Tucker, GA — It’s budget season in Tucker as the new finance director Beverly Ragland announced at this week’s City Council meeting. The DDA is in the process of submitting final numbers to Ragland.

John McHenry, assistant city manager, said this year the DDA will have a separate line item from the city’s economic development spending.

“We are looking to make some changes in terms of the format, so it’s more clearly defined DDA funds versus other economic development activities, economic development, strategic plan and so forth,” said McHenry.

In other DDA news:

– Alan Durham and Emily Smith from Georgia Tech Center for Economic Development and Research on April 12 updated DDA board members on the incentives study.  Durham presented a chart of how cities similar to Tucker handles tax abatement, CIDs, tax credits for employees, bonds, grants, tax allocation districts and opportunity zones. He said he’s planning a deeper dive into Decide DeKalb and DeKalb County’s policies for tax abatement.

News stories about tax abatement deals make people think they’re prevalent, and that dozens of tax abatement deals are happening, Chambers noted. Durham said more happen at the county level, not at the city level.

Chambers asked for more data on newer cities in DeKalb County for comparison.

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