Apparently, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones is again talking about making all of unincorporated DeKalb a city. I remember hearing this idea floated two or three years ago, but it still seems goofy to me primarily because of how large and diverse DeKalb is. The northern and southern halves of the county are vastly different places, and the communities within those halves are just as different.
From the Dec. 8 issue of The Story:
On Monday DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones announced he may seek to have all of unincorporated DeKalb made into the largest city in the state so that DeKalb could receive $22 million annually in utility franchise fees.
At a press conference, Jones said he would use the franchise fee revenue for infrastructure improvements. “We can’t continue to issue bonds to pay for infrastructure,†he said. Finance Director Michael Bell said the county would have to raise property taxes by 1.5 mils to gain $22 million. This would cost $120 more annually for a $200,000 home.
Eighty-five percent of its population receives services from DeKalb, Jones said, adding that the Sheriff’s Office, Public Health, and Public Safety would stay the same after incorporation. The CEO, who is in his second term, said he is not interested in running for Mayor of the new city.
Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd thinks the better solution would be for heavily-populated, unincorporated areas to follow Sandy Springs and incorporate as cities.
“It would be better to investigate letting Dunwoody, Tucker, Northlake and Soapstone incorporate. They would be much better served by local control and local government,†Floyd said. “It is awful hard for a commissioner representing south or north DeKalb to make decisions about land use at the other end of the county effectively. The same zoning and land use don’t work in all parts of the county.â€Â
Putting the question of franchise fees aside for a second (which is a valid one, I believe), what are the advantages of incorporating a county that size? I can’t think of too many. The northern half of the county already thinks Vernon bleeds them to build infrastructure in South DeKalb. That resentment would only be fueled further if it was tougher for the theoretical cities of Dunwoody, Tucker, etc. to incorporate, which I think it would be under a City of DeKalb versus the existing DeKalb County. Plus, maps would look pretty goofy with cities like Decatur and Stone Mountain sitting in the middle of the larger City of DeKalb. Turf wars among competing agencies could only get worse. Someone tell me if I’m off base here.
I think the real reason to do it is because if you get Dunwoody into a DeKalb city they can’t split off into a city with themselves. And you might be able to write the law so that a majority vote in the county incorporates the whole thing instead of each individual area or census tract needing a majority vote to join the city.
But I doubt that would get through the legislature. You have never seen lobbyists for municipalities and lobbyists for counties hate each other more than when franchise fees come up. Get out of their way then!
Chris,
Yeah, it probably won’t get real far, but it sure would be fun to watch!
The big benefit is probably to make sure that what happened to Fulton with Sandy Springs doesn’t happen to Dekalb with all the more affluent areas in its northern half.
Personally, I don’t think the county has done a great job taking care of the areas it is responsible for around Doraville, so I would be terrified of seeing them have those areas locked up with no possibility of annexation by other cities.
I think you’re only half off base here. This is a really screwy idea. It was proposed by Gwinnett County last year as a way to keep its unincorporated areas from becoming cities or being annexed by cities.
The dumb thing is that we have counties competing with cities in the first place. Decatur’s mayor is abso-fucking-lutley right. Dunwoody should incorporate. Scottsdale should incorporate. Every neighborhood should incorporate. They can contract with the county for services like water and whatnot. But they’ll also have local control over zoning and things like that.
Jones’ idea would basically just be a shell game. Unincorporated Dekalb already acts like a city, with the county government doing what city councils normally do. Any incorporation would just prevent areas like Dunwoody from ever having control over its own destiny.
Yeah, but where am I half off base?
Yes! At Dekalb City, you can get your bases half off!
… only $19.95. Tax, tag and title not included. See store for details.
On base: it’s a screwy idea
Off base: it would change the reality of day to day operations in Dekalb, as unincorporated Dekalb already acts like one city.
Mr. CEO simply can not be trusted. Whatever positives from forming a city are negated by him being involved with it. He refuses to spend any money from the general budget on infrastructure…and I’m not sure why.
The funding for public safety and the court system have doubled in the last ten years. Let me repeat that: doubled!
Everyone wants effective public safety and a good court system, but doubling their budgets in that short of time is unheard of. And much of that money is going to added layers of bureaucracy and waste. But we’ll never see itemized, detailed budgets online. Spending increases for those departments should
have been less dramatic, and funding would have been available for infrastructure, and there would have been no need for the bond, which is basically a tax that will be with us for decades. Plus, the police dept. is a politicized mess. I don’t mean the rank & file officers, I mean the upper management. When the head guy says that it’s not against the law to run from the police (at least when its the son of a top officer), there’s bigtime trouble. And the court system spends money like a druken soldier, with no checks & balances.
Vernon has an agenda, and that’s himself.
If legit elected officials like David Adelman or Steph Stuckey were advocating a City of DeKalb, it would hold weight. With Vernon pushing it, it’s as questionable as some of his suspicious greenspace bond land purchases (ask about the Wayne Mason “fliped” property).
Doraville is fine. I speak as a citizen of Doraville. Granted, certainly areas on the cusp of Doraville have some issues, but only because the Doraville Police Dept can not patrol those areas. They are GREAT. Enough said on that matter.
Should other areas of DeKalb County incorporate? Absolutely. The REASON they should incorporate is to avoid being ‘raped’ by DeKalb Co., aka Vernon Jones. He disguises himself as moderate but many of his proposals feel very socialist to me, and a socialist is not a moderate (much less a conservative, & if he’s serious about switching to the Republican party - good luck pal, I’ll lobby against him all the way to the White House). Period.
The only reason he would want to incorporate the parts of the county that are not already incorporated is take advantage of those who are financially responsible and successful. I’m a capitalist, an American, and do not believe in the Robin Hood myth. Charity should be in the realm of The Church and the local community, not that of the CEO of DeKalb County, which is a position that should not exist to BEGIN with. Grrrr… I could go on, but I won’t waste your time on my rants!
[...] As for the idea of a “City of Dekalb,” this terrifies me. Incorporating the county would box Doraville in, and prevent it from being able to ever incorporate some of these under-performing areas. I also think that the differences between South Dekalb and North Dekalb counties are too wide to make sense forcing them into a single city. « My Take on Doraville Posted in Dekalb, State Legislature | [...]
Shirley Franklin has done a pretty good job of fixing up Atlanta. Here is an idea - Atlanta should go ahead and annex the rest of DeKalb county. Dunwoody, Tucker, et. al. incorporating will just add more layers of unnecessary and redundant beauracracy.
Mr. CEO just publicly called out the county commissioners, openly questioning whether they have been unduely influenced by a particular business to reward a big sewage treatment contract. Maybe they will finally stand up to Mr. Ego, and stop the madness.
Also scroll down for article on City of ATL police pay increase.
Jones said he has concerns about the commissioners’ business selection.
“I’m concerned about whether the commissioners have been lobbied by a particular business who wants the contract” he said.
Sewage Proposal on Table
DeKalb Neighbor
May 31, 2006
by Rhonda Barnett
DeKalb Neighbor Staff Writer
Chief Execitve office Vernon Jones refused to hear a proposal for sewage treatment improvements authored by District 2 Commissioner Gale Walldorff at last week’s commission meeting.
The proposal outlines upgrades of the Snapfinger and Polebridge wastewater plants.
According to Ms. Walldorff, the plants need to these improvements to accommodate aggressive development in DeKalb County.
The plants are also shared with Gwinnett County, which is increasing the strain.
“This needs to be done and we will continue the process,” she said.
(Commisioner Burrell) Ellis said the request for proposal underwent several phases which determined what firms were qualified to do the work. The firms then projected costs for the project.
“In all of the information we have reviewed, we do not see anything that allows the administration, after a request for proposl has gone through that many stages, to just be canceled without review by the board,” Ellis said.
Jones said he has concerns about the commissioners’ business selection.
“I’m concerned about whether the commissioners have been lobbied by a particular business who wants the contract” he said. “I want to make sure that when and if we do it that it is efficient, effective and cost tax payers the least amount of money,”.
According to Jones, the request for proposal never got to the point where it was put on the agenda by the administration.
“After talking to senor management, it was decided that we would cancel the request for proposal and that is what we did,” said Jones. “It could have made it through 99.99 steps, but last time I checked Vernon Jones was the Chief Executive Officer and I had the authority to do what I did.”
Jones recomended the commissioners take the item to the Audit Comittee and later that day, they did.
“We asked a number of questions regarding the request for proposal at the Audit Comittee and requested documents that we are waiting on,” said Ms. Walldorff.
Dekalb as a city is a crazy ideal. Vernon Jones is a dummy with dummy ideas. Dekalb County is so screwed up, it should all be broken into smaller cities, maybe then it would be an ok place to leave. I don’t even live in Dunwoody and I am pushing for their incorporation as a city, I hope the citizens of Dunwoody get what they want, but from what I see so far, they are not pushing hard enough. Doraville really looks like a shanty town, I wish city official would actually use their power and do more about the “city”. At least Chamblee is really doing something about it’s “shanty” appearance.
Mr. CEO is an idiot. I have only lived here a few years and have already learned this. He’s a child with authority. Working in land development, I know first hand how outlandish his “ideas” are. If he wants to do something worthwhile with his remaining time in office, he should let each community incorporate. Then, all of the shabby areas in the county would begin to clean themselves up! If ol’ Vern is running a city/county/HUGE government body, it would only be a matter of time before it all goes to heck.