For the third time, DeKalb County and its cities are taking a fight over taxes to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Tuesday, the high court will hear arguments in an eight-year sales-tax lawsuit in DeKalb about how the county and cities should divvy up money raised by the homestead option sales tax, or HOST.

If the county wins, it saves an estimated $30 million in revenue it won't have to share with the nine cities within DeKalb County's borders. But should the cities prevail, the county could have to cough up at least $9 million it has not paid as the lawsuit pinged its way around the courts.

"To the extent that folks wonder why this is a big deal, you're talking about millions of dollars and a stream of income for the next 40 years," said Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss. "That's significant."

Voters approved the one-penny HOST tax in 1997 as part of a pledge to reduce county homeowners' property taxes. Up to 20 percent of the revenue was designed for capital improvement projects, and the county and its cities agreed to share that portion as a way to give city residents tax relief equal to residents in the unincorporated areas.

Four cities, led by Decatur, sued in 2000, saying the county shortchanged their payments. The county countered by saying it never had the authority to enter the deal in the first place.

Lower courts agreed with the county, but the cities appealed twice before the Supreme Court agreed to settle the matter. In 2003, the high court ruled that DeKalb had to honor the original deal. Litigation continued, however, as the county changed tactics and argued the deal violates the state constitution by not specifically detailing the projects each city must undertake to receive the funds.

DeKalb County spokeswoman Kristie Swink declined comment on the lawsuit.

"We are going to court to state our position and don't want to put it in the court of public opinion until it's been litigated," Swink said.

Swink would confirm, however, that the county had not put the disputed funds in escrow. No court has ever required the money in question, an estimated $9 million as of 2006, be put into reserves, according to court documents.

The money is a small part of DeKalb's $635 million budget but it could add up for the cities, which make up about 15 percent of DeKalb's population, according to census figures.

Chamblee, for instance, calculates it is owed nearly $650,000 through 2006, without interest — or 8 percent of its annual $8.2 million budget.

"This isn't a tug of war between the county government and the city governments," said Chamblee City Manager Kathy Brannon. "It's about the taxpayers in the city areas paying the same 1 percent as county residents and not getting any benefit for it."

By statute, the state Supreme Court must make its decision in the next two terms of the court, or within the next six months.

Depending on the ruling, the case could still linger, since it will most likely be sent to lower courts for final details to be hashed out.

Both sides in the suit would do well to remember that as the litigation goes before the high court again, said Paula Sanford, a researcher at the Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, who has researched HOST tax programs.

"One would hope they would start to work together on the question of what ultimately is fair for everyone," Sanford said. "They all still have to live together."