And the Saga Continues . . .

The Brookhaven Post has been diligent in its pursuit of the truth behind the Executive Park and CHOA request to be annexed into Brookhaven. On October 17, Tom Doolittle, a contributor to the Brookhaven Post, published an account of the DeKalb Delegation public hearing, held on October 13th in the Brookhaven City Hall. The article includes several videos of the meeting, the viewing of which is its own reward. His article can be found HERE.

The Post provided a follow up article today, found HERE, which includes maps provided by the property owners of the proposed annexation, as well as a composite map assembled by The Post. 

Smaller versions of those maps are reproduced here. (After the break.)

Brookhaven Meddling . . . Again?

Brookhaven Considers Annexation South of I-85 to Include Executive Park & Children's Hospital of Atlanta

The City of Brookhaven is considering applications from Executive Park and the nearby Children's Hospital of Atlanta for annexation into the City.  As those properties under consideration are exclusively commercial, they can be annexed by Brookhaven using either the 100% method or the 60% method, both procedures allowing annexation solely by a vote of the Brookhaven City Council. The state legislature is not involved, and a referendum by residents (there are none) would NOT be required.

The annexations, if they proceed, will have a potentially serious impact on the proposed City of Lakeside/Briarcliff. I say potentially due to the fact that this area was NOT included in the proposed City of Lakeside until the very last map, engineered by Rep. Mike Jacobs (R), Brookhaven, which would be version 7 for Lakeside.  It was NOT included in the feasibility study for Lakeside. This area has always been included in the proposed City of Briarcliff proposed boundaries and feasibility study.

This is an interesting twist for Brookhaven for three reasons. First, when Dunwoody first formed, they had initially sought to include major commercial properties south of I-285, but backed off when complaints were noted that they would be depriving any future city south of I-285 from potential revenue. Dunwoody deferred to the then non-existent possiblity of a City of Brookhaven, at that point merely a twinkle in the eye of Rep. Jacobs. Second, Brookhaven found itself in a serious kerfluffle when it tried the same play with Century Century, after Chamblee had already been allowed to pursue annexation of the area by the state legislature. Brookhaven eventually backed away from that battle. And third, when the City of Lakeside's first map was issued, both Brookhaven and Chamblee pundits objected to Lakeside jumping I-85 to include revenue-rich commercial properties. Lakeside immediately deferred to those concerns.

But You Left Out the Franchise Fees!

Brookhaven Explains It All

Brookhaven recently mailed out a flier, titled The Facts About Property Tax In Brookhaven, to every property owner within the City limits. In an attempt to justify their position that property taxes are lower in Brookhaven when compared to adjacent areas of unincorporated DeKalb County, Brookhaven has provided a point-by-point analysis of the tax advantages supposedly enjoyed by City residents.

The Truth-O-Meter In Action!

In an article titled Claim Exaggerates Tax Savings, PolitiFact Georgia, a joint site managed by PolitiFact.com and ajc.com, took a hard look at the numbers provided in the flier and attempted to determine just how accurate Brookhaven's claims actually were. Their analysis can be found HERE.

In essense, where Brookhaven claims that tax savings for a home valued at $200,00 would be $260.84 per year. PolitiFact, in its analysis, determined that the true savings for that same home would be less than $50.00 per year. Ultimately, PolitiFact rated Brookhaven's claim as Half True.

But Where Are the Franchise Fees?

In reading the both the flyer and the PolitiFact article, we note that both groups omitted the impact of franchise fees on their city revenues, exactly how much is paid by City residents and how those fees vary between the new cities and the County. In researching franchise fees, I've found it is problematic to determine exactly how they work, who pays what, who ultimately receives that revenue, and just how it is accounted for. In general, cities may collect franchise fees that the County cannot, but franchise fees are assessed on both city and county residents, often unknowingly. Some franchise fees paid by unincorporated residents are distributed to cities statewide, but not to the County which generates them. A tricky slope indeed, franchise fees.

So what impact do franchise fees have on Brookhaven's budget? And how does that compare to the County? They're not saying, and its quite possible that nobody really knows for sure.

The flier itself, after the break.

The Carl Vinson Institute

State law requires that any proposed new city first have a financial feasibility study conducted by either the Carl Vinson Institute: The University of Georgia or by The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies: Georgia State University.  These studies will cost each organizing committee approximately $30,000, and must be completed before any municipal incorporation bill moves forward in the Georgia General Assembly.

Attached are three recent studies conducted by the Carl Vinson Institute for the newest cities in DeKalb County, Dunwoody and Brookhaven, and for the newest city in Gwinnett County, Peachtree Corners.

These are being made available to those who would like to understand exactly what the studies do, what they may contain, and how they reach their conclusions.