The city of Brookhaven has paid just over $25,000 to join the DeKalb Municipal Association effective July 1, becoming its largest monetary contributor.
Brookhaven was the last city in DeKalb to join DMA. The annual membership fee is $1 per capita, making Brookhaven the organization’s largest source of income. That fee comes out to about $50,000 and was prorated for this year, since the city joined in July.
“It’s primarily an association that brings together the cities,” said Bill Floyd, DMA’s managing director.
He made a presentation to the Brookhaven City Council in March explaining the benefits of joining. At that time he laid out the association's budget and organizational structure.
The DMA has a contract with the Georgia Municipal Association, which provides the managing director and consultation services. The managing director’s $65,000 salary comes from DMA fees, and $25,000 goes directly to GMA.
With the increase in revenue from Brookhaven joining, Floyd said the fee might be lowered for all cities next year.
“We certainly don’t have a need for a whole lot more money in that organization,” Floyd told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Floyd said the DMA is not an organization that lobbies or takes a stances on most issues.
“For the most part, what we do is collect information and provide information to the cities,” he said. “We don’t take a lot of votes; we just do a lot of discussions.”
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One criticism of DMA from the public is that there is no website, and the Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2014.
“I think that’s probably a good idea, to put all the information about DMA on a website where it’s easily accessible,” Floyd said. “I didn’t even know we had a Facebook page.”
Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst thinks this is one area the organization needs to address in the near future.
“There should be some changes in terms of websites and outreach,” he said. “There will probably be a different funding mechanism that will lower the overall burden for our citizens.”
Ernst says he is confident in the city’s decision to join DMA the way to fix it is from the inside.
“Instead of sitting on the outside and complaining about how the organization’s run,” Ernst said, “I’d rather have a seat at that table.”
He says it was a great investment for the city that has already delivered results. Currently, there are negotiations over service delivery strategies and SPLOST allocations.
“Those are two efforts where, if we’re divided, we’re a lot worse off,” Ernst said. “With current negotiations, it looks like Brookhaven could receive more from SPLOST than we would have.”
Similar negotiations are happening with the neighboring Gwinnett Municipal Association. According to Floyd, this was the model for DMA.
“I’m there to represent 16 cities,” said Randy Meachum, managing director of the Gwinnett Municipal Association.
The two county associations are similar in many ways. Both have fees that are based on population, though Gwinnett also has a flat rate fee included. Both have contracts with GMA to provide a managing director, and both are primarily informational organizations.
But there are differences as well. The Gwinnett association has a maintained website, and it will vote and take a stance on issues, if needed.
“There have been times that the organization has taken positions on matters,” Meachum said.
The managing directors often work together, though, and they hold a joint reception at GMA’s annual conference.
“I look forward to continuing that between our two organizations and cities,” Meachum said. “I grew up in DeKalb County, and I applaud Brookhaven.”
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