The problem:
Why is there a shortage in funding for the Atlanta BeltLine?

The funding premise of the Atlanta BeltLine assumed trail would be built soon after the creation of our primary funding mechanism, the Atlanta BeltLine Tax Allocation District, or TAD, in 2005. Completed trail stimulates economic development, which leads to more funding for the project.

Several events hindered BeltLine build out in the early years:

• Lawsuits challenging the participation of schools in a TAD,
• Renegotiation of payments Atlanta Public Schools receives over the life of the TAD,
• Fewer bonds issued to fund corridor construction,
• Tax abatements, and
• The Great Recession.

These factors created uncertainty, slowed down economic development, and reduced TAD revenue in the first decade of the BeltLine, which impacted the compound growth in funding that would have come from stimulating more TAD growth.

New sources of revenue are critical to fill the more than $1 billion funding gap BeltLine and keep our promises to deliver the BeltLine vision.

The solution:
How does SSD fill the gap?

To complete the Atlanta BeltLine trail corridor by 2030, three hundred and fifty million dollars is needed. Although the Atlanta BeltLine Tax Allocation District, or TAD, is now performing well, it will not provide the full funding required.

A Special Service District, or SSD, will help fill that funding gap. An SSD is a targeted tax district where commercial and multi-family property owners pay slightly more in property taxes to fund the completion of the Atlanta BeltLine Trail.

The TAD is on track to provide one hundred million dollars for trail construction.

The increase of two mills on some five thousand parcels in the SSD would fund an additional one hundred million dollars of improvements.

An SSD would also help unlock another one hundred million dollars in matching funds from the philanthropic community.

With three hundred million dollars of confirmed funding, it will be easier to go after federal and state funding to get the remaining fifty million dollars needed.

The SSD will not only fund the completion of the Atlanta BeltLine trails, but it will also free up TAD dollars that will be earmarked for other BeltLine initiatives that will greatly benefit the community.