Decatur: Meet the Proposed Annexation Areas
Decatur Metro | December 5, 2012As Judd pointed out in the previous annexation recommendation post, the actual annexation areas put forward by City Manager Peggy Merriss were shadows of their former selves. Areas of Interest A.3 and B.3 in the city’s presentation (PDF) are basically drawn around nearly all the property owners who said they didn’t want to be included in the city of Decatur.
These area don’t achieve the goal of cleaning up the city’s boundary, but they do provide the city with some commercially heavy areas – Area A.3 is 97% and Area B.3 is 62% commercial – a frequent, publicly stated goal of the commission, who is openly worried about the great reliance on residential property taxes in the city. (Residential taxes account for more than 4/5ths of the city’s revenues currently.)
The city’s cost/income calculations for the two areas are as follows…
Area A.3
- Expenditures – $344,500
- Revenues – $429,520
- Net Diff – $85,020
Area B.3
- Expenditures – $355,000
- Revenues – $395,840
- Net Diff – $40,080
Patch reports that collectively these two areas would add 511 residents to the city, with 42 of them under the age of 16 and eligible to join CSD schools. The Decatur City Commission is scheduled to vote on Ms. Merriss’ recommendation at its final 2012 meeting, December 17th. If approved, the city would then try to get the annexation brought up and voted upon in the Georgia legislature’s January 2013 session. Next steps would be dependent on whether a referendum was needed or not. Such heavily commercial areas don’t necessarily need referendums to pass.
In related news, DeKalb County officials continue to discuss the creation of a “City of DeKalb”, which could halt all future city incorporations and restrict future annexations.