Newspaper Page Text
Page 16A
LOCAL
The Champion, Thursday, June 25 - July 1, 2015
U.S. Attorney to
review disability
access at courthouses
Avondale Estates DDA asks for $300,000 in funding
The United States Attor
ney’s Office for the Northern
District of Georgia has initi
ated a review of local court
houses to determine if they
are in compliance with the
Americans With Disabilities
Act of 1990 (ADA). This ini
tiative is being conducted in
accordance with the federal
governments congressional-
ly mandated responsibility
to review compliance with
the ADA.
“Access to local court
houses is a fundamental part
of our society that everyone
in our district is entitled to
enjoy,” said John A. Horn,
acting U.S. Attorney for the
Northern District of Geor
gia. “We are hopeful that our
local courthouses will part
ner with us on this very im
portant initiative to ensure
that they are in full compli
ance with the law.”
The nine courthouses
under review are in DeKalb,
Fayette, Floyd, Fulton,
Gwinnett, Hall, Rockdale,
Spalding and Troup coun
ties.
As part of the review,
the courthouses are being
asked to complete and re
turn a survey form. Once
the forms are completed,
investigators may follow up
with onsite inspections to
confirm survey responses
and to evaluate compliance
with the ADA regulations.
The U.S. Attorney’s office
hopes to work cooperatively
with local courthouses that
are found to be noncompli-
ant. The goal is to ensure
that government facilities,
services and programs are
accessible to persons with
disabilities.
Any member of the
public who wishes to file
a complaint alleging that
a courthouse or any other
place of public accommo
dation with the Northern
District of Georgia is not ac
cessible to people with dis
abilities may contact the U.S.
Attorney’s Office by phone
at (404) 581-4626 or email
at USAGAN.CivilRights@
usdoj.gov.
Additional informa
tion about the ADA can be
found at www.ada.gov, or by
calling the toll-free informa
tion line at the Civil Rights
Division of the Justice
Department at (800)514-
0301 (voice) and (800)514-
0383(TTY).
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
The Avondale Estates
Downtown Development
Authority (DDA) is trying
to attract new businesses
and boost tourism, and says
it needs $300,000 to do so.
During the June 16
city council meeting, DDA
chairman Robert James
discussed what the city can
do to attract more develop
ers and people to the city,
city officials have discussed
creating additional parking
in the business district but
James said more than add
ing more parking spaces
should be done.
“It’s also important that
we create signage through
out the city, not only to ben
efit things like the tempo
rary parking or permanent
parking long term when we
have a parking deck, but also
to identify businesses that
we can’t see when the people
are driving by,” James said.
James suggested putting
wayfinding signs throughout
the city. To do this however,
James said the city needs
funding.
“Wayfinding signs to
cover the current business
district and the current
businesses would exceed
$100,000,” James said.
“What we’re asking for is to
be funded for the next three
years of $100,000 a year.
“What we’re trying to do
is set the tone for developers
as they come into the city,
and the city can do it in a
See Funding on page 18A
NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
The Board of Education of the City of Decatur has tentatively adopted a
millage rate of 19.00 mills which will require an increase in property
taxes by 4.97% for fiscal year 2015-2016. This tentatively approved
millage rate of 19.00 is a decrease from the current fiscal year adopted
millage rate of 20.50.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax
increase to be held at the Board Room of the Central Office, 125
Electric Avenue, Decatur, Georgia on Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at 6:00
p.m.
This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 19.00 mills, an
increase of .90 mills over the rollback millage. Without this tentative
tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 18.10 mills. The
proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $400,000
is approximately $180.
NOTICE
The City of Chamblee City Council does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting to be held at the Chamblee Civic
Center located at 3540 Broad Street, Chamblee, Georgia on July 9, 2015 at 6:00 PM and pursuant to the requirements of Ga. Code
48-5-32 does herby publish the following presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the history of the tax digest
and levy for the past five years.
CURRENT 2015 TAX DIGEST AND FIVE YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Real & Personal
533,197,959
797,623,949
729,978,100
723,574,965
996,371,051
1,128,701,391
Motor Vehicles & Heavy Equipment
14,546,770
14,131,410
22,076,110
27,471,830
23,809,872
20,050,020
Public Utilities
9,563,181
11,087,937
9,128,386
9,726,659
10,289,198
15,151,224
Gross Digest
557,307,910
822,843,296
761,182,596
760,773,454
1,030,470,121
1,163,902,635
Less Exemptions
44,896,783
88,432,680
83,119,557
86,685,769
135,524,124
147,675,593
Adjusted Net Digest
512,411,127
734,410,616
678,063,039
674,087,685
894,945,997
1,016,227,042
Gross Millage Rage
7.95
7.4
7.4
6.4
6.4
6.4
Net Taxes Levied
4,073,668
5,434,639
5,017,666
4,314,161
5,727,654
6,503,853
Net Taxes $ Increase
553,293
1,360,970
(416,972)
(703,505)
1,413,493
776,199
Net Taxes % increase
15.72%
33.41%
-7.67%
-14.02%
32.76%
13.55%