Incorporation of Greenhaven, Vista Grove or all of unincorporated DeKalb County north of U.S. Highway 78 would require higher county taxes or reduced DeKalb County services, according to an analysis presented to a county panel on Wednesday.
The $84,000 study, prepared by the University of Georgia's Vinson Institute of Government, was funded by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners in February 2018 -- almost two years ago. Its work is guided by a "DeKalb Holistic Review Steering Committee" that includes county officials, state legislators, and officials from Brookhaven, Decatur and Stonecrest.
The presentation made to a county steering committee offered no specific policy recommendations regarding proposed new cities in DeKalb County.
While the steering committee had asked the Vinson Institute to consider to reflect the concept of "budget-neutral annexation," this was not addressed in the presentation. "Discussion of this concept and analysis of a case study will appear in the final report, but will not be discussed here today," said Vinson Institute Associate Director Ted Baggett.
The presentation offered by Baggett and others provided a detailed analysis of the impact of three incorporation scenarios to determine what the effect would be on annual county revenue and services the county provides.
GREENHAVEN
Incorporation of Greenhaven would cause a net loss to the county of $2.869 million per year (based on a loss of $23.9 million in revenues and a savings of $21 million in reduced expenditures). Here is the breakdown of net impacts in different budget areas:
Keep DeKalb Beautiful +$4.3 million
Code Compliance +$2.6 million
Business Licenses -$3.8 million
Current Planning +$0.6 million
Development -$0.9 million
Recreation, Parks & Cultural Affairs +$1.0 million
Undesignated revenues -$6.7 million
VISTA GROVE
Incorporation of Vista Grove would cause an annual $16.810 million net loss to the county (based on a loss of $31.2 million in revenues and a savings of $14.4 million in reduced expenditures). Those totals are based on these components:
Keep DeKalb Beautiful +$0.8 million
Code Compliance +$0.1 million
Business Licenses -$1.8 million
Current Planning $0.4 milion
Development -$0.2 million
Police -$10.9 million
Roads, Bridges, Transportation +$3.5 thousand
Recreation, Parks & Cultural Affairs -$3.6 million
Traffic Court -$0.4 million
Undesignated revenues -$1.3 million
NORTHERN DEKALB
Incorporating all of the unincorporated area north of U.S. Highway 78 would cost the county $26.426 million each year (based on a loss of $50.1 million in revenues and $23.7 million in reduced expenditures). That's based on these net impacts:
Keep DeKalb Beautiful +$1.2 million
Code Compliance +$0.4 million
Business licenses -$2.7 million
Current Planning +$0.6 million
Development -$0.3 million
Police -$17.3 million
Roads and bridges and transportation -$0.5 million
Recreation, Parks & Cultural Affairs -$4.2 million
Traffic Court -$0.6 million
Undesignated revenues -$2.9 million
Additionally, if Stonecrest were to provide its own police services, the county would benefit by $5.8 million. However, if Tucker were to provide its own police services, the county would suffer a $0.9 million loss. If both cities added a police force, the county would have a net gain of $4.9 million.
The report notes that undesignated revenues and insurance premium taxes are important sources of revenues for unincorporated DeKalb. It says that police services are the biggest factor in an incorporation's impact. It warns that funds for administrative services will be hurt as unincorporated services are reduced. The report specifies that service demand and revenue generation do not always come from the same geographical area. It also cautions that repayment of pension liability is a critical issue for all county residents, with a liability of more than $1 billion.
The county has indicated that it plans to post the presentation on its web site. Delores Crowell, the county's Director of Governmental Affairs, said the full report would also be published when it is completed in January.
The new findings differ from 2015 DeKalb County estimates that were based on an analysis tool developed by Alfie Meek, the Director of the Center for Economic Development Research with Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute. That algorithm estimated that Greenhaven would cost the county $9.6 million dollars and the then-proposed LaVista Hills would have cost the county $13.6 million.
