A proposal that passed the Georgia House but may run into trouble in the Senate would change Stonecrest to a strong-mayor form of government and boost the chief executive’s salary from $20,000 a year to $75,000.
House Bill 1060, introduced just a week ago, was approved on the floor Wednesday as part of a slate of local bills. It now waits for action in the Senate where members are raising concerns how much Mayor Jason Lary stands to make under the proposal.
VIDEO: Previous coverage of Stonecrest
He says the rewrite of the Stonecrest charter just two years into its existance is necessarily to implement changes that have already been approved by the City Council. The city's budget is projected to more than doubled from $6.2 million a year to $14.7 million because of proceeds from the new SPLOST tax, Lary said. The city of roughly 50,000 residents also is planning to take over public works and law enforcement responsibilities from DeKalb County.
“It’s a full-time job unlike Dunwoody, unlike Johns Creek, unlike Brookhaven,” Lary said, citing similar-size cities whose part-time mayors’ salaries are in line with what he makes already.
A $75,000 salary for Stonecrest's mayor was part of the initial drafts of the 2016 bill authorizing a cityhood referendum, but the House Governmental Affairs Committee insisted on a reduction. Lary, who was a vocal proponent for cityhood at the time, said he agreed with the change only to move the proposal forward but always thought the amount was too low.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, was the only member of the House to vote "no" on the slate of local bills that were presented as a package on Wednesday. She said she did so because of concerns about the Stonecrest proposal, in particular the mayor's salary increase.
Now that the House has signed off, the bill is pending in the Senate where at least two of three members who represent portions of Stonecrest need to sign off. Sen. Tonya Anderson, Sen. Gloria Butler and Sen. Emanuel Jones could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Rep. Vernon Jones was the main sponsor of the bill in the House, but it also had the support of five other members whose districts include parts of Stonecrest: Rep. Karen Bennett, Rep. Doreen Carter, Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick, Rep. Pam Stephenson, and Rep. “Coach” Williams.
Jones said he considered the issue one of local control and believes legislators should generally support proposals that bubble up from cities they represent.
“If this is what they want, it sounded reasonable,” the Democrat from Lithonia said. “I have no problem with it.”
The problem may lie with the Senate, where members have already criticized DeKalb commissioners for quietly raising their salaries by 60 percent. As a result, lawmakers took steps to delay the increase for four members who have two years left in their terms.
Sen. Fran Millar, a Republican whose district includes portions of DeKalb but not Stonecrest, said if HB 1060 comes up on the Senate floor as part of a package of local bills he would have it broken out by itself so he could lobby against it.
“We think the amounts are outrageous,” he said. “These are part-time jobs.”
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