At this month’s North Fulton Municipal Association meeting, Roswell Mayor Jere Wood suggested forming an intergovernmental agreement for a joint tax collection service for Roswell, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Sandy Springs, Milton and Mountain Park.
“I’m a big believer in everything I can move out of Fulton County moving out of Fulton County,” he said. “I’m a big believer in north Fulton working as a unit every chance we can get.”
Establishing separate tax collection services would be one step forward on the road to re-establishing Milton County, allowing north Fulton to cut ties with Fulton County, Wood added.
“It would be very simple to take this — if we created an authority to collect taxes — [and] transfer that to Milton,” he said. “That makes it easier for the transition. The problem with transition is taking on a huge bite at once. I’ve always believed the way to transition to Milton County is small bites. This would be one of those small bites.”
Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said county tax problems have had significant impacts on some residents.
“I have gotten call after call after call from citizens who have really been in dire straits because of tax lien issues,” he said.
Wood said, “Fulton County does not work with anybody.”
He suggested looking into how much it would cost to establish a joint tax collection service.
“Either we could outsource it to somebody or we could have one city do it for everybody,” Wood said.
Also at the North Fulton Municipal Association meeting, north Fulton mayors banded together in opposition to House Bill 176, which would take away the cities' regulation of cell phone towers and give that power to the state.
“Let’s hope this can be stopped,” said Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos.
Bodker said AT&T has hired more than 100 lobbyists to push legislators in favor of the bill.
“They’re pulling out all the stops,” he said.
Galambos said it is important for the north Fulton municipalities to bring resolutions opposing the bill to their local delegates.
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