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- Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s sprawling Atlanta mansion dropped roughly $6 million in value, providing a huge cut to her property tax bill, and no one knows why, the Daily Beast reported.
- Loeffler and her husband bought “Descante” for $10.5 million in 2009 and paid $200,000 in property taxes until 2016.
- Then, the home’s value mysteriously slipped to $4.15 million, reducing their property tax bill to $90,000. A slight increase in property value in 2020 means they will shell out around $112,000 in property taxes this year, per the report.
- The Republican senator is running against Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock in a highly-anticipated Georgia runoff election on January 5.
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The value of GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s Atlanta mansion, known as “Descante,” dropped by roughly $6 million out of the blue in 2016, and no one knows why, according to a Daily Beast report.
Loeffler and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, saw their property tax bill drop precipitously as a result, even after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements and as home prices went up across the city.
The couple bought the home for $10.5 million in 2009. According to the Daily Beast, it was the most expensive private home purchase in Atlanta’s history.
The property value held steady for the next seven years, based on appraisals from local officials for tax purposes, but in 2016 mysteriously dropped by 60% to $4.15 million.
With the home valued at $10.5 million, Loeffler and Sprecher paid about $200,000 in property taxes to the city and county governments, per the report, but saw their tax bill plummet to $90,000 in 2016.
Just a year before, the couple spent almost $90,000 to renovate the kitchen, $150,000 to build a new greenhouse, and $125,000 on various outdoor improvements, according to city records cited by the Daily Beast.
The value of the home rose slightly to $5 million in 2020, translating into a $112,000 property tax bill - $88,000 less than what the couple originally paid.
The Daily Beast reported that there are no signs the couple acted improperly via non-public avenues to see their home devalued and tax bill lowered. But the outlet could not find an explanation for the drop in value in city and county records, and a local official also could not offer an explanation.
"The employees responsible for these changes, including the appraiser, the Residential Property Manager, the Deputy Chief Appraiser and the Chief Appraiser, are no longer within Fulton County and there is no documentation suggesting the cause of these changes," a spokesperson for Fulton County told the Daily Beast.
Loeffler was appointed to the Senate by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp late last year and was sworn in back in January. She filled a seat previously held by Sen. Johnny Isakson, who stepped down because of health issues.
Following the November 3 election, Loeffler has advanced to a highly-anticipated Georgia Senate runoff, which is set to occur on January 5, against Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock.
Loeffler's campaign and Senate office did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.