Commissioner to propose suing over Dunwoody
by Andy Phelan
andy@dekalbchamp.com
May
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Commissioner Lee May of District 5 will ask his fellow legislators July 8 to support a lawsuit that would prevent the incorporation of Dunwoody from taking DeKalb County’s golden goose – Perimeter Community Improvement Districts.
He needs four votes to move forward, and he’s got three.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes was recently retained by CEO Vernon Jones to advise the county how to deal legally with its runaway bride, Dunwoody, and the financial implications to the rest of the county.
No action has yet been taken.
About 40,000 residents in the Dunwoody area will get a chance to vote July 15 on whether to incorporate. Residents of a potential city say they seek more local control of land use and planning, parks, zoning and police.
Opponents say push is nothing more than a modern secession, and that it will raises taxes for all county residents. Both sides differ by more than $10 million on how much it will all cost taxpayers both inside the boundaries of any new city and in unincorporated DeKalb.
But of particular concern to lawmakers and residents in unincorporated DeKalb is that any new city of Dunwoody would take a portion of the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts or PCIDs with them.
The PCIDs – self-taxing districts that use additional property taxes to help accelerate transportation and infrastructure improvement projects – have leveraged millions in county taxpayer money to bring in millions more in state and federal dollars that have gone to help keep the district one of the Southeast’s largest corporate office markets.
It’s home to more than 115,00 jobs today, but projections say that will grow by another 100,000 jobs by 2013. The Fulton and DeKalb PCID combined accounts for a $3 billion in real estate investment.
Given that incorporation means Dunwoody would take a portion of the PCID to fund their city, May said it would not be in the best interest of the county, even potential Dunwoodians.
“Carving out the most valuable property in the county is not fair,” said May. “This entire county has helped make Dunwoody and the PCID what it is. It isn’t right to cherry pick.”
Plus, said May, to exclude all the citizens of DeKalb – which is a majority Black – from voting in the referendum, smacks of an affront to civil rights.
“This is all happening in a county that is predominately African-American with a city being created by a predominately White population,” he said.
The cityhood referendum was cleared by the Justice Department in June.
Commissioner Burrell Ellis, who is a candidate for CEO, said at debate June 30 that Barnes told the commissioners that a lawsuit against Dunwoody was not likely to succeed and would be protracted – taking a lot of time and a lot of taxpayer money.
The question shouldn’t be whether we should sue, but how much will it cost?” said Ellis.
May said that’s not what he heard Barnes say about a potential suit.
“Gov. Barnes laid out several options to move forward,” said May. “It doesn’t hurt us in any way to pursue this. In fact, it only helps us. Barnes understands the issue, and a vote to support this resolution only means to approve him moving forward.”
What is still unclear is whether DeKalb would sue the city or the state, which approved the law allowing citizens of Dunwoody to vote on incorporation. If passed by voters July 15, Dunwoody would not officially be a city until Dec. 1.
Former Gov. Barnes could not be reached for comment.
Mallard Holliday, spokesman for Citizens for Dunwoody Inc., that helped launch a University of Georgia study into incorporation more than two years ago, said any lawsuit May and DeKalb might be considering does not affect them.
“This effort in no way impacts the city or future city,” said Holliday. “Whatever DeKalb would be suing over would be our charter, so their beef is with the state, which approved it. Any litigation would have to be against the state.”
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