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COMMENTARY
Republicans in Legislature try to usurp county’s authority
In the March 22-April 4 issue of the
Buckhead Reporter, Fulton County Com
mission Chairman John Eaves wrote that
bills then pending in the state Legislature
would “devastate” Fulton County. In the
April 5-18 issue, state Rep. Ed Lindsey dis
cussed why he believed the legislation was
needed. This is Mr. Eaves’ response to that
column.
To the editor:
Recently, American City and Coun
ty Magazine published an article I wrote
called, “Home Rule Under Fire: The Ca
nary in the Coal Mine.” In the article,
I discuss that in America, states often
grant home rule to cities, counties and
municipalities within their borders ei
ther constitutionally or legislatively.
However, in my opinion, recent leg
islation proposed and passed by the
2013 Georgia General Assembly violates
the principle of home rule and should
stand as a dire warning to other cities
and counties that value their autonomy.
This year the majority Republican
state Legislature made attempts, some
of them successful, to usurp Fulton
County’s ability to maintain its tax base,
classify its employees, elect its Coun
ty Commissioners, appoint transporta
tion board members and name an elec
tion board chair. These county functions
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should be rights that fall under the prin
ciple of home rule.
In this age of hyper-partisanship,
there are few issues that solicit agree
ment across the political spectrum.
Home rule, however, seems to be one
of them. Most citizens support the idea
that local municipalities and counties
should be allowed to govern themselves
without interference from federal and
state legislatures.
Unfortunately, Fulton has already be
gun to see the effect of what happens
when the principle of home rule is vi
olated. The actions taken by the Geor
gia General Assembly have resulted in
a downgrade of Fulton County’s cred
it rating. By violating home rule, these
lawmakers took drastic action with no
dialogue or consideration of the impact
at the local level.
As a result, Fitch Ratings specifi
cally mentions the adoption of HB
604, which caps Fulton County’s mill-
age rate, as a reason to downgrade Ful
ton County’s credit rating to AA, down
from AA+. This action affects not only
Fulton County government but the Ful-
“Unfortunately, the
taxpayers of Fulton County
must now pay the price
for this discord and
unreasonable desire to
weaken our county.”
- JOHN EAVES
FULTON COUNTY COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
ton County Building Authority, the Ful-
ton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, and the
Fulton County Facilities Corporation.
They cite, “The downgrade of the
county’s GOs and other long-term rat
ings is based on erosion of financial flex
ibility... Furthermore, recent state law
changes directed at the county have
constrained its ability to increase prop
erty tax revenue, the principal funding
source for the general fund.”
More specifically, Fitch’s notice stat
ed that they believe “these recent legis
lative actions highlight an uncomfort
able degree of discord and absence of
cooperation between and among vari
ous levels of elected officials and man
agement, and generally diminish the fis
cal tools available to management which
Fitch considers a key component of rat
ing quality.”
Unfortunately, the taxpayers of Ful
ton County must now pay the price for
this discord and unreasonable desire to
weaken our county.
As I mentioned in my article, perhaps
Fulton County serves as the canary in
the coal mine of home rule. In the years
to come, our states, cities and counties
will need to continue to determine the
appropriate balance between the powers
wielded at each of these levels of govern
ment.
Our citizens are served best when no
one of these entities is granted complete
power. It remains to be seen whether the
experiment currently being undertaken
in the capital county of Georgia will rea
sonably balance the wishes of the coun
ty’s residents with the political wishes of
the state’s majority party... or shall they
instead choose to kill the bird?
John Eaves
John Eaves is chairman of the
Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
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