Buckhead reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current, February 02, 2020, Image 8
8 | Perimeter Business Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News As city authorities grant tax breaks, school districts eye budget impacts Continued from page 5 executed abatement deals sparingly in the years since the cities incorporat ed - all within the past 14 years. But the deals add up to millions of dollars in tax abatements on major and sometimes controversial projects. Broolchaven’s authority has grant ed an $11 million abatement on its sin gle deal. Sandy Springs’ five “phantom lease” deals total millions in abatements. And Dunwoody’s half-dozen deals total about $46.3 million in abatements. In Brookhaven and Sandy Springs, the authorities have negotiated pay ments in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, to pay for additional improvements as a kind of bonus. Broolchaven’s $11 abatement for the Hawks facility in Executive Park - tout ed by officials as making the area an “NBA city” - includes $302,900 annu al PILOT over the 15-year “lease,” which started in 2018. The city and the author ity are using the money to buy a former gas station on Buford Highway, which is intended to be an ambulance station and a future redevelopment site. The Sandy Springs Development Au thority has granted abatements to proj ects that, in City Council meetings, were praised as modernizations by some and criticized by others for boosting densi ty and traffic. They include the massive Gateway mixed-use project on the Buck- head border, which replaced an apart ment complex targeted by the city; the Modera apartments on Roswell Road; and the Aston apartments within the city’s own City Springs civic center. Kraun said that the deals for all of those projects involve PILOT agree ments that return a significant por tion of the tax savings to the city in the form of infrastructure improvements. For Gateway, about 72% of the savings, or $770,000, went to a Windsor Park way/Roswell Road realignment at its driveway. Modera put 25% of its sav ings, about $675,000, to building an ad jacent public street called Denmark Drive. And about 33% of Aston’s savings, or $770,000, is earmarked for “public in frastructure” in City Springs. “These benefits are in addition to the jobs these companies bring to our city and the enhancement of the City’s tax base,” Kraun said. Opinions still vary on whether such projects are worth the subsidies. Former City Councilmember Karen Meinzen McEnerny opposed the Gateway project at the time and still does. “I don’t think it delivered what the community expect ed. Its design is not pedestrian-friendly with frontages being covered in adver tising,” she said. “It’s a wonderful project and has been very successful for the city,” said Councilmember Tibby Dejulio. The Dunwoody Development Author ity doesn’t use PILOT deals, but does in clude certain requirements, such as job numbers, that owners must meet to re tain the tax break, according to Starling, the economic development director. The fee the authority collects on deals - one-eighth of 1% - has left it with about $889,000 in the bank, which it is consid ering spending on promotion or infra structure improvements in Dunwoody Village or Georgetown. The authority’s deals include a $33.8 million abatement, over 14 years, for the first two skyscrapers in State Farm’s massive new campus at Hammond Drive and Perimeter Center Parkway. A longtime argument for abatements is that everyone does them, a point Star ling echoed in explaining how Dun woody aims to remain competitive for office towers. “My belief is every Class A office building, certainly within DeKalb and Fulton, had a tax abatement structure on them ... I have not heard of a new office building that didn’t have abate ments,” he said. Dunwoody’s first abatements, grant ed in 2012, were an estimated total of $8.2 million over 10 years for the reno vation of office buildings at 64 and 66 Perimeter Center East. The idea was to help the landlord offer lower rents, Star ling said. State Farm has since leased both entire buildings. However, Starling said, it is “hard to say if State Farm came because of the abatement.” The building was already leasing well at that time, around 2018. The Dunwoody authority is now ne gotiating two more major abatement deals: a possible $2.3 million break for the Perimeter Market project on Ash- ford-Dunwoody Road and a possible $19 million abatement for the gigantic, long- stalled High Street project across Ham mond from the State Farm campus. It remains to be seen how the public will respond to those mega-deals. “I certainly understand the critics and there should be conversations and debate on how we provide incentives to any private businesses,” said Starling. “Every project is different. Transparen cy is important.” WORTHWHILE CONVERSATIONS SIMPLIFYING AND ORGANIZING IN THE NEW YEAR HOW DO YOU HELP PEOPLE FULFILL THOSE PREDICTABLE RESOLUTIONS ABOUT BETTER ORGANIZED FINANCES? ''Predictable" is correct. In our 49-year history, we consistently hear this goat from clients. It is logical because complicated and disorganized financial planning leads to stress and procrastination over important decisions. The good news: just a few simple steps can result in significant improvement in your planning. For most people, it starts with preparing an up-to-date Balance Sheet that lists alt of your financial accounts and assets, along with alt debts owed. Update this yearly as a financial discipline. 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Our Wealth Planning Committee, a mutti-disciptinary group of professionals (CPAs, JDs, and other credentiated firm members), meets to brainstorm [Left to Right: Sam Tortorici; MaryJane LeCroy, CFP®; and Bill firing, CFP®1 such topics and has developed a client-centered approach. Committee Chair, Phillip Plamman, CFP®, CFA, commented about budgets: "We should re-invent budgeting since 'Budgeting in Reverse' is sufficient for most - simply identify the required savings and accumulation targets, and make sure you hit those numbers." WHERE CAN YOU GET HELP? Staying the "Organization Dragon" is more than a weekend exercise. If you need help getting things in order, talk with your financial advisor since they may have expertise. We advise people to be careful in seeking help. Choose an advisor 100% committed to the Fiduciary business model, with a legal duty to put their clients' best interests first. This is the model we follow at Linscomb & Williams. 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