Fulton County’s top government watchdog organization could be on the verge of collapse.
The Buckhead-based Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation has laid off both its staffers and isn’t taking any on any more clients to help with tax appeals.
According to board member Phil Kent, donations dwindled significantly this year, staff became overwhelmed with appeals work, and the organization suffered from a dearth of leadership as President John Sherman’s health began to fail.
The foundation suffered another blow from the death of Ron Bell, a board member who had been a major donor, Kent said.
For two decades, the foundation has been a fiscally-conservative foe of both the Atlanta and Fulton County governments, taking strong positions on such issues as the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal, Atlanta’s pension crisis, the Beltline project, the failed T-SPLOST referendum and the county’s board of assessors upheaval in the mid-2000s. Recently, the group has opposed building a new Atlanta Falcons stadium and has been advocating to turn Buckhead into a separate city.
The foundation board has brought in an auditor and will make a decision by the end of the year on whether to replace Sherman and continue, or shut down, Kent said.
“It would be a sad day,” he said. “It’s had a great role as a watchdog organization and a protector of the Fulton County taxpayer.”
Sherman said the foundation will go on.
“We’re not shutting it down,” he said. “We’re suffering from contribution loss. Nothing unusual. We decided to cut the overhead.”
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