Tuesday, August 28, 2012

DeKalb raised Dunwoody's Millage (Tax) Rate the highest in the County - Live Stream Meeting 8 am Tuesday

Farmer Bob turns into City (County) Slicker when needed.

There will be a (Live Streamed) meeting of the Finance, Audit, & Budget (FAB) Committee of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at 8 a.m. The location will be the Maloof Bldg, 5th Floor, Board of Commissioners Offices, 1300 Commerce Dr, Decatur GA 30030.

1. DISCUSSION: The Budget Committee has invited the CEO, Executive Assistant, and Finance Director to a meeting to address the millage rate issues brought up by the Mayor’s of DeKalb County. All of the Mayors of DeKalb County have been invited to attend to participate in the discussion.

You can watch the complete replay: http://www.dekalbboc.com/

More background below ...

Mayors organize to question county millage - Dunwoody Crier

In the end, Dunwoody, which only uses the fire service, had the highest county millage increase (15.25 percent) followed by Doraville (9.84 percent), Chamblee (9.9 percent) and Stone Mountain (9.7 percent). “We want to understand how they did their calculations,” Dunwoody City Manager Warren Hutmacher said. “We want to make sure special tax districts are implemented consistent with the Service Delivery Strategy.”  Because the millage rates are already set for this year and the county collects the taxes for the cities, Hutmacher said it would be impractical at this point to reset the millage rates this late in the year.

Mayors, county squabbling over millage rate hikes - Champion News

 DeKalb County’s nine mayors, its county commissioners and CEO Burrell Ellis are expected to meet Aug. 28 to discuss concerns over disproportionate property tax increases.  The cities, which are home to 102,794 residents, or 14.9 percent of the county’s population, say the county’s 2012 millage rates have increased their property taxes from 7 percent to 15 percent while the millage rate for unincorporated DeKalb declined by double digits for police, roads and parks.

7 comments:

ThomasJ said...

This is just a microcosm of what is happening around the country. We need to vote out these lunatics before they wreck the entire city. Reference Detroit, reference Chicago. If you tax the productive members enough, they'll simply move elsewhere and you'll be left with the tax receipts from the rest of the county.

ThomasJ said...

Also, for the record:

Could it be more obvious that this was intentional, along with the $100,000 home appraisal increases on many of our homes during one of the worst housing busts in the last 100 years?

Don't expect me to back down when you deny my appeal you blood suckers. I'm going all the way to court to fight this crap if I have to.

Glory_Jackson said...

Well, I see nothing wrong in rewarding loyalty. Didn't you think this was going to happen when you voted to become a city? Did you expect the same county services when you were part of a county without paying for them?

And in these comments, I'm very surprised that "wink-wink" racist comments are allowed.

Bob Turner said...

This is what happens when our local county personnel, that are supposed to be looking out for Dunwoody and the surrounding area's interests, are too busy sticking their noses into Dunwoody city politics by blogging gossip and consequently costing our city over $100,000 in leak associated trivialities costs. They should have been looking out for us with the county. We taxpayers just keep paying for amateurs who want to play a game of politics with our money - don't we!

I suggest the mayor, and his carbon copy councilor who came in with him, grow a set by stop taking their cues from muckrakers and get to work retrieving our money from the county!

TwoDogsTrucking said...

Well duh, did the cities think the county was going to do nothing. Political egos are at stake. The county will present its opinion of why they did what they did and cities will cry foul. Lawsuits will be filed and only the tax payers will lose in a chest bumping contest between city and county politicians. A Dunwoody PAC would of done more good than picking a fight with the county. Dunwoody was never better government, it looks the same as other muni's/county and it just boils down to unnecessary government.

Bob Lundsten said...

Mr. Turner,

Give it a rest.

Anytime you want to sit down face to face and discuss this issue, I would be more than happy to meet
Until then you obviously have no clue what you are talking about.
The commissioner serves over 145,000 people in her district not just the 47,000 that happen to live in Dunwoody.
Her record is clear. She voted against this DeKalb County budget, and arranged to have the meeting with the Mayors this morning.
She has constantly fought the spending spree that Vernon Jones put us on and the failure to cut personnel by the current administration.
Her office successfully corrected over 1,100 errors in Dunwoody appraisals so citizens would not have to fight the higher assessments. And even now. after the tax bills have been mailed, continues to work with citizens who feel they have not been able to get the answers they need.
Her office has answered and assisted every citizen, yes even those from Dunwoody, with problems from traffic court to water bills that feel frustrated by the system.

I may work for the Commissioner, but I have lived in this community for 30 years, so like you I have every right to participate in what happens here. Unlike you I don't hide behind blog posts (the media source that you claim you detest, yet seem to love to use).

The Ethics Committee will determine the final outcome in the charges against Ms. Bonser. I did not file those charges, the 6 other city councilmen did. They did not do so because of what my blog said.
As I said in the Reporter Newspaper article this week, I would do it all again, because no public official has the right to decide for themselves what rules they are to follow and when they are going to follow them.
Your name calling and inflammatory comments are boring and irrelevant to the issues at hand.
The violation of executive session is not a trivial matter. Perhaps for you it is.
So anytime you want to talk Mr. Turner, I will be happy to meet you for breakfast at the Hickory House and discuss this stuff like two adults.
I can get Blogger Bob to pick up the tab.

Bob Turner said...

You talk about talking man to man, well, a real man wouldn't engage in character assassination gossip regarding two good councilors who only sought to serve the city.

Although the first councilor that you sought to denigrate was too gracious and too good of a man to initiate a libel and slander suit against you, I'm sure your current victim will not be so forgiving. And I certainly wouldn't step in an establishment that you patronize.

So, we'll leave it at that, you can continue to spew your hate and brag it about that you're "stirring the pot" not caring about how it destroys lives never seeing the faults of your own hubris, never realizing the lights flickering in your basement was actually your soul growing darker as you hit the enter post button to publish your invectives.