Parent, Oliver Introduce Municipalization Bill

State Representatives Mary Margaret Oliver (D-83) and Elena Parent (D-81) announced Monday the introduction of House Bill 830 - legislation that would help the General Assembly and Georgia voters assess the financial viability of proposed municipalities.

 “The financial model we currently use is inadequate,”  Oliver said in a prepared statement. “The electorate deserves to know what impact a new city would have on the financial health of those inside and outside the boundaries of the proposed city before they are asked to make a decision on incorporation.”

Since 2005, the cities of Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton, Chattahoochee Hills, and Dunwoody have all been incorporated as new municipalities.  Efforts to incorporate Brookhaven are currently underway.

“Observing the process of the proposal to incorporate a city of Brookhaven in part of my district made me see up close the deficiencies in our current process,” Parent said.  “Our current municipalization process does not take into account the interests of surrounding cities or unincorporated neighborhoods.  For a new city to be successful, it needs to do that.”

Representatives Parent and Oliver believe that the 10-county Atlanta region will undergo a process of municipalization over the course of the next several decades and as such, "This process must be done with sound planning and with attention given to the economic viability of the counties and of the Atlanta region...,” Parent said.

Currently, no state law or regulation governs a specific process or procedure for Georgia communities hoping to incorporate into a new municipality.  Instead, the proposals are introduced as state legislation, which then follows the rules of whichever committee happens to be assigned the legislation. 

HB 830 would replace this existing committee-based system with a detailed statutory procedure that sets specific steps that every community must go through before being incorporated into a municipality.  This more predictable statutory procedure could only be changed by legislative acts signed into law by the governor. 

The new statutory procedure created by HB 830 would consist of a two year process that must begin in the first year of a Generally Assembly term, which will always be an odd numbered year unless changed by the state constitution.  During that first year, a committee in the General Assembly must determine the boundaries of the proposed municipality in a way that does not create unincorporated islands.  

Once the boundaries have been determined, a financial viability study must be conducted during the interim between the first and second sessions of the General Assembly term, which would include the amount of taxes needed to sustain the proposed municipality and the services it would provide; a before and after incorporation comparison of the estimated costs of police, fire, and sanitation services of  the new municipality, county, and adjacent existing counties; and the financial impact of the incorporation of the municipality on the county  where the new city is located, as well as the impact on adjacent existing municipalities in the same county.  After this study, the proposed new municipality must receive express consent to incorporate from the existing municipalities within close proximity to the proposed municipality’s boundaries.

Only after the boundaries have been determined, a financial viability study has been conducted, and existing municipalities within close proximity have given their express consent may the General Assembly move forward with committee action to determine the merits of the proposed municipality, and this may only be done during the second year of a Generally Assembly term.  When this happens, any committee reviewing the legislation to create the proposed municipality must determine whether sufficient testimony and evidence show that alternatives to incorporation meet the needs of those living within the proposed municipality.  A certification of the committee’s decision must then be attached to the report of the committee.  After all of these procedures are completed, the General Assembly may vote on passage of the measure.

For more information on HB 830, please click here.