Leaders of a group exploring cityhood for north central DeKalb County unveiled a study Monday that shows Brookhaven would be viable, keeping alive the possibility that the General Assembly could vote on the proposal next year.
“Here is an opportunity for our community to control its own destiny from day one,” said Doug Dykhuizen, president of Citizens for North DeKalb. “Now that we know this is a viable possibility, we have to decide if it is a desirable one.”
The incorporation movement has been working quietly since the spring, when it hired the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute for Government to study if it would be possible to provide services in Brookhaven comparable to those provided by DeKalb, with no tax increase.
The study concluded Brookhaven could increase services, such as spending nearly three times more on park maintenance and having a dedicated police force of 53 officers, for the same 6.39 mills that residents there now pay for county special district services. A home assessed at $200,000 pays nearly $1,300 a year in property taxes under that rate.
Those taxes and fees are projected to raise $28.5 million for Brookhaven, while services would cost about $25.1 million. The surplus money could be used for additional services or tax cuts, depending on resident desire, according to the study.
"I think it's worth noting that DeKalb's record tax increase this summer made Brookhaven even more viable," said state Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, who has introduced legislation allowing a public vote on cityhood. If the Legislature approves the bill, voters could decide Brookhaven's fate in July 2012.
Only voters in Brookhaven, defined as the neighborhoods south of Dunwoody to I-85 between the Fulton line and Chamblee, will get that say, though.
Those borders have already generated push back. Residents in the Dresden East neighborhoods have accused organizers of cherry picking businesses along Clairmont Road to boost the city tax base but skipping the homes behind them.
DeKalb leaders are also expected to ask the Legislature to stop all cityhood votes for a year, over its worries that more communities will explore incorporation to protect their commercial districts from being poached.
Already, neighborhood groups in Tucker, Toco Hills and Stonecrest have floated the idea of cityhood. That domino effect could leave only the poorest county residents left in the unincorporated area, a reality in neighboring Fulton.
All but 50,000 of the more than 1.1 million people in Fulton live in cities, including four new municipalities that formed since 2005. Only a southern strip of the county is unincorporated.
By comparison, nearly three out of every four DeKalb’s 700,000 residents live in an unincorporated area, despite Dunwoody becoming a city in 2008.
Dunwoody, with a slightly smaller population and slightly larger budget than the proposed Brookhaven, cost the city $15 to $18 million in yearly revenue.
“There is obviously a negative impact on the county,” said DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis. “Counties still have to run the jails, run the courts. Everyone has to pay for that.”
Questions on those expenses are expected to be raised at neighborhood meetings planned in the next few weeks in Brookhaven subdivisions.
Jacobs also has planned two larger town hall meetings for anyone interested in the study and Brookhaven. The first meeting begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at Cross Keys High School on Druid Hills Road. The second will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Montgomery Elementary School on Ashford Dunwoody Road.
The study is available online at www.citizensfornorthdekalb.org.
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