It has gone virtually unnoticed by most Georgians that several new cityhood bills were introduced at the end of the just-concluded General Assembly. A new east Cobb County city proposal, for example, floundered in the last legislative session. But it was revived this year for consideration during the 2022 session.
Also of interest is that a cityhood committee in the Buckhead business section of Atlanta – an area wracked by rising violent crime— is making noise and gaining converts. Its leaders went to the General Assembly in its final days to drop legislation to separate from Georgia’s capital city. A bill number could be assigned to it soon, and Rep. Todd Jones introduced it in the House and Sen. Brandon Beach in the Senate.
There were also cityhood creation bills dropped in the hopper for south and west Cobb sections as well as for the village of Vinings.
Any new city in Georgia — and there have been about a dozen created since 2005– requires passage of legislation by the General Assembly and approval of the governor. The issue then goes to the voters inside the proposed city limits. So proponents will be working all this year and into January to build support.
Proponents also must secure a university to conduct a feasibility study, in accordance with state law, that concludes a city would be able to provide and/or expand basic services at a lower cost than what residents currently pay in county taxes.
The East Cobb cityhood group, for example, had feasibility studies conducted by Georgia State University and an independent group of finance professionals that concluded a city could fiscally stand on its own and provide basic services. It isn’t clear, though, that a new study needs to be conducted since the original geographical area has been reduced in size to make it more sellable.
In any event, InsiderAdvantage has learned through various interviews that there seems to be growing legislative support for all these proposals. Proponents say they want to take time to do it right, to answer questions, allay concerns and to “educate” voters for the rest of this year.
