Brookhaven considers raising tax rate

Brookhaven’s city founders made two promises to residents, both written into the city’s charter: Even if property values go up, homeowners wouldn’t be taxed on the higher values. And the city’s tax rate would be capped unless put to a citywide vote.

Now the current City Council is considering getting rid of the tax rate cap and instead allowing the council to increase local property tax rates as they see fit.

The proposal requires council approval. 

Why increase the tax rate?

Your home’s value has (probably) been increasing. But the city doesn’t currently reap all the benefit of your higher property values. 

That’s because Brookhaven basically freezes the taxable value of your home at the time of purchase. In 2025, that meant that nearly a third of Brookhaven’s residential property value – $1.2 billion – was not taxed by the city, up from $363 million untaxed in 2015.

“There's a certain structural problem with that that we can't fix without raising the [tax] rate,” Mayor John Park said in an interview.

Do the math

As a reminder, your tax bill = [tax rate] x [taxable property value].

A past effort to address the taxable property value part of the equation (by limiting the homestead exemption freeze) was unsuccessful. This time around, the council is coming at the problem from a different angle, by addressing the tax rate. 

How much would your taxes increase?

Under the proposed 2026 budget (more on that in a moment), the city’s tax rate would increase from 2.74 per $1,000 of assessed value to 3.54. That would mean an increase of $240 a year for the average home with a value of $775,000, according to city officials. 

In context

City taxes to fund operations are 7% of the average homeowner’s tax bill, according to city officials. School district taxes make up the biggest part of your tax bill.

If Brookhaven does end up raising its tax rate – and other DeKalb County cities’ tax rates remain unchanged – it will still have the second lowest tax rate in the county.

Is it legal?

Brookhaven’s city attorney says yes. Cities can amend their charters as long as the changes don’t conflict with state law, City Attorney Jeremy Berry wrote in an assessment provided to council. That’s in line with a 1983 Attorney General’s opinion that reached a similar conclusion.

Where’s the money going?

This year’s proposed operating budget is $42.7 million, up about $4.5 million from the previous year’s proposed budget.

It includes money to maintain new and existing pools, splashpads, trails and park facilities, and to staff and maintain the new city hall and other parts of the city’s growing real estate portfolio. It continues Brookhaven’s investments in police technology and adds funding to help the city communicate with residents, including a constituent services staffer for the mayor and council and an in-house recording studio at city hall.

The biggest operating budget increases include:

“People are demanding more services,” Mayor Park said, and providing those services costs money. In fact, the desire to receive fair services for the taxes paid was one of the key reasons Brookhaven became a city.

Park told Brookhaven News Now earlier this week he hasn’t received a lot of feedback on the proposed tax rate changes and budget yet. If the council decides against the tax rate changes, the city will need to make steep cuts, he said.

“If the consensus of the community is that's what they want, that's what we'll do,” he said. ”We try to follow the will of the people.”

What’s next?

There are two public hearings on the budget:

Both will take place at Brookhaven City Centre at 4001 Peachtree Road NE.

The council will vote on the budget and removal of the tax rate limit at the Nov. 18 meeting. The tax rate will be set in the spring.

You can send the city comments or questions at [email protected].

—

Note: This article was corrected on Nov. 5. A previous unsuccessful effort to change the city’s homestead exemption freeze would have limited it. It would not have eliminated it. Also, we added words inadvertently left out of Mayor Park’s comments. The full quote was “We try to follow the will of the people.”

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Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 8-9 | 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
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Ashford Park Elementary School carpool lane (Tryon Road side)
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