Property assessments increased so much in Lookout Mountain, Georgia this year, that the city council is decreasing the tax rate to offset the amount of property tax residents will have to pay. Last year, the city’s rate was 9 mills per every $1,000 of assessed value. The new rate will be 8 mills. This means property tax for a home valued at $425,000 will increase by $24.19. For a non-homestead property with a vale of $325,000 the increase will be $18.72.
The city will be cracking down on enforcing city codes.
The council approved spending $3,500 to buy iWorQ permitting and code enforcement software that will document the problems. City Manager Kenny Lee said there is a pattern that shows the majority of problems are at rental properties where yards are not maintained, brush obstructs roads, people park on the grass in the yard and cars park and block streets and emergency vehicles. The police, who are patrolling the streets regularly, see what is going on and they will be charged with identifying those properties and the city will handle enforcement of the city codes.
Once a problem property is identified, a report will be written and will be attached digitally to the address so it will be documented. The property owner will be notified and given 10 days to have the work done to correct issues. If attempts fail to correct the problems, the town will contract with a service to do it and a lien will be put on the property for the cost of the work.
There is also a consensus of the board of commissioners to require owners of rental properties to obtain a business license from the city that will have requirements to be met. They agreed with Mr. Lee that the owner of the property should have the responsibility of managing their property, not the city.
GDOT has started removing trees along the right-of-way on the Ochs Highway extension from the state line to Mockingbird Lane to improve visibility, said Mr. Lee, and the work should take several weeks causing minimal delays.
The city will be establishing a safety coordinator position under Chief Todd Gann. That job will be to ensure that city employees are using appropriate safety protocol when doing the city’s business.
In response to requests from the residents who live near the new city hall, street lights are now being turned out at 10 p.m. leaving only lights on around the perimeter of the building overnight. And stormwater runoff problems to their houses have been addressed with an engineer creating a drainage plan to redirect the water coming from the new building and parking lot, away from the houses on Oberon.
The SEC gas company that has been replacing lines during the past year is now scheduled to complete the work in early October, said Kevin Leckenby, the council liaison with the public works department. Security cameras have now been installed at the public works facility and a six-foot sign at the entrance has been erected. The next dumpster day is Saturday, which was delayed because of the Labor Day weekend. The regular schedule for a dumpster to be on the mountain on the first Saturday of the month will resume in October.
Community volunteer Jimmy Campbell gave a garden update. A new final plan to redo the Joe Wilson Park has been finished. The council approved spending $61,000 from COVID funds for building the park, which included a sprinkler system. The cost of that system was more than $10,000 over the original estimate so it has been removed from the plan. Instead the money for it will be left in the city’s garden fund and used for maintenance. Mr. Campbell said currently the monthly maintenance cost for the city’s parks is $750. When the new park is complete, that monthly expense is expected to be $1,250-$1,500. Mr. Campbell would like to keep at least $25,000 in the fund for maintenance and residents will be asked to make donations for it.
Council Member Caroline Williams reported that Music on the Mountain, the fundraiser for Fairyland Elementary School was a huge success. She said the turnout exceeded the goal and expectations for the annual event. The large crowd included people from both Georgia and LMS parents. She said the school is so appreciative that the two communities support each other that way. That support for the school will allow for many projects that the PTO pays for, she said.
Dustin Beard, the new owner of Fairyland Pharmacy received a privilege license for the business under his name. And Tim Cobb, received approval for a home sharing application for his home at 1113 Lula Lake Road. This makes the seventh home sharing that is currently licensed in the city of Lookout Mountain, Georgia.