By: Maria Mena

Last week I received a letter from the Fulton County assessor and couldn’t believe my eyes…

Fulton County taxes are going down!

Fulton County has increased the basic homestead exemption from $15,000 to $30,000 over the next three years starting in 2009. And the best part about it is I don’t have to do a darn thing to get it! Since I am already getting the homestead exemption at $15K it will automatically transition to the new higher amounts.

I don’t know about you but I can really use that $5000 for numerous other things including paying for the higher cost of healthcare which seems to be sky rocketing, do a little shopping, take a quick trip to see my family in Miami, there are some needed home repairs, etc. etc.

The City of Atlanta is also giving folks over age of 65 as well as those with disabilities a break on their city taxes if they make less than a certain amount of money a year so if you know someone that may qualify check it out at the website www.fultonassessor.org.

For many years persons looking to purchase a home have eliminated housing in Fulton County due to the perceived higher property taxes. Not anymore – if you do not own a home and are thinking about buying, this tax break coupled with the additional incentives from the recently approved stimulus package creates a wonderful opportunity to buy a home.

Also, the increased homestead exemption dollars will aid current struggling homeowners keep their house.  I hope this is just the beginning of a trend of changes that will be occurring for home owners in Fulton County.