Some home-based businesses upset over sanitation fees
DeKalb County’s sanitation department lowered its fees for home-based business owners in March, but Dunwoody residents who work from home say they’re still paying too much.
Adrienne Duncan said she noticed on her latest tax bill that DeKalb County sanitation assessed a $300 fee, which she said was lower than what she paid in 2014.
“But they’re still higher than other single family residences due to the blue slip of paper over my desk,” Duncan said. “The additional charge was tantamount to a fine, simply for holding a business license.”
DeKalb sanitation officials considered Duncan’s property “commercial” despite the residential zoning designation and automatically issued larger trash cans, Duncan said. “For all the extra trash not being produced,” she said.
Another resident, Barry Kanne, said his in-home business doesn’t create excess trash that would warrant paying more in sanitation fees.