DeKalb Asks State To Stifle City Annexation Options
Decatur Metro | January 29, 2009I guess we would be naive to think the county would take all these annexation attempts lying down.
As Cranky (“Vote Cranky!”) recently pointed out in a comment, the DeKalb County Commission recently voted on a resolution that expresses “support for restraints on annexations that are done not to provide new services to an under-serviced area, but simply to increase a municipal tax base and legislation to allow property owners to de-annex themselves from municipalities.” The full three page resolution can be read here (pdf).
Assuming that the commission voted in favor of the resolution (still seeking confirmation of this), it will head to the DeKalb County Delegation to the Georgia General Assembly.
Obviously, this request is being made in reaction to all the recent annexation attempts being made by DeKalb cities. Our mayor hasn’t been shy in saying that the main reason to consider annexation is increasing the commercial tax base.
But all this resolution seems to urge is adding a layer of red tape into the annexation process. Instead of allowing the directly-affected constituents of a community to decide whether they want to accept the annexation of a city, the county seems to be urging that someone else should make the decision about whether an annexation attempt is valid.
But who will make this decision? A judge? How does a city prove that its not out to increase your tax base? How bad do DeKalb County services have to be to be judged as “under-servicing” their constituents?
Welcome to the next chapter in the city/county battle for our property taxes!
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I say let them move their rent free offices out of our four square mile city and create tax revenue from businesses that take their place. I think a CIVIC center would be a great replacement for that nasty County office building next to the new football stadium…
…and BTW…where is our HOST monies?
If only the county wasn’t such an integral part of the city’s daytime workforce, I’d be right there with ya Tarnation.
But no civic center….that’s what they wanted to replace the old courthouse with back in the day. Too many bad memories!
And yeah, where is that HOST money?
It would be nice to be able to host smaller conventions, tradeshows, etc. much like Cobb Galleria, Marietta Civic Center, Gwinnett Civic Center, …heck, even Carrollton has a Performing Arts/Civic Center space. Just seems like with MARTA here, restaurants aplenty, nice shops…those convention/meeting folks would feed our businesses.
Love them or hate them, I’ve always said that the main difference in Decatur and other Dekalb cities as far as economic development is the presence of the large employer that is the County government. Like it or not without the county government offices and the courthouse, downtown Decatur would be a dead zone during the daytime hours and there would be essentially no jobs in Decatur.
While I like the idea of Decatur having some sort of performing arts space, it would never make up the economic impact of having such a large employer based here. I believe almost 70% of the jobs in Decatur are government jobs and I’d bet you half of the other 30% are somehow related to government (lawyers for example being close to the courthouse).
That makes sense. Just wish those buildings paid taxes, but it is probably offset. Still would be nice to have a PAC or some such here to augment our other offerings. (NOT POLITICAL ACTION COMMITEE
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No taxation without representation! The county is right on. Why should a city get to annex a bunch of property against the property owners wishes? Build a value proposition and let us choose to join or not. I think annexing commercial property (which the owners don’t get to vote on) with an outspoken intent of more tax revenue without more services is taxation without democratic choice. Its theft, unAmerican, undemocratic, and immoral. If you want services then pay for them with taxes or cutting expense somewhere else, don’t just raid your neighbors bank accounts under a thin veil of false legality.
I’ve just gotten around to reading this resolution, and I’m clueless about the legalities here. Can anyone weigh in on how big of a deal this is?
It’s a pretty clear sign, it seems, that Decatur annexation is not operating in a vacuum.
Judd, I tried to do a little background research before doing this posting but all I could come up with was other U.S. towns trying to alter annexation laws in smaller ways. Nothing that amounted to something on this scale.
It would be helpful to look at annexation laws the U.S. over to see how strict/loose GA’s is in comparison, but unfortunately I don’t think there’s a one stop shop for that sort of thing.
I double your call for someone one there that may know the implications of something like this. Maybe we should call up DeKalb bulldog and fmr. Governor Roy Barnes, who assisted in trying to kill the city of Dunwoody.
“I think annexing commercial property (which the owners don’t get to vote on) with an outspoken intent of more tax revenue without more services is taxation without democratic choice. Its theft, unAmerican, undemocratic, and immoral.”
“unAmerican?” How is it “unAmerican” for a city to grow? Take a drive around the City of Decatur. Take it all in. Then go a few blocks to the North, South, or East and drive around unincorporated DeKalb County (I don’t say West because much of that is associated with Druid Hills). Decatur roads are better, there’s less garbage on the streets, less graffiti, less crime and better schools. This happens to correlate with higher taxes. City gets more money, city provides better services for its residents. But I guess some people are just happier living in that craphole that is DeKalb County because the taxes are low. Heaven forbid anyone become part of a city and thereby inherit the services available from the city. It’s better to pay low taxes and watch your neighborhood whither. Right?