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Decatur School Board, City Commission holding meetings Sept. 6

Decatur

Decatur School Board, City Commission holding meetings Sept. 6

The Decatur School Board has a discussion during its Aug. 9, 2016 regular meeting. Photo by Dan Whisenhunt
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The Decatur School Board has a discussion during its Aug. 9, 2016 regular meeting. Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

The Decatur School Board has a discussion during its Aug. 9, 2016 regular meeting. Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

The Decatur School Board and City Commission will both be holding their regular meetings on Sept. 6, an uncommon occurrence as both bodies usually meet in separate weeks.

The City Commission has a relatively light agenda, which includes ratification of closing documents for property at 146 Norris Street. The city will also pass an ordinance reducing the penalty for late payment of ad valorem taxes, reducing the penalty amount from 10 percent to 5 percent in accordance with a new state law.

“Effective July 1, 2016, House Bill 960 reduces the penalty amount for nonpayment of ad valorem taxes to 5 percent applicable 120 days after the due date,” a memo attached to the City Commission meeting agenda says.

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The city anticipates the change will mean less revenue for the city, though there’s no estimate of how much of an impact it would have on the city’s tax collections.

“The changes are expected to reduce penalty revenues budgeted for FY16-17,” the memo says. “The changes are also expected to reduce the real property and personal property collection rates and average days to pay. The Revenue Division will continue delinquent collection activities and best practices including issuance of tax executions as normally scheduled to help sustain timely payments.”

The Decatur School Board’s agenda will include a discussion about the school system’s ongoing efforts to provide better support to students with dyslexia and their parents.

The Decatur School Board has been moved by what they heard during an Aug. 2 work session about the struggles of dyslexic students attending City Schools of Decatur. Superintendent David Dude has pledged to explore ways that CSD can better serve these students. The Aug. 2 work session drew an overflow crowd, but Dude isn’t sure how many students in CSD have dyslexia. The national average is about 20 percent of students, meaning as many as 1,000 CSD students could be affected.

The Decatur School Board meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at City Schools of Decatur’s Central Office, located at 125 Electric Avenue.

People who wish to view both meetings can keep up with the Decatur City Commission meeting by watching the live-video stream at this link: http://www.decaturga.com/city-government/city-commission/streaming-video

The live stream for the Decatur City Commission meeting will become active when the work session begins at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at City Hall, located at 509 North McDonough Street.

Both meetings are open to the public.

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