In colonial America, patriots fed up with high taxes and an oppressive British government started a revolution to create a nation with a government close to the people.
Not once did our Founding Fathers ask permission from France, Spain or any other interested nation to start a new country.
Yet the way the thinking goes by a handful of my DeKalb County colleagues at the state Capitol, Georgia communities seeking to incorporate a new city would have to seek the permission of cities up to three miles from their borders for the General Assembly to consider putting such a proposal on the ballot.
For Brookhaven, this means securing permission from Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Chamblee, Doraville and Atlanta.
This concept — being floated by state Rep. Elena Parent, D-Chamblee, in HB 830 — not only defies logic but flies in the face of the principle of self-governance. It’s a principle we’ve enjoyed since the founding of our nation.
Parent’s three-mile rule also runs contrary to a basic right contained in our state constitution, which provides: “The people of this state have the inherent right of regulating their internal government. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people; and at all times they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it.”
North DeKalb residents are simply asking to follow in the footsteps of other communities that have held a public vote on incorporation in the past seven years, including Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton, Chattahoochee Hills, Dunwoody and Peachtree Corners. They should be afforded this opportunity. The sooner the better.
With incorporation, these residents will see a portion of their property tax bill capped at a substantially lower millage rate, zoning and land use decisions that are no longer dictated from distant county offices in Decatur, and local investment in neighborhood infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks and parks.
Brookhaven residents justifiably want an opportunity to change their form of government. They have endured what some may call oppressive actions by the DeKalb County government in recent years. They include:
● A 26 percent property tax increase in 2011.
● Wasteful bond projects, such as the Porter Sanford Performing Arts Center, and CEO Burrell Ellis’ newly proposed soap-box derby track in east DeKalb. Both require new expenditures from the county treasury to operate.
● A 2012 budget plan from Ellis on the heels of 2011’s property tax hike. The plan would ramp up county spending and includes a 6.5 percent increase for his office and 5.8 percent for the commissioners.
Cityhood is the ultimate form of local control. It would yield a local government closer to home and more responsive to the needs of residents. It affords a degree of separation between your wallet and the long arm of the county government.
Each Brookhaven city council member would represent about 12,297 residents compared to the five DeKalb County commissioners who represent about 138,379 residents each, and the two super district commissioners who represent about 345,947 residents each. That’s 11 times and 28 times, respectively, as many residents as a Brookhaven city council member would represent in a new city.
Brookhaven residents experience frustrations with their county government that are not unlike what the patriots experienced with the British Empire. And like colonial Americans, no community in Georgia should have to get a permission slip from other interested jurisdictions for a vote on cityhood. The only permission required to determine new city limits should be a vote of the people.
State Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, represents District 80.
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