DeKalb County population
Area…Population in 2010
DeKalb County (total)…691,893
Unincorporated DeKalb … 511,590
Atlanta (DeKalb portion) … 28,292
Avondale Estates … 2,960
Brookhaven … 49,217
Chamblee … 9,892
Clarkston … 7,554
Decatur … 19,335
Doraville … 8,330
Dunwoody … 46,267
Lithonia … 1,924
Pine Lake … 730
Stone Mountain … 5,802
Source: 2010 U.S. Census
The idea of turning all of DeKalb County into a patchwork map of cities, suggested by Interim CEO Lee May, doesn’t appear to have gained much traction with a group of community leaders, experts and lawmakers planning the county’s future.
While efforts to create cities in Tucker and the Briarcliff-Lakeside areas are moving forward, the situation in the southern part of DeKalb County is less clear. South DeKalb residents have begun holding community meetings to discuss forming their own city, but they haven’t yet drawn a map or figured out whether the city could financially support itself.
May has supported incorporating all of the county as a way to provide better government services.
Options for how to divvy up the county are being reviewed by the DeKalb Government Operations Task Force, which has been charged with trying to solve the county’s structural problems. Its goal is to propose fixes before the state Legislature meets again next year. The group — formed this summer by May — is still in the early stages of its work.
Some residents in unincorporated areas said they fear new north DeKalb cities would keep tax money for their own local governments, resulting in less revenue for the rest of the county. More than 540,000 residents currently live in unincorporated DeKalb, making up more than three-quarters of its current 707,000 population, according to county estimates.
“If we do nothing, we will eventually be left with a situation where much of the valuable property has been taken,” said Kathryn Rice, a board member of the South DeKalb Improvement Association. “Yes, I think it’s possible to happen … (but) not without a lot of discussion, argument and a lot of people disagreeing.”
She proposes creating a City of South DeKalb, which could include many of the currently unincorporated areas south of Memorial Drive.
DeKalb already has 11 cities, and all but one of them, Lithonia, is located in the northern part of the county. Two cities, Dunwoody and Brookhaven, have been formed since 2008.
Those cities include valuable commercial properties that generate tax money for local government services like police and parks, while unincorporated areas are more likely to be made up of lower-value residential properties.
Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, said he would oppose an effort to turn all of unincorporated DeKalb County into one city, but he could support the creation of smaller cities.
“Cityhood is about communities securing control of their own destiny. It is not about a county government taking a defensive measure to prevent communities from determining their own destiny,” said Jacobs, a member of the county task force. “If the goal is to incorporate all of DeKalb County into one big city of DeKalb, that’s a non-starter.”
Other task force members also sounded skeptical about their ability to reach an agreement on how to reshape DeKalb County and distribute resources equitably between cities and unincorporated areas.
“I’m not real optimistic,” said former Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd. “We have to figure out how to provide services in the south part of the county.”
David Sjoquist, a Georgia State University economics professor, said the task force is looking for long-term answers about how the county should serve its residents.
“We’re not coming in with a vision that the entire county will be incorporated. There are many people who don’t want that,” he said. “If there’s no creative thinking, we’ll get Tucker, Briarcliff-Lakeside and some annexations, and we’ll be done.”
An obstacle to creating cities on the southside is whether they’d be financially viable.
A University of Georgia study last year concluded that the proposed city of Stonecrest, which would surround Lithonia in the southeastern part of the county, wouldn’t be able to sustain itself because its estimated expenses for government services exceeded revenue.
Meanwhile, studies of Tucker, Briarcliff and Lakeside found that they would be sustainable as cities. No further studies of potential southern DeKalb cities have been conducted — a required step before state lawmakers will take action.
“Certainly, incorporating all of the county is a fine goal,” said Allen Venet, president of the City of Briarcliff Initiative, which is working with the Lakeside community on a combined cityhood proposal. “That’s going to be a difficult goal to accomplish — that’s a polite way of saying it.”
Potential cities could become more financially feasible if they offer minimal government services and forgo big-ticket items like a local police force. For example, the city of Peachtree Corners in Gwinnett County provides zoning services, code enforcement and trash collection while relying on the county for police and fire protection.
Communities also could gain additional tax revenue if they become cities because they could collect franchise fees from utilities for use of their rights-of-way, and they would receive a share of sales tax money dedicated for capital improvements.
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