton County commissioners Bob Ellis and Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, working across the aisle, sponsored a July 15 resolution declaring the board’s opposition to extending Atlanta’s tax allocation districts (TADs).
The resolution, which passed 4-1 with one abstention, also set parameters for the county’s participation in any future tax allocation districts. During the discussion, Ellis said Atlanta’s proposed TAD extension violates Georgia’s Constitution and would be a “huge” tax burden on citizens.
“A declination of this is just plain, good, sound fiscal policy,” Ellis said. “At a state level, there’s a continued discussion on compressing property taxes. So the concept of locking yourself into something that may be compressed when you’re heavily dependent upon one source of revenue, also is a scary financial proposition.”
What’s a TAD?
Property taxes fund local governments, from school boards and city councils to county commissions. About 85% of the Fulton County government’s revenue comes from property taxes. The board of commissioners has an obligation to fund courts, public safety, public health, elections, behavioral health, and senior services.
In a tax allocation district, growth in property tax revenue is diverted away from government entities to a separate fund, which is then invested within the district. The goal is to promote redevelopment and economic growth in areas that would not otherwise attract private investment.
The Atlanta City Council approved the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative on June 15, extending six of the city’s eight tax allocation districts through 2056. With county and school system participation, Mayor Andre Dickens is looking to promote equity in Atlanta with $5-$7 billion in property tax revenue.
Before the extension, the city’s active TADs were set to expire incrementally between 2030 and 2050. The NRI will go into effect if Atlanta Public Schools or the Fulton County Commission gives Mayor Andre Dickens the green light to take out bonds. If that happens, the Westside, Eastside, Campbellton Road, Hollowell-Martin Luther King Jr., Metropolitan Parkway, and Stadium TADs will be extended another 30 years.
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County argues its opposition
Citing a 2023 study from the Partnership for Southern Equity, the resolution argues Atlanta’s existing TADs have caused the “displacement of lower-income and minority residents rather than sustained benefit.”
The county government’s annual contribution of property tax increment to Atlanta’s tax allocation districts grew more than 232% between 2012 and 2025, reaching approximately $53 million last year. The cumulative 13-year contribution, in property tax revenue diverted from constituent services, is $413 million.
The county has legally required and unfunded obligations that “directly compete with TAD-diverted revenue,” according to the resolution. That includes $50 million for compliance with the jail system’s federal consent decree; $1.1 billion for a new 1,800-bed capital facility and renovations; and $300 million for a hospital in South Fulton in partnership with Grady Memorial Hospital.
Ellis said the mayor’s proposal would remove county funds needed to construct new hospitals in underserved communities and restore the Rice Street jail to humane conditions.
For most TADs, Atlanta Public Schools contributes about half of the revenue. Fulton County and Atlanta split the other half. Without the city’s school system buying in, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative would be reduced by more than $3 billion to about $1.4 billion.
County officials said Atlanta’s auditor confirmed the proposed TAD extension violates a state law that caps the taxable value of property within all existing tax allocation districts in a city at 10%. The assessed value of property within Atlanta’s existing tax allocation districts currently represents about 16% of the city’s total taxable property base, according to the resolution.
Potential for commission support
A motion to delay the vote failed 3-3, with Chair Robb Pitts joining commissioners Dana Barrett and Marvin Arrington Jr. Shortly after, Pitts voted in favor of the opt-out resolution.
The county’s resolution called Atlanta’s economic development arm (Invest Atlanta) “a quasi-governmental entity whose nine-member board of directors is chaired by the Mayor of the City of Atlanta — an elected official of a separate government in which most Fulton County taxpayers have no vote.”
With Fulton County’s new resolution, any future participation in a TAD now requires five votes on the seven-member county commission. This January, there will be at least four new faces on the county commission.
In April, the Georgia Office of Legislative Council issued a legal ruling that states Atlanta’s TAD extension constitutes the creation of a new district. That means the tax increment baseline must be reset to the current assessed property values.
Commissioner Dana Barrett, a Democrat representing parts of Sandy Springs and Buckhead, said Atlanta’s proposal lacks binding, project-specific redevelopment plans with enforceable commitments. Barrett, whose term expires in January like those of Arrington Jr. and Pitts, is on the Invest Atlanta Board of Directors.
“If the city and Invest Atlanta wants the county to participate in any of these TADs going forward, the conversation must be far more nuanced,” Barrett said, before abstaining. “It should be TAD-by-TAD that we should be discussing the length of time of the extension … putting new rules and a framework around any potential extension.”
