Skip to main content

Proposed Cities Have Not Disclosed Real Costs, Attorney Says

This letter was posted on the Decaturish site, under the title "Just Say No to New Cities."  It is true for both the city of Lavista Hills as well as the city of Tucker. 
Dear Decaturish,
It is my understanding that the LaVista Hills movement is upset with the AJC article that the proposed revenue will be less than anticipated.
I am more concerned about other misrepresentations to the community by the pro-city movement. The pro-LaVista Hills group in public meetings contends that court functions will remain in DeKalb County despite the fact that they are going to duplicate services.
Regardless of what you call it, leaders 
in the city effort have been less than 
transparent about the cost of 
services and where they plan 
to get the funds.
LaVista Hills residents will have to support the County Court system whether there is a new city or not. However, LaVista Hills will also unnecessarily duplicate services for municipal court functions. Municipal taxes will be used to support a Municipal Court, judge, public defender, solicitor, court clerk (and staff) and city attorney. (All these functions are currently run by the county.)
Of course there will be taxes to pay these employees or 1099 contractors, along with buildings (rented or built) to house the Municipal Court.
If the LaVista Hills Yes movement did not mention the court system in their presentation to the public I would not be as concerned.
However, by blatantly misleading the public before they get into office, I am extremely concerned about what happens if they get in office.
When it comes to cityhood, just say “no”.
David Markus, P.C.
Attorney at Law

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tweak us out of LaVista Hills

This is a letter shared with the "Dekalb Strong" group.  You can join the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/DeKalbStrong . We didn't realize how easy tweaking was. “Tweak” and just like that, 2000 people are moved from one city proposal to another. (“LaVista Hills, Tucker border tweaked in Senate,” News, March 20). Our home is in Toco Hills on the southern edge of the proposed LaVista Hills and we’d like to be tweaked out of it.   North and north central DeKalb County residents have become pawns in the misguided ambitions of a few. With all the changes made by the Senate and House, it’s vital the feasibility of these proposals be revisited. The LaVista Hills boundaries have bled commercial property to the Tucker proposal and Brookhaven’s annexation of Executive Park. As reconfigured, LaVista Hills is almost entirely residential. Even including Toco Hills shopping center and Northlake mall, there appears to be insufficient commercial or ind...

Welcome to Smoke Rise, Soon to be Tucker, GA

This could be the change that residents will see if Tucker 2015 is successful in getting its referendum nto a ballot and voters approve it.  The driving force behind the city of Tucker has been the leadership within the community known as "Smoke Rise, GA."  Smoke Rise residents currently have addresses that say "Stone Mountain, GA" and many of them worked hard in order to create a separate identity for themselves, petitioning the U.S. Post Office to change their official name to "Smoke Rise."  While the Post Office did not agree to change the official name, they did agree to allow "Smoke Rise" as a recognized alternative to "Stone Mountain" that could be used interchangeably as long as it accompanied their 30087 zip code. It is important to note that these residents did not ask the Post Office to recognize their use of "Tucker" as an acceptable alternative.  They asked to be called "Smoke Rise." It appears t...

DeKalb County School Board Member's Emails Show Support for Annexation

Here are just a few highlights of this investigative piece that was reported by Jeff Chirico, CBS Atlanta. Marshall Orson, a seated board member in DeKalb County, has to answer to some angry parents about his emails with supporters for "Together in Atlanta," a group pushing for annexation into the city of Atlanta. The annexation would take a DeKalb icon, the Druid Hills High School, and at least two elementary schools into the city limits of Atlanta, while still the residents would still technically reside in DeKalb County.  The Fernbank Science Center and Museum, Callenwalde Fine Arts Center and other parts of DeKalb County would also become new residents of "Atlanta in DeKalb."   State Rep. Karla Drenner (D - Avondale Estates) says she is shocked to learn that a school board member would seemingly favor something that could 'decimate' the school system. Annexation opponent Dawn Forman said Orson, as an elected board member, should be opposed t...