About Dunwoody reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 20??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 2013)
COMMUNITY PHOTOS BY JOE EARLE Dunwoody Charter Commission members, left to right, Mallard Holliday, Rick Otness, Beverly Wingate, Robert Wittenstein and chairman Max Lehmann on July 31 debate a change to the city’s founding document. Charter Commission still hoping to fund city fire department CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 a reduction in the fire tax for homeown ers that would mimic the Homestead Option Sales Tax offset provided by the county. The commissioners said the re duction should be based on an average of the five years of HOST percentage re ductions prior to the start of the city de partment. Some city officials have proposed joining other north DeKalb cities to cre ate a multi-city fire department. They argue the cities can provide better fire services for about the same money spent by DeKalb. City officials say the city al ready has the power to offer fire services. Previously, the commission had pro posed allowing the county’s fire tax col lections to go directly into general city coffers, a move some residents have criti cized as allowing the city council to raise taxes above the charter’s millage cap, which prohibits the city from imposing more than 3.04 mills in taxes without a public vote. Opponents have packed charter commission meetings to argue in favor of requiring a referendum rather than a charter amendment to allow the city to collect the fire millage. “Do not take away my voting rights on ad valorem taxes,” resident Merry Carmichael told the commissioners on July 31. Ed Palmer said the commission’s pro posal would “give [the council] authori ty that only should be rested in the peo ple they represent.” But charter commission members said the new plan would not raise tax es. It would transfer the millage from the county to the city, and the fire tax would show up as a separate line item on a homeowner’s tax bill, just as it does now. “I think this is still problemat ic, but it’s better than what we did before,” Commissioner Rick Ot ness said before joining commission chairman Max Lehmann in voting against the plan. “I think when we formed the city, there was a compact made that the millage would not be more than 3.04 mills. This was an end-around.” But Commissioner Bev Wingate said that because the city contracts with DeKalb for fire services, it al ready is, in effect, collecting indirect ly for fire services. “We are already charging our citizens,” she said. Wingate and Commissioners Robert Wittenstein and Mallard Holliday voted to approve the new plan. “When we started the city, it was about taking local control,” Holliday said. “For me, there’s not a tax in crease [in the fire services proposal]. ... To me, this aligns with having lo cal control.” Merry Carmichael reads a statement to the commissioners during the July 31 meeting. SAVE -THE ~ v ^SUNDAY, JUNE 15 THROUGH MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014 DON’T MISS OUT ON OUR “EARLY BIRD” DISCOUNTS THROUGH OCTOBER 1! CHOOSE AN ISRAEL EXPERIENCE BASED ON YOUR INTERESTS: • FIRST TIME PEEK AT ISRAEL • START-UP INNOVATION • MODERN ISRAELI SOCIETY: • ARTISTIC, CULINARY & A WEEK IN THE LIFE CULTURAL DELIGHTS WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US. . ■ - v. It.- . •“ " ’ •'••-Tv-wV "• ■'4; ' • '—rU •' v V-v • , s --V- . ■ • , - ■' •••]• ; awe ■ T •: ~ JEWISH ATLANTA IS GOING TO ISRAEL! 'sb e Jewish Federation From $3,000* per person *Land only Connecting For more information or to register, visit frjx\ Community . . mssSnS JewishAtlanta.org/Mission2014 DUN www.ReporterNewspapers.netl AUG.9—AUG.22,2013 | 5
