A plan to slash the pay of the state's highest-paid elected official may have sank Wednesday.
Legislation pending in the state house initially would have hampered Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand's ability to be personally compensated for billing three cities' taxes, arrangements which last year earned him an extra $212,624 on top of his $134,440 county pay.
On Wednesday the bill got watered down by language added by a lobbyist for tax collectors. Now it's unclear whether three cities can break their contracts with Ferdinand, then still get their taxes collected by his office.
The first version of the bill would have cut Ferdinand and other tax commissioners out of the negotiating process when cities want counties to handle their tax collections. The Georgia Association of Tax Officials balked, and by adding amendments to the bill approved Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee, commissioners are back at the table.
City officials have expressed concerns that if they break their existing contracts with Ferdinand, he might not agree to new ones, leaving them to find another means of billing their taxes that might cost taxpayers more money.
"What if he says no?" Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said. "That's been the dilemma all along."
Ferdinand declined to comment for this story.
The measure's sponsor, Rep. Lynne Riley, R-Johns Creek, acknowledged that with the new language, nothing may change between the tax commissioner and the three cities.
"The reality is the contracts that Ferdinand has are in place," she said, "and we wouldn't be able to void an existing contract."
In addition to his county salary,Ferdinand charges personal fees to Atlanta, Sandy Springs and Johns Creek for handling their tax billing. His rate is $1 per parcel.
It's a throwback to Georgia's old fee system, when constitutional officers, such as sheriffs, probate judges and clerks of court, earned their pay by personally collecting fines and fees. Other Georgia tax commissioners collect similar fees from municipalities, but Ferdinand earns far more because he's handling the state's largest, sixth-largest and tenth-largest cities.
The three cities also paid the county government a combined $2.76 million to the county for the services, which Riley said amounts to double taxation.
Though nine Fulton cities handle their own billing, Atlanta, Johns Creek and Sandy Springs all believe they need Fulton's help. To do it any other way, they say, would cost more money, possibly yielding lesser returns.
Ferdinand's office has staff and software in place, boasts a 99 percent collection rate, and can send residents a single bill for both county and city property taxes.
"The bigger issue for me," Bodker said, "is we've got to make sure that whatever we do, we're getting quality and cost-effectiveness for our taxpayers. Today, we're getting both."
State Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, authored legislation in 2007 meant to stop the personal fees in large counties, but Ferdinand went on charging them, maintaining that the new law didn't trump existing contracts. The bill approved by the House Judiciary Committee, which Willard chairs, extended the ban on personal fees to all counties regardless of size.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution brought attention to the fees in a story published last year. Riley's original bill, introduced earlier this session, would have allowed cities to break their contracts with the tax commissioner, then negotiate directly with the Fulton County Commission on new pay arrangements.
Jackson County Tax Commissioner Donald Elrod, president of the Georgia Association of Tax Officials, objected to a law allowing commissions to order elected constitutional officers to take on additional work. On Wednesday, GATO lobbyist Richard Royal added language to the bill saying contracts have to be forged between cities, the county and the tax commissioner.
"We had to to that," Willard said, "to keep the tax commissioners from balking and calling up their representatives and trying to stop the thing."
Willard, who is Sandy Springs' city attorney, says he thinks the arrangements will stop under the bill, which must be approved by the full House, the Senate and the governor to become law.
If any cities want to break their contracts and renegotiate, and Ferdinand stands in the way, he would be turning away millions extra for the county coffers.
"If that happens, he cuts off his nose," Willard said. "I don't think he wants to be in that situation."
Ferdinand's pay infuriates many Fulton taxpayers.
Buckhead resident Robert Young, a retired Georgia Tech architecture professor, said he's doesn't object so much to the amount the tax commissioner earns, but how he earns it. In a previous interview, Ferdinand justified his pay by pointing out that he's under no obligation to collect cities taxes, so he's taking on outside work.
But he's using county software, equipment and staff to do that extra work, Young said.
"The man is paid a salary to do a job, just like most of us are paid a salary," he said. "But somehow, he's tapped into special circumstances that allow him to benefit unjustly."
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