North Fulton leaders will be watching closely what the county does with the $2.1 million it makes off the sale of Clarence E. Duncan Memorial Park to the city of Fairburn.
County Manager Zachary Williams told the County Commission earlier this month that he is trying to determine whether the money should go into the general fund, for the entire county, or into the special services tax district, for unincorporated south Fulton.
Some officials say this is a baby that needs to be split. At issue is that, while the service district once paid to maintain the park, the newly formed cities of Chattahoochee Hills, Johns Creek, Milton and Sandy Springs were in the district at the time.
Commissioner Liz Hausmann said the proceeds should be divvied up, based on tax contributions through the years, between south Fulton and the new cities. Either that or put it in the reserve fund, she said.
"It's really about following the money," Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said.
Commissioner William "Bill" Edwards, whose district includes Fairburn, wants as much money as possible put into the service district, which raised an array of fees this year to cushion an expected 12 percent decline in tax revenue. But he said he will let the county manager and county attorney decide what's fair.
"Nobody will drag me into a fight," Edwards said. "I'll decide when I want to get in a fight."
Duncan Park, a 140-acre tract, sits just north of the Georgia Renaissance Festival site. Fairburn annexed the surrounding land in the mid-1990s, and when the city population grew beyond 5,000, state law forbade the county from maintaining the park.
The city began leasing it in 2003 and in recent years saw it fall into disrepair. In November, 72 percent of Fairburn voters approved a bond referendum that will invest about $5 million into buying and refurbishing the grounds.
As this is the first sale of its kind since the formation of the new cities, the county will set a precedent in where it puts the proceeds, said state Rep. Lynne Riley, R-Johns Creek, a former Fulton commissioner. If the cities feel slighted, their recourse could be litigation, she said.
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