Oh how times have changed.

Sure, many us lament the loss of the Candler Hotel, the moving of the Death House on Sycamore Street and the replacement of WEST Courthouse Square with the “Birds from Hell” building.  But all of this pales in comparison to an idea floated around Decatur in 1977.

I certainly didn’t live in Decatur back then – perhaps some long-time residents can provide some first-hand historical perspective in the comments – but needless to say Decatur was in a slightly different place in 1977.  And apparently things were difficult enough that a majority of respondents to a survey by the Decatur Tax Payers League were in favor of abolishing the entire city if DeKalb couldn’t come up with a way lower taxes for residents. Apparently double-taxation with the County is nothing new.  (Though the city rectified much of this problem recently)

But back in 1977, an independent City of Decatur government wasn’t enough of a “value-add” for a majority of survey respondents to keep the city intact.  According to a July 13, 1977 article in a paper I can’t identify (DeKalb Era maybe??),

• 50% of respondents were in favor of transferring Police, Recreation and Planning Departments to the County.
• 51% of respondents were in favor of transferring the Fire Department to DeKalb County
• 58% of respondents were in favor of eliminating the city appraiser (something that has since happened)
• 70% of respondents were in favor of eliminating the “Around Decatur” newspaper published by the city
• 68% of respondents were in favor of eliminating the Decatur school system
• 51% of respondents were in favor of removing the charter of the city of Decatur if taxes could not be lowered.

Crazy, huh?

The AJC reports that a DeKalb County employee was hit by a car on crossing West Trinity Place on her way to work at the DeKalb Courthouse Wednesday morning.

The woman’s injuries were described by Decatur’s Deputy Police Chief Keith Lee as “serious”, but not life-threatening.  The 22 year-old driver of the car was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Annexation isn’t just a topic of conversation around Decatur.  Though our city has long been toying with the idea of expanding its limits in order to increase its commercial base, there hasn’t yet been the almost necessary outcry by surrounding residents looking to trade their DeKalb-run services for Decatur to make it happen.

However, it’s a different story further north. The initial benefits of the newly-minted city of Dunwoody – which captured millions of dollars of DeKalb County property tax revenue after its late-2008 creation – has other northern residents weighing the benefits of more local city government services and functions.

Georgia State Rep. Mike Jacobs recently wrote on his blog he’s been hearing “increasing discontent with DeKalb County Government: rising tax bills, fewer services, inefficient government, and a lack of confidence that things are going to get better at the county.”  As a result, he’s introduced House Bill 428, which allows for “adjacent municipalities to annex neighborhoods in an “unincorporated peninsula” (an unincorporated area that is 75% or more surrounded by cities) after the adoption of a city council resolution and the passage of a referendum by the citizens in the unincorporated area.”  The bill also takes away the County’s unilateral veto power in preventing such annexations, according to Jacobs.

Whether this currently unincorporated peninsula would become part of Dunwoody or its own “City of Brookhaven” is far from being addressed, let alone decided, however these renewed talks about yet another northern annexation leads to a very serious question:  How much more annexation can DeKalb County take before its only option is even more massive layoffs and reductions in services and/or large tax increases?

In response to this new Brookhaven annexation push, the DeKalb Officers blog flatly stated recently “We believe if either of theses happen, annexation or the formation of another city, Dekalb County will collapse. The Northlake/Oak Grove/Emory area cannot sustain today’s spending and looting.”

If not totally collapse, what would a DeKalb with little northern property to call its own look like?  Will taxes rise to a point where the current lower tax-rate advantage is eliminated and everyone begins calling for annexation by the nearest city?  Or will the county be forced to scale down to a point where services are much more meager than they even are today?

If you considered the Holiday Inn hotel renovation “big news”, THIS is HUGE news for Decatur.  How do I know?  Because in addition to the city, the Governor’s Office just put out a press release about it.

Bottom-line: The international digital entertainment developer, CCP Games, is relocating from Gwinnett County into the “Wells Fargo/J. Christopher’s building” at 250 East Ponce de Leon Ave inside the city of Decatur.  The move is thanks to a LOT of hard work at every level, from the State, to the County, to the City, right on down to the property owner, to keep CCP in the state of Georgia.  After the company adds 150 new jobs, they will be 300 strong inside our city.

From both the state and the city’s press releases it also sounds like the decades of hard work on Decatur’s part to create an attractive, walkable community, played no small part in CCP’s decision.  From the Governor’s Office press release…

“Decatur offers the perfect blend of big city accessibility with a hometown feel that we were looking for,” said Mike Tinney, President of CCP North America. “Georgia’s financial climate combined with Decatur’s social climate provide the ideal conditions for continued growth.”

Also…

“CCP Games had a list of qualities they wanted in a new business location — a strong sense of safety, easy access to MARTA and a high quality of life that would be attractive to new employees — and we met all of them. A business environment that supports creative businesses and had a wide variety of restaurants and entertainment within easy walking distance of their office were also high on their list,” said Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd. “Decatur fit their needs and CCP fits our vision for our downtown business community. We welcome them to our city and look forward to their participation in our creative, actively engaged community life.”

Congratulations to all involved!  You can read both press releases for yourself in full after the jump.

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The HOST case is back!

A press release announces that the decade-long HOST (Homestead Option Sales Tax) dispute between Decatur (and other DeKalb cities) versus DeKalb County over millions of dollars in HOST money will heard by the Georgia Supreme Court for a third time next Tuesday, February 8th.  Here’s all the background on the case, courtesy of the release.  Also it’s good to know that by last estimate, Decatur was owed $10 million in back HOST/capital improvement money by DeKalb County.

CITY OF DECATUR ET AL. V. DEKALB COUNTY (S11A0354)

This appeal stems from a dispute between four cities in DeKalb County and the county government over the distribution and expenditure of tax revenues. This is the third time this case has come to the Georgia Supreme Court.

FACTS: In 1998, the cities of Decatur, Chamblee, Doraville and Stone Mountain, along with other DeKalb municipalities, entered into a 49-year intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the county to provide for the distribution of millions of dollars in sales tax proceeds. The agreement required the county to share with the cities a portion of Homestead Option Sales and Use Tax (HOST) money. HOST is a countywide one-cent sales tax approved by voters in 1997 to help offset property taxes. Under the HOST statute, 80 percent of the revenues must be used for that purpose, with the remaining 20 percent to be used to fund capital improvements. Under the agreement, the cities could use the money as they pleased as long as they were used for “capital outlay projects” within county boundaries.

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Countless unfinished DeKalb subdivisions are getting greener by the day, but does that make DeKalb the greenest county in the country?

After the recent sewage leak epidemic, the AJC’s Truth-O-Meter honed in on a claim on the DeKalb County website that it was the “Greenest County in the County” and dubbed it “Barely True”.

DeKalb backed up the claim citing their methane gas-to-electricity program at the public landfill, its recent acquisition of 3,000 acres of parkland, the most hiking and biking trails in the state, LEED standards for County buildings, and a $15 million federal grant to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

The chairman of the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club told the AJC the claim was “pretty unthinkable.”  The AJC goes on to detail the numerous ways these claims are shoddy at best and in some cases not even true.

Beyond the fact that the “green” descriptor is really little more than a marketing gimmick these days, what the heck is so “green” about a hiking trail?  Do people take them to work in lieu of driving? Or does just basking in nature qualify as “green”?

And what about urban form?  If the greenest city in the country is really New York City, than it stands to reason that even neighboring Fulton County would be a better contender for “greenest county” in the anything.

Over the weekend, the AJC reported that Moody’s had downgraded DeKalb’s general obligation bonds “from Aa3 to Aa1 and another $20 million in appropriation-backed debt from A1 to As2.”  (I’m not sure how to interpret that, since this Wiki entry shows that Aa1 is actually a higher rating than Aa3.)

Aa3 AND Aa1 still qualify as “High Grade” bonds, but this does mean that DeKalb will be paying more interest to bond holders going forward.  The downgrade was attributed to DeKalb having to dip into reserves to cover expenses the last two years, according to the AJC.

Conversely, a couple weeks back Decatur announced that Standard and Poor’s had upgraded Decatur’s bond rating to AA+.

Oh zoning, you so dated.

This story’s actually been on many people’s radar for quite a while.  Creative Loafing actually wrote a story about it way back in 2008.  Since then , Mr. Miller has had his property rezoned to allow farming for profit, but DeKalb is prosecuting for the past zoning violations.

Channel 2 picked up the story and it’s already made it’s way to the Drudge Report.  (h/t: DeKalb Officers)

According to a newspaper website, the city of Decatur currently has two financing options on the table if it decided to build the unfinished projects left over from the 2006 bond referendum (Fire Station #1, the Rec Center, and the Public Works building.)

The city could raise the millage rate by .4 (equivalent to $72 a year on a $400,000 house) or it could dip into its reserve fund for two years and then use $900,000 a year in capital improvement sales tax money, which is currently being withheld by DeKalb County, to make the loan payments for the remainder.

As the Mayor pointed out in an off-hand comment during a recent commission meeting, the city has to make a decision regarding the ongoing HOST sales tax lawsuit it has with DeKalb County.  Either the city can continue the lawsuit, which is slowly crawling its way back to the GA Supreme Court again, and hope that they win AND that DeKalb can somehow come up with the $10 million in owed back taxes, or they can drop the lawsuit, give up the $10 mil and start getting their nearly $1 million a year from the County “tomorrow”.

I’ll have to get clarification, but I’m assuming that the idea of using two years of reserve fund money is mainly a time-cushion to insure that whatever the outcome of the lawsuit, the city will at least be receiving its annual $1 million from the county by that point.

The city is holding a public information session on our options tonight at 6:30p at City Hall.  Click here for more info.