It may have started in Atlanta and suburban enclaves around that city, but five owners of farmlands inside Eatonton city limits pounced on it last week – just days, if not hours, after Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Republican-dominated legislature’s bill into law on May 2.
For people who do not follow the winter goings-on at the state capitol, “it” will involve a new addition to their political vocabulary. It is called “de-annexation.” The basic idea is to allow owners of property inside a municipality – under certain rules – to remove that property from the city or town’s jurisdiction (and taxation).
The local group’s organization and legal paperwork were ready in time for the matter to face its first hurdle, getting on the agenda for approval by the Putnam County Board of Commissioners at its mid-month meeting this past Tuesday night. (The Tuesday night meeting is past The Messenger’s printing deadline for this week’s edition, but it will be covered next week. Meanwhile, reactions from Eatonton Mayor John Reid came Monday night, after the regularly scheduled city council meeting.)
The five owners here may have been the first in the state to test the new law. However, it’s highly likely they will not be the last, either here or among the state’s other 500-plus cities and towns.
In the short term, the new law would save property owners from having to pay city taxes. Or escape control from a larger political entity. Or set up a smaller town of their own, at least for a generation or so.
In the longer term, however, a continuous flow of such claims could seriously challenge the financial stability, even viability, of the state’s municipalities. According to City Administrator Gary Sanders, Eatonton’s current gross tax digest stands at $202 million, with a net digest (after exemptions are applied) of $145 million.
Reid was aware of the issue as it has been bubbling up through the General Assembly for the last few years. He mentioned well-heeled Buckhead’s attempt to set up an island government separate from Atlanta.
South of Atlanta in Henry County, Eagle’s Landing alongside I-75 wanted to pull away from the less prosperous city of Stockbridge.
However, Reid said he learned of the local impact only Monday afternoon. As for the rationale behind the county government’s role, all he could say was “That’s the way the law was written.”
“It is not so easy as it might sound,” Reid added. “And we are not going to just roll over and let it happen.”
The county’s meeting packet shows 16 properties ranging from one acre to 358 acres. The total 1,300 acres, residences, and improvements have tax values ranging from $18,500 to $771,000 for a total of about $7 million. The holdings of Tom Thompson and Tim Camp account for 10 of the 16 properties.
The group of properties is at one point or another contiguous – apparently one of the rules for a successful “de-annexation” – and form a north-south swath on Eatonton’s east side running from Lower Harmony Road to the Greensboro Highway to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.