MILTON: Don’t act hastily in deciding whether to re-create county

North Fulton used to be called Milton County, but merged with Fulton County during the Depression.

Now Milton, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Mountain Park wonder: Is it time to re-create Milton County?

If you listen to Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) and others, it is.

If you listen to Fulton County Board of Commissioners chair John H. Eaves, it’s bad public policy and harmful to the metro Atlanta economy.

And if you listen to many residents in my city of Milton, leaving Fulton County to re-create Milton County, that is the premise of House Resolution 21, is a fantastic idea. It could mean higher costs in the short term, some say, but eventually more efficient, responsive government.

But if you ask me, it hasn’t yet been thoroughly thought through. This issue is complex and emotional and needs to be further researched by all Fulton County residents.

The University of Georgia and Georgia State University just released a very lengthy examination of the feasibility of a new Milton County. (Read through the executive summary and six attached reports at www.cviog.uga.edu/miltoncounty.)

Though the study says Milton County is “viable,” the report also acknowledges it can’t predict costs, such as capital expenditures. Report No. 4 on “legal impacts” demonstrates the legal complexities of becoming a new Milton County. How much will it cost to meet all the legal challenges the opposition could pose? Residents need to consider this.

Emotions could flair if Eaves holds town meetings in North Fulton communities to explain his objections to a new Milton County, as he stated in a recent AJC opinion column (@issue, March 3).

He thinks HR 21 “is a blatant violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.” Since that legislation was enacted to combat racial inequities in voting districts, it seems he’s ready to make this a racial issue.

Milton residents I know don’t want this to be about race, but better government. “I believe that to be efficient and serve the people who actually pay the taxes it makes perfect sense to split the current Fulton County, serving each community in proportion to its tax base,” one resident says.

“Our county tax money should stay in North Fulton to support our schools, roads and infrastructure,” writes another. “We should have our own court system and … our own public safety system.”

“There is no way of knowing how much the creation of services in Milton will cost, so initially there may be no tax savings or a tax increase,” another resident adds. “However, whatever it costs, the money will be spent locally, and that’s really what most people want.”

If passed by two-thirds of the House and the Senate, HR 21 would be placed on the general ballot for a statewide vote in 2010. It seems perfectly reasonable to think that a newly formulated Milton County would be more responsive to residents of the current North Fulton area.

But before we let that happen, we’d better know what we’re getting into.

> Veronica Buckman is a writer and resident of Milton for six years.