Please note this additional story today:
AJC: Tax assessments drop in five major counties
There is no doubt that the areas where there are high concentrations of poor and Black working class individuals have experienced a precipitous drop in home values. These are also the areas where "house flipping" took place. Despite the claims that it was "predatory lending" which is the cause, a stronger case can be made about the inflation of home values for the purposes of extracting equity out of them was the key factor. The key difference is that the "predatory lending" claim makes for the "bank as the bad guy". The claim about the real estate investors being the cause brings the culprit closer to home.
Let's put all of this aside as we focus on the real issue that is at hand from all of this: EDUCATIONAL FUNDING.
The argument has been that property taxes used as the main funding source for schools is inherently unequal and discriminatory because BLACK PEOPLE have a lower property tax base to draw our school funding from. Point well taken.
Now lets go on to this real world example that is in front of us. One that I have been following with great skepticism. Since all of the players realize that there is a linkage between the property taxes paid to the counties and the school funding that is drawn from these taxes - I am puzzled to see where the School Funding Activists are in this entire debate.
We see that when individuals are left up to his own self interests - they will petition their county for a lower property tax bill. Indeed this is their RIGHT. The underlying property in question is now worth less and thus they have a right to seek a reduced appraisal from the government and thus pay a smaller quantity of taxes.
On my blogs I live to tie lose ends together so that a picture of the way the world really works can be developed for all to see.
It is clear that the missing link in this entire scenario is the ACTIVIST. He is seen, front and center when there is a legislative attempt to cut school funding for the detriment of our children. We also see that in South Carolina, for example, a Republican governor's choice to refuse federal stimulus debt because he rejects the strings that come attached to the money is enough to get these same ACTIVISTS going.
What of the aggregate actions of the individual, majority Black property holding populace? When they pursuit their own self(ish) interests and it results in a massive cut in revenues into the educational coffers - WHERE IS THE REEDUCATION PROJECT to tell them to do otherwise?
Oh indeed when it comes to the purported funding gap between "white counties" and "black counties" we will hear references to the structural racism that stem from property taxation.
Where is the call for the citizens of Dekalb County Georgia who are in their "we run things now and things are going to change" phase of Black political leadership? Most certainly the county has the right to make policy decisions as they are an independent entity. I wish to register my obervations that these decisions by the individuals and their elected officials contribute to the end state that they often complain about.
PEOPLE OF DEKALB COUNTY - AGREE TO FUND YOUR SCHOOLS BY NOT PURSUING REASSESSMENTS.
Conversely, some metro Atlanta neighborhoods saw a flurry of home sales due to foreclosures. Bargain hunters snapped up the foreclosed properties, driving down the average sale prices of homes in the surrounding area.
This year’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution Home Sales Report shows the vagaries of the weak housing market.
The report was compiled by Marietta-based real estate research firm SmartNumbers. It looked at home sales and prices in 20 counties for 2008, compared with the previous year, and examined trends among 300 metro Atlanta ZIP codes.
While there were rare instances where home prices climbed based on healthy sales, those could not eclipse the fact that all 22 metro counties in this year’s report were awash in negative numbers.
“Things were pretty bad,” said SmartNumbers president Steve Palm. “We have never seen a price drop from year to year like this since the Depression.”
Metrowide, home prices fell 13 percent, although new homes held their value better. The average price of a new home last year was $231,320, down less than 2 percent from the previous year.
And the trend of falling home prices seems to have continued into this year. The median price for a home in metro Atlanta in the first quarter was $115,600, down from $154,000 in the same period in 2008, the National Association of Realtors reported recently. Home sales in the first quarter also were off 6 percent, the group noted.
Last year, Clayton County had the region’s largest price drop with homes falling 43 percent in value, according to the AJC home report. Homes in Rockdale were a distant second. They saw a 20 percent drop.
And sales were off even compared with a slow 2007. Home and condo sales across the region were down 27 percent overall. Sales of new homes were off by half.
Experts say the fluctuations in values have implications for homeowners when it comes time to sell. In most communities, homeowners trying to sell today have to contend with depressed prices and may not receive the former value of their homes. Of course, factors such as the home’s condition and location play a role as well.
Drill down into the report and another pattern emerges: ZIP codes inside the Perimeter but north of I-20 and east of I-75 held steady or even saw increases in home prices. The largest declines were inside the Perimeter, but west of I-75.
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