Judge may have final say in tax dispute

After three months of negotiations and court-ordered mediation between Gwinnett County and its cities, it appears a judge may have to settle their dispute.

At issue is how much city residents should pay in county taxes.

When mediation ended Wednesday with no agreement on service delivery in place, both sides became vulnerable to sanctions that could cost them millions in state grants. Superior Court Judge David E. Barrett of the Enotah Judicial Circuit suspended the state sanctions under the condition both sides continue to negotiate in good faith.

There was no word Friday from Barrett on whether he plans to reinstate the sanctions. If the judge vacates his order, the state will cut off all its aid to the county and its cities.

Georgia law allows that after mediation fails, either party can petition the court to resolve the items in dispute. As of Friday afternoon, neither side had filed.

It will be up to the judge whether the state sanctions should be reinstated while the case continues.

The county maintains city residents do not contribute as much to county coffers as those who live in unincorporated areas. The discrepancy comes chiefly in the form of fees, such as business permits and liquor licenses. City residents pay these fees for use in the city, the county argues, while unincorporated area residents pay them to the county.

County Administrator Jock Connell said these county fee revenues should be used solely to benefit those who pay it—-the 80 percent of Gwinnett’s population living outside city limits.

But Suwanee Mayor Dave Williams, who serves as chairman of the Gwinnett Municipal Association, took a different view.

“We have compromised a lot from our original position,” Williams said. ” I don’t think the county has compromised at all, one inch.”

While both sides came close to an agreement on water and sewer services, Connell said, they remain split over police services.

Behind the backing of County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister, the county has promoted a plan in which county police would deliver complete service throughout the county, including the nine cities that have their own police departments.

Lawrenceville Mayor Rex Millsaps called the plan misdirected.

“If anything, taxpayers in the nine cities that provide their own police should receive a county millage rate credit, because they don’t receive full police services from the county,” he said.

Suwanee’s Williams agreed. “We were hopeful that we would have a compromise agreement,” he said, “but the county has rejected all of our offers, insisting their approach is the only one that could be successful.’