High-minded discussion of the value of home rule has been part of the debate over whether Dunwoody should become a city or remain an unincorporated part of DeKalb County.

But Thursday night at a citizens forum, the 300-plus people who attended appeared to have one main thing on their minds.

Money. Their money.

That was the topic of most questions posed to a group of six panelists.

Would seniors lose their tax exemptions if the north DeKalb community voted July 15 to break away and incorporate, one person wanted to know.

Will property taxes go up, another asked.

How would the loss of tax revenue from Dunwoody affect the rest of the county?

The answers were predictable in that most had been answered somewhere before, often by the same people who sat on the panel. The group included three members or representatives of the Citizens for Dunwoody, which is the non-profit, research-oriented group that pushed for the cityhood referendum, and three others: DeKalb Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Leonardo McClarty; Perimeter Community Improvement Districts president Yvonne Williams; and DeKalb County commissioner Jeff Rader.

The panelists opened the forum with short statements, then took questions sent up by the audience on cards which were read, often with humor, by the moderator, Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker.

Citizens for Dunwoody member Robert Wittenstein told the packed house at Dunwoody United Methodist Church that only a small percentage of Dunwoody residents' property tax bills would be diverted from the county to the municipality.

He also cited a study done by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia when asked about a possible tax increase. He said the same level of services or better could be provided without any tax hike. And seniors would retain their property tax exemptions.

Because the forum was not intended as a debate platform, there was little direct dispute among the panelists.

McClarty, however, warned of the possible adverse effect on business if taxes or fees increase, and said many questions about the impact of incorporation remained to be answered.

Rader noted that whatever happens with Dunwoody, the county will "still have to balance our budget."

Despite its seriousness of purpose, the forum, which was sponsored by the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, was not without its lighter moments. Among them, this question: If Dunwoody became a city, would residents all have the same zip code?

The answer, the panel noted, is that zip codes, the province of the U.S. Postal Service, would remain as they are.