Another in a continuing series of meetings on the formation of the new City of South Fulton was held Thursday at Welcome All Park. But this time, Dr. Robert Eger had updated figures indicating that the new city will be financially viable despite the annexations of large portions of the proposed city by existing south Fulton cities.

The economist with Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies said the numbers had been re-budgeted after the annexations based on figures from Georgia Dept. of Revenue and Fulton County. Those numbers based on a millage rate of 5.731 percent, said Eger, showed revenue of $55.95 million. That millage rate is identical the Special Service District (SSD) rate currently paid to the county by residents of unincorporated south Fulton, in additional to General Fund taxes paid by all Fulton residents. Eger, along with Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand, explained in response to residents’ questions that the SSD taxes would no longer apply if the voters form the new city. The SSD taxes would be dropped from tax bills and the new millage, at a rate established by the new city council, would take effect.

Eger said that, based on the 5.731 millage rate, the revised figures showed property tax revenues of $22.532 million, sales tax at $11.863 million, licenses and permits at $9.236 million, fines and forfeitures at $1.2 million, franchise fees at $1.129 million and other revenue sources totaling $9.989 million. Built into the expenditures, said Eger, was $5.992 million for community development and public works, $6.950 million for roads and $3.268 million for parks and recreation, along with public safety, administrative and other costs.

Perhaps as significant as any concern was that of the number of police and firefighters that residents could expect. Eger said his figures included the provision for a total of 160 police and 204 fire personnel. Providing a comparison to police and fire personnel in Alpharetta and Marietta, Eger said South Fulton would have 3.3 police per 1,000 residents compared to 3.4 for Alpharetta and 2.7 for Marietta. The number of fire personnel for South Fulton showed 4.2 per 1,000 residents compared to 2.8 in Alpharetta and 2.1 in Marietta.

The fact that few people in America today have been involved with starting a new city leads to a variety of questions and concerns about how the process should work and the conditions by which that process can ensure success or whether it should be tried at all. South Fulton residents at the Welcome All meeting, and at every meeting on the new city to date, have surfaced questions relating to those multiple issues.

Some of the questions and concerns Thursday involved topics that were outside the domain of the proposed city, while others were directly on target. Residents wanted to know what the millage rate might be and the variables involved in establishing the rate. They asked about the new city’s portion of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) and revenue generated through property taxes.

LOST taxes represent a current revenue of approximately $12 million per year. Those funds would only become available if residents vote the new city into existence June 19, said South Fulton Concerned Citizens (SFCC) representative Benny Crane.

A significant number of questions revolved around aspects of the city charter, the make-up of the city council and council district boundaries. Maps were available at the meeting that gave the district boundaries, with Ferdinand, Eger and Crane explaining the boundaries were drawn based on population density.

Recent annexations by existing cities and the potential tax revenue removed by those annexations was also a point of concern and contention by some at the meeting.

Numerous meetings have been held in recent months presenting both sides of the incorporation debate. Proponents on both sides of the issue, Fulton County Commissioner Bill Edwards opposing incorporation and SFCC promoting it, agree that residents need the maximum amount of prior to the June 19 vote.

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