The backlash was swift when then-Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Tiffany Porter attempted to nearly double her salary by charging cities personal fees for tax collection.
The state enacted a law in 2021 that banned tax commissioners in Gwinnett and Fulton counties from negotiating directly with cities. The city of Grayson, in eastern Gwinnett, then successfully sued to have the county tax commissioner collect its taxes without personal fees.
Four years later, the city of Grayson has agreed to pay up the personal fees.
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners this week approved an agreement with Grayson that raises the city’s tax collection fee from $1.80 to $3.10 per parcel, and a separate agreement to pay $1 per parcel personally to current Gwinnett Tax Commissioner Denise Mitchell.
Mayor Allison Wilkerson, who was also in office in 2021 when Grayson fought the personal fees in court, said the Gwinnett law department requested the increase and the city’s only alternative was to bring tax collection in-house, as some others did after then-Tax Commissioner Porter proposed to charge $2 per parcel for her personal income.
One of Gwinnett’s smallest cities, Grayson has about 4,700 people, 2,500 tax parcels and four full-time employees.
“This number makes sense to us,” Wilkerson said. “There isn’t a way that a city with a staff of four full-time employees can hire a fifth person and the equipment to produce those few tax bills.
“Also, it makes it easier for our residents to pay one.”
Wilkerson said the city fought the personal fees on principle, and noted that Grayson is not paying Mitchell directly.
“We are paying the money to the county,” she said. “How they choose to divide it is up to them.”
Peachtree Corners, Gwinnett’s largest city, pays Mitchell $2 per parcel to collect its municipal fees, which boosts her overall salary by about $30,000. Mitchell collects taxes for Berkeley Lake, the smallest city wholly in Gwinnett, without personal fees.
Mitchell earns a base salary of $130,000 under state law. A county spokesperson Wednesday declined to provide her current salary with supplements and cost of living increases, referring the question to Mitchell’s office, which did not respond.
Bobbi Simpson, a spokesperson for Mitchell, declined to say why Mitchell needed personal fees to collect from Grayson.
County commissioners unanimously approved the agreements for Grayson’s tax collection. Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson and District 3 Commissioner Jasper Watkins, who represents Grayson, provided identical statements explaining their support.
“The total fee of $7,016 is a modest investment that remains significantly more cost-effective than outsourcing to a private tax service,” the commissioners said. “The city was also a willing partner in this decision and agreed to the revised terms.”
The contracts run through the end of Mitchell’s term in 2028.
Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand makes about $500,000, largely from personal fees for city collection. Ferdinand’s contracts with Fulton cities were negotiated before the 2021 law took effect and end when he leaves office.
State law also allows superior court clerks to personally keep passport processing fees, although many give some or all of that revenue to the local government.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found Cobb County Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor collected more than $425,000 in passport fees in 2021 and 2022 alone.
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