Legislature reshapes DeKalb County

Georgia’s lawmakers dedicated plenty of attention to DeKalb County during this year’s legislative session, pushing through measures for new cities, increased government accountability and tax reform.

By the time the Georgia General Assembly finished its annual work late Thursday, seven major bills affecting DeKalb had been approved and sent to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature.

Here’s a look at the DeKalb initiatives that survived this year’s legislative session:

• Voters will decide whether to form the proposed cities of LaVista Hills and Tucker during a November referendum. House Bill 520 could lead to the creation of a 67,446-person city of LaVista Hills located mostly inside I-285. House Bill 515 outlines the framework for a 33,301-resident city of Tucker generally reaching east from I-285.
• An independent auditor position, called for under House Bill 599, will be created to seek out fraud and improve government efficiency.
• The DeKalb Board of Ethics will be reappointed, with community groups choosing board members instead of county politicians, according to House Bill 597. The legislation also removes the board's power to removed elected officials from office. The Board of Ethics will be picked by the DeKalb Bar Association, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, the DeKalb legislative delegation, the judge of the DeKalb Probate Court, Leadership DeKalb, DeKalb colleges and universities, and the chief judge of DeKalb Superior Court.
• Sealed bids will be required for all DeKalb government purchases exceeding $50,000, and the DeKalb Commission must approve all purchases exceeding $100,000, according to House Bill 598.
• Assessed property values will remain frozen for another five years under House Bill 596. By preventing the assessed value of homes from going up except when they're sold or renovated, residents property taxes will stay the same each year unless elected officials raise rates.
• A referendum on tax changes could be put to voters when called for by DeKalb's elected county government leaders. House Bill 215 calls for increasing the county's sales tax rate to 8 percent to fund infrastructure upgrades, and it also would allocate a larger portion of existing sales tax collections toward residential property tax relief.