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Senate Committee Declares Tucker Unconstitutional

Posted by Dan Whisenhunt on Decaturish.com .   December 16, 2015 The new city of Tucker, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters on Nov. 3, has an unconstitutional provision in its charter, a new report says. Additionally the report finds that while charters for new cities may provide a cap on tax rates, there’s nothing that requires cities to seek voter approval before raising taxes. At a Tucker 2015 meeting held in October, just before the Nov. 3 city referendum was held, organizers were still telling residents about the benefits of a "limited government," as Anne Lerner is seen here doing, while Michele Penkava (front row, far right) looks on.  Both women are now running for city council seats in District 3, though not against one another.  Each of the three districts will have two city council members.  Elections take place the first week of March 2016.  The Senate Annexation, Deannexation and Incorporation Study Committee me...

Where is the Benefit? County Says Reduced Services or Increased Taxes Result From New Cities

DeKalb CEO Lee May: New cities strain DeKalb budget Posted: 5:08 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 By Mark Niesse - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  As money and power shifts to newly created cities, DeKalb County’s government is feeling the pinch. Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May warned Wednesday that the county will soon have to reduce services or raise taxes because incorporations and annexations have strained budgets.                                        Interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May and DeKalb Budget Director Jay Vinicki discuss the county’s proposed 2016 budget on Wednesday. MARK ... read more Credit:...

Yet Another Way to Fund a New City in Georgia ... Parking Fines

  We recently learned the hard way about the various fines, fees and penalties that the new cities like to charge the public to help pay for their expensive layer of bureaucracy.     Sandy Springs has something they call "Citizens on Patrol."  It is a group of volunteers who take a short course on specific traffic violations that occur in their city on a regular basis.  These citizens are then equipped to write tickets in the name of safety and provide your new city with the added revenue it needs to fund its own growing need for more ... more power, more committees, more ways to tax you without calling it a tax.   One great way to get your money is through parking violation tickets.  Isn't that what you asked Santa to bring you this year?    Just in case you receive a ticket in a city near you, it helps to understand the laws in Georgia that you might be accused of breaking before deciding what to do next, so here they are: ...

Secretary of State Investigates the Nov. 3 City Vote in DeKalb County, GA

OUR COMPLAINTS TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE:   Save Tucker! spoke with investigators today regarding the Nov. 3 election that resulted in the formation of the new city of Tucker.  Our complaints about the boundary changes and resulting confusion at the voter precincts were heard, but we were told that the boundary issue is mainly a "political" process and the elections office is bound by the legal descriptions provided in HB 520 for Lavista Hills and HB 515 for Tucker .  Changes that may have been suggested after the final bills were approved were nothing more than that ... suggested changes.  They did not impact the boundaries in the legal descriptions that were approved in the legislature.  For maps that show detailed renderings of the Tucker boundaries and the local city precincts, we must now contact the county GIS department.  QUESTION:   Why is it so difficult to get an actual map or accurate description?  Does it seem f...

AJC Reports Candidates for Tucker's New Government Must Qualify Next Week

According to the AJC: Candidates seeking to become the new city of Tucker’s first elected leaders must file papers to run for office next week. Elections will be held March 1, 2016, to choose a mayor and six city council members. Tucker’s mayor will be paid $20,000, while each council member will earn $14,000 per year. About 74 percent of voters approving creating the city of Tucker during a Nov. 3 referendum. Candidates may qualify for the election from Dec. 7 to Dec. 11 at the DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections Office at 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300. Note the largest district (on the right) is actually the part that was never really considered Tucker in the first place.  They appear to have the bulk of the voters and therefore the candidates as well as the power residing there.  What do you want a bet that they will also see the lion's share of the tax dollars spent on improving their own area as well,  just like the situation in Broo...

Metro Atlanta City Votes, 2005 - Present

Sandy Springs (2005) … 94% Milton (2006) … 86% Johns Creek (2006) … 84% Chattahoochee Hills (2007) … 84% Dunwoody (2008) … 81% Tucker (2015) … 74% Peachtree Corners (2011) … 57% Brookhaven (2012) … 55% Lavista Hills (2015) … 49.5% South Fulton (2007) … 15% Source: County Election Offices.

Peach Pundit Website, Linked to Tucker 2015, Refuses to Return Voter Data Disk

According to ABC News, an audit will be conducted to review the voter files and data in the Georgia Secretary of State's office. Save Tucker! notes that the website in questions is also connected with the consulting firm said to have worked with the Tucker 2015 group in securing their recent victory in the cityhood referendum.  Read the admission at the end of the article, "Lavista Hills: Doomed from the Start" by Mike Hassinger:  here .  The company Apache Consulting worked on the Tucker campaign, but the owner says he lives and works in the Lavista Hills proposed city limits. The Peach Pundit reported that it "threw away" the disk that had the voter data on it, which they had received sometime in October, prior to the city vote for both Tucker and Lavista Hills.    Georgia to Hire Auditing Firm After Voters' Data Released ATLANTA — Nov 20, 2015, 8:41 PM ET ( By Kathleen Foody, Associated Press ) Georgia's secretary of state said Friday that...