Fresh Loaf

Robby phone home — to bitch about my tax bill

Yesterday, a fresh round of robo-calls went out across Atlanta, urging homeowners to call their Council member to protest a likely tax increase. Here’s the basic script:

Your Atlanta City Council member is just days away from voting for a massive tax increase. But we can’t afford an increase in property taxes. This is your last chance to voice your concern to Council member _______ before (Thursday’s) scheduled public hearing on this multi-million-dollar tax increase. Urge (him/her) to represent the people of this district by voting “no” on the 29th. Call (him/her) at 404-______ to urge (him/her) to represent the district by and vote “no” on the 29th. Call your Council person today. This call is paid for by the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation.

Last time, back in May, the calls were creepily anonymous, but they too came from the FCTF. Executive Director Barbara Payne later told me the organization didn’t want people to think it was trying to use the situation to boost its profile or solicit support. But apparently they realized the message carried more authority if they identified themselves.

I’m still not sure how the group decided which Council members to target, since few have gone on record to support the mayor’s proposed 3-mill tax hike. But the Taxpayers Foundation is certainly correct in guessing that, unless you live in Buckhead, your Councilman or -woman will likely vote for the increase come June 29.

Just last week, Councilman Ceasar Mitchell, who’s running for Council president, told me he’s planning to vote for the increase.

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Plant Vogtle

The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation and its president John Sherman filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Fulton County Superior Court over Senate Bill 31, a controversial piece of legislation that allows Georgia Power to begin charging customers in advance for two new proposed nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.

The lawsuit names the Georgia Public Service Commission, the quasi-judicial state agency that decides how much you pay for your electricity, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed the bill on April 21, as defendants.

During the legislative session, a diverse group of critics called the bill unfair because some industrial customers are exempt from the rate hike. They also said the issue belonged in the Georgia Public Service Commission, where a full-time staff examines and studies the complicated issue of nuclear financing. Georgia Power hired more than 70 lobbyists the push the bill.

In court documents, the foundation’s attorney John Woodham — the lone-wolf barrister who successfully fought the Beltline’s main funding mechanism all the way to Georgia Supreme Court — calls the bill unconstitutional on numerous grounds.

View the 53-page lawsuit here (PDF). It’s a long and complicated read for those not learned in the language of legalese. But it lays the groundwork of what’s sure to be an interesting battle over one of the past legislative session’s most controversial issues.

(Courtesy Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

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Matching House and Senate bills to revivify the long-gone Milton County at the expense of Fulton never made it to the floor in the just-completed General Assembly despite having some heavyweight sponsors. But that doesn’t mean the issue is dead. In fact, if a recent lunch gathering of North Fulton mayors is any indication, the movement may only be gaining steam.

For its annual luncheon Tuesday, the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation invited elected officials to opine on the unwieldy topic: ”How Fulton County Could Improve Its Governance To Prevent Any Secession.” But no one really took up that challenge — instead, the consensus seemed to be that it’s too late to preserve Fulton County in its present form.

Although Roswell Mayor Jere Wood has been in office long enough to have worked with a succession of county commission chairmen from North Fulton, he said the best that be hoped for is a clean break, with Milton pulling out of Fulton.

“The residents of North Fulton believe it’s time for the relationship to be ended in divorce,” Wood said.

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With a belly full of grouper and anger, a Buckhead resident stood before his neighbors at 103 West in the affluent north Atlanta community and unleashed his frustration.

“When is someone going to have them indicted and taken to trial?!?” he barked, eliciting head nods from fellow disgruntled taxpayers picking at their three-course lunches.

The “them” he refers to is the Atlanta municipal government — namely, the public school system, mayor, city council and bean counters who helped dig the $140 million hole in which the city finds itself. The angry man’s audience consists of more than 200  Buckhead residents, a well-to-do group of citizens in the city’s most well-to-do community.

The occasion? The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation’s luncheon to discuss the controversial — and extremely complex — notion of Buckhead severing ties with Atlanta, a city full of confusion that Glenn Delk, an attorney and 20-year resident of the community, said is subsidized by he and his neighbors’ largesse.

Delk, whose study about Buckhead’s possible cityhood has kickstarted a serious look into the matter, informed the audience right away that he neither intended to run for political office nor owned commercial property in Buckhead. He appears to simply be a person who doesn’t like paying high taxes for what he considers to be subpar services. Plus, he doesn’t trust the money management skills of City Hall. To him, and to many in this room, the time has come to break free.

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UPDATE: The date of the sold-out event has been corrected in the post.

On Thursday, the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation will attempt to turn a longtime cocktail party topic into a campaign to sever Buckhead from the city.

The foundation will gather businesspeople, politicians and activists at the posh 103 West restaurant to determine whether they should create a formal coalition, begin raising money and hire a lobbyist.

Both inspired by the recent incorporations of Sandy Springs and John’s Creek and frustrated by Atlanta’s estimated $140 million budget shortfall, secession advocates say the city unfairly leeches off the largesse its wealthiest district. Glenn Delk, an attorney who conducted a study that’s emboldened the movement, claims the move would reduce Buckhead residents’ tax bills by 50 percent.

Secession is an ambitious endeavor to say the least. It not only would be difficult to maneuver through the state Legislature, but it would create a huge hole in Atlanta’s pocketbook. According to Delk’s calculations, Buckhead generates 45.9 percent of the city’s property and sales tax revenues.

If they do push forward with the campaign, the activists are likely to face plenty of opposition from the Buckhead establishment, as well as City Hall. Scotty Greene, executive director of the Buckhead Community Improvement District, says residents would be better served by working with the city to right wrongs.

(Photo by Matthew Miller)

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The firing of City of Atlanta Senior Arborist Tom Coffin that was first reported here and quickly became national news has not slowed down. The Fulton Couty Taxpayers Foundation is calling for an e-mail campaign urging Mayor Shirley Franklin to investigate Coffin’s recent dismissal.

Here’s what the group sent out to members via e-mail:

Dear Members and Supporters,

Last week, Senior Arborist Tom Coffin was fired without explanation.

The story was so poignant, that the New York Times picked it up, as well as the Associated Press, Discover Magazine (Blog), Huffington Post, Fort Mill (SC) Times, Columbus (Ga) Ledger-Enquirer and The Examiner.com. See the link to the left for the NYTimes article.

According to sources, the battle has developers and builders on one side and Atlanta’s trees on the other. Coffin cited over 70 violations of illegal tree removal from developers during his tenure. As of today, Coffin has not been told the specific reason for his firing.

Couple this with developers wanting to use TAD funds for projects (on the ballot this November) and the blatant mismanagement of the City, we must wonder what is really happening and why a loyal, City worker was fired with no explanation.

We urge you to email Mayor Franklin, calling for a full investigation into Coffin’s dismissal. The FCTF will pass on more information as we receive it.

Sincerely,
Barbara Payne
Executive Director

Payne forgot to include Franklin’s e-mail address. If you’re so inclined, contact the mayor at sfranklin(at)atlantaga(dot)gov.

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