When it comes to incorporation of the LaVista Hills community in North DeKalb, residents have two simple questions to ponder: Is there a problem? Is LaVista Hills part of the solution?

Ask yourself: Is DeKalb County doing a good job with your property taxes when it comes to providing public safety; making zoning decisions; filling potholes and maintaining roads; and providing quality parks for our children? For many of us, the answer is an obvious no.

County officials – who do not live in our community – impose zoning changes to neighborhoods that upset homeowners, while also neglecting much-needed economic redevelopment. The result is a worsening quality of life for our neighborhoods.

Literally thousands of potholes remain unrepaired – some dangerously large – year after year. Police coverage is spotty and infrequent. Homeowners report lengthy delays when they call 911 during an emergency or accident. It’s no fault of our dedicated police officers. Most are sent to other parts of the county. As a result, our community is neglected.

All this will change with incorporation as it did with Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven. Despite the fear mongering of opponents, it will not cost us more as we will keep some of our local tax dollars instead of sending them to the county where they are often mismanaged.

If voters approve on Nov. 3, LaVista Hills would become the state’s 12th-largest city with 67,000 residents – big enough to be efficient and small enough to be responsive. Six city council members would know our community well, and they would make decisions benefiting LaVista Hills and all of DeKalb.

The University of Georgia’s independent study has concluded that LaVista Hills would be fiscally sound, operate with an annual surplus and without a property tax increase. In every other new city, the surplus has actually been higher than the UGA projection.

LaVista Hills would bring up to 104 new police officers to our community, repave roads that have been neglected for decades, build new sidewalks, and better maintain our parks. With endless stories of corruption surrounding the indicted DeKalb CEO, a former county commissioner, employees, school officials and others, the county is unlikely to focus on the needs of our community for years to come.

The ethics, auditing and contracting reforms being forced on county government after years of resistance are a welcome part of the solution, and go hand in hand with cityhood. But they do not address the underlying need for responsive local government. Local control would give us the ability to elect our own leaders who can respond to our own needs, move our community forward and give us the infrastructure and public safety citizens desperately want in our part of DeKalb.

The General Assembly has given the residents of LaVista Hills the opportunity to choose good government. Now is the time to act. An effectively governed, thriving city will ultimately lead to a better DeKalb County.