DeKalb seeks moratorium on new cities
- 10/12/11
- Categorized in: DeKalb News
A movement to form a new Brookhaven city may be delayed if the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners gets its way.
The board is considering to ask the state legislature to place a moratorium on annexation and incorporation in DeKalb County to allow an analysis by a committee.
Recent incorporations of Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Milton in Fulton County, and Dunwoody in DeKalb County have occurred without any consideration to the effect on the remaining unincorporated areas of those counties, said Commissioner Jeff Rader, who sponsored the resolution supporting the moratorium.
Often the new incorporations “seem to be formed around a political group” that adds a “tax base that has really nothing to do with their city,” Rader said.
The cities are “not really going at it on their own because they’re relying on a tax base they had no part in creating,” Rader said.
Incorporation needs to be based on some theory of urbanized organization “so we don’t end up with a part of the county that can’t support its basic services,” Rader said.
Rader said he does not necessarily oppose Brookhaven cityhood but “the way it is laid out destabilizes the rest of the county.”
The annexation and incorporation study committee would create standards for evaluating incorporations that include criteria for determining reasonable boundaries for the existing or new cities; an analysis of the tax base within the proposed boundaries of the new city and in the remaining unincorporated areas; an analysis of the impact of widespread annexation or incorporation on the provision of higher level services such as E-911 service, non-basic police services such as aerial support unit, SWAT team, bomb squad unit, intelligence and permits, K-9 division, gang task force, drug task force, and an analysis of alternatives to annexation and incorporation.
The incorporation resolution is one of several resolutions the Board of Commissioners may ask the state legislature to consider in the next session, which starts in January.
Another resolution asks the legislature to create a charter commission to re-examine the form of government.
The “delineation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of DeKalb County government has been an ongoing source of conflict that has impeded the efficiency and effectiveness of the county government,” the resolution states.
DeKalb’s CEO-commission form of government is patterned after the federal government and a strong mayor form of government.
“But it doesn’t have some of the checks and balances that those forms have,” Rader said.
The DeKalb Organizational Act—the state law that directs the county’s form of government—“is not the U. S. Constitution and has quirks and anomalies that cause problems,” Rader said.
Other resolutions considered by the board on Oct. 11 included ones asking for respect by the legislature for the county’s authority to rule itself, a requirement that the county’s CEO establish a codified purchasing policy, representation by a county commissioner on the Atlanta Regional Commission council, a regional transit governance body with local representation, and openness and transparency in the budgets of elected officials and the library system, and lengthening the foreclosure process from the current 30 days to 90 days.
Districts 3, 4 and 5 are plagued with Illegal Video Poker Machines from Lithonia to Ellenwood while our Dept of Public Safety turns a blind eye and DA Robert James is busy handing out phones to the elderly. Once a Model Police Dept one must ask, what has gone wrong ?
Commissioner Connie Stokes descides she is entitled to all her Office Furniture and Computers in the DeKalb Office newly remodeled and paid for by the Tax Paying Citizens of DeKalb County. This only happenens in DeKalb County. Once again where is DA Robert James ?
The DeKalb BOC desides that they are entitled to Expensive Catered Meals on BOC workdays, all paid for by the Tax Paying Citizens of DeKalb without telling us. Once again where is DA Robert James ?
The Citizens of North and Central DeKalb are fed up with the ludricrous and unchecked actions of Burrell Ellis and The Board of Crooks !
I live in District Three under the Reign of lit'l larry - ain't so good - wish I could go with Brookhaven !
I have been greatly ashamed of DeKalb County's elected officials financial stewarship but I'm not willing to create another adversarial government. It's time to rethink this. The legislature should develop an option that works to meet the wants of more "local control" while meeting the demands of a large urban area. Almost always the voice of "local control" talks of zoning, code enforcement and parks. A township or village designation would meet the wants and needs of both. The townships or villages could drive zoning, development, code enforcement and parks while the county delivered public safety and infrastructure.
Our current path will stifle job growth, segregate and financial hardships for all. It is time to deliver government that benefits each other ; not government the competes with each other.
Mr. Millar, you and other legislators kicked off this more goverment mess. Provide that light in the dark before we all drown under duplicate and competing governments for every square mile of DeKalb.
How dare you, sir! Outlawing local control flies in the face of the right of every American. The Dekalb Delegation is smart enough to realize your Bill proposal is UN-Constitutional.
Incorporation is a natural outcome representing the concerns of ALL responsible, tax paying, law abiding DeKalb citizens. EVERYONE is tired of DeKalb crime, bloated staffing levels (County Operations and DeKalb County School System administration), wasteful spending, indicted officials, and a POOR government model, and of course PAYING for this nonsense. Americans have the right to choose local control to ensure better representation.
DeKalb has not acted to resolve the issues that caused Dunwoody to choose locally controlled government. Furthermore, Big County government is not working and it is holding back growth and prosperity for the Atlanta region by allowing an environment for crime and inefficiency to flourish.
To ALL DeKalb Officers, thank you for your service, you are not the problem.
Rader chatters a lot but his comments really make little sense. He is nothing but a political blowhard. He tries to be all things to all people. He was the one who originally suggested the 4.5 mil increase, thereby giving the CEO and commissioners Mays, Sutton, Watson and Johnson political/racial cover
Commissioner Mays' cherished I 20 transit line did not make the final cut for the 2012 T SPLOST vote. Nothing can save the South part of the county. If it were not for Districts 1 and 2 you could very well change the name to South Detroit.
County taxes will have to increase to support the bloated employment roll. The CEO and the BOC will do nothing to improve efficiency since the real purpose of the County is to generate jobs and pay salaries. Brookhaven incorporating would be a serious dent in the amount of money that would be available for the CEO and the BOC to distribute. Another cash cow would be gone. Rader knows this and his sponsoring a delay in incorporation is giving the political/racial cover to the rest of the group.
District 1 and 2 taxpayers also get a bad deal in paying for the school system.
Read this report !
The "bloated staffs" of the DeKalb BOC and CEO must end and stop the continuous drain upon the Tax Paying Citizens of this County.
The residents of North and Central DeKalb County are not as easily fooled as the residents of East and South DeKalb.
The new Taxes imposed upon all residents of DeKalb County has many in Central and North DeKalb wondering if they are getting their money's worth ? Perhaps even "keeping up" the "welfare states" of DeKalb districts 3, 4 and 5.
Even with Commissioner Jeff Raiders lucerative land deals with his developer buddys there is much unrest in Districts 1 & 2 in DeKalb.
The residents of North and Central DeKalb must soon understand that Comissioners Raider and Boyer are no better than Larry Johnson or Sharon Barnes-Sutton.
The Current DeKalb BOC and CEO Burrell Ellis continue to drive all of DeKalb County into a deep dark hole !