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DeKalb County Georgia. Source: Google Maps.

DeKalb County has commissioned a study about the effect new cities and annexations have on county government.

The county turned to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. Carl Vinson has conducted feasibility studies for several proposed new cities, offering opinions on whether the cities would generate enough revenue to provide services.

With the new study, the Carl Vinson Institute would look at how those new cities and annexations have affected the county’s ability to provide services. The County Board of Commissioners approved the study at their Feb. 13 meeting. The county will pay $86,000 for the work. The study was requested by the DeKalb Municipal Association, according to Carl Vinson’s proposal.

“The assistance proposed to be provided consists of assessment of current service delivery responsibilities as they are apportioned among the various city governments and the county government, consideration and analysis related to expansion or creation of new municipal governments and the corresponding impact on county government with a goal of reaching a consensus plan for the future development of local government entities in DeKalb County,” Carl Vinson’s proposal says.

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“It is anticipated that this would be accomplished through an examination of the jurisdictional and service delivery footprint of existing city governments and the county government, consideration of expenditures in providing certain municipal services ( i. e. police, fire, roads and streets, water and sewer, sanitation, planning, code enforcement, parks, etc.), available revenues for providing services based on an examination of the tax base throughout the county and considerations of possible logical areas of expansion for existing and potentially new municipal governments, evaluation of potential costs and benefits associated with different scenarios and options presented for considerations by decision makers throughout the review process. A report detailing the results of the effort as well as any relevant data considered during the process would be produced by the Institute.”

Source: Proposal from Carl Vinson Institute.

Currently, there are two proposed cities being pitched to the state Legislature: Vista Grove and Greenhaven. It’s likely that both proposed cities will be debated in the 2019 Legislative session.

During a committee hearing in this year’s Legislative session, Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett asked legislators to hold off on approving the Greenhaven bill because of the pending study.

Mayor Garrett recently told Decaturish the study is a “holistic review and analysis of service delivery (levels of service in cities and in unincorporated DeKalb County), and impacts of future annexations and new cities.”

“The goal is to reach some sort of consensus vision to guide future decision making for the County/Cities as a whole,” she said.

Here is the proposal for services from the Carl Vinson Institute, provided by DeKalb County:

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