Road to Milton County goes through Atlanta
One name you won’t see on the ballot this November is Milton, as in the once and maybe future county that we currently call north Fulton.
A constitutional amendment to allow the re-creation of former counties — Milton, like Campbell to the south, merged with Fulton in the 1930s — didn’t come up for a vote in the Legislature this spring. So, a public referendum must wait.
The bid to split Georgia’s most populous county has some powerful supporters, including the House’s speaker pro tem, Rep. Jan Jones, R-Alpharetta. It isn’t going away.
But neither are misgivings among the Fulton lawmakers and citizens — including yours truly — who’d be left behind after a split. And the legislative math is tricky for any attempt to pass the amendment without support from the rest of the Atlanta and Fulton delegations.
So, the pro-Milton crowd needs to make the case that the rest of Fulton would be better off, too. In an interview in her Capitol office Thursday, that’s just what Jones tried to do.
“The way the legislation’s written,” she said, “Atlanta could say, ‘Enough. We want to consolidate with Fulton County. South Fulton, go have a good day. North Fulton, have a good day.’ They have their own school system; it would be simple. And we have models for that already in the state, with [consolidated city-county governments in] Columbus and Augusta, and Athens.”
Consolidation, she said, would allow Atlanta and all or part of the remainder of Fulton to eliminate duplicate services and staff, and then fund needed changes or cut taxes.
“I lived in Atlanta about as long as I have lived in north Fulton, and enjoyed living in both,” she said. “But I will tell you that the overall sum of the taxes, and some of the intractable problems that I ran into as a resident … told me that Atlanta in particular needs real reform, structurally. There’s only so much people will pay in taxes, or they’ll leave. And I think Atlanta is there …
“I’ve heard the mayor [Kasim Reed] quoted, and he’s got some long-term problems that are facing the city. … He is going to be hampered by the total sum of the taxes that folks there pay now. You can’t just tax your way out of it. They’ve tried.”
A merged Atlanta-Fulton County would still be the state’s fourth-largest local government (Milton County would rank fifth), so she said it would retain the wherewithal to meet its needs: “You’d have Atlanta, really I think, in the driver’s seat, controlling its destiny. … They have a deeper tax base than either … end of the county.”
Too-big government isn’t the only problem. Jones said some governments and school districts in Georgia are too small.
“When you have [some] school systems that are smaller than individual high schools, it doesn’t take a genius to realize, it’s not possible for … some of the very small school systems, no matter how hard they try, or how good a job they do, to offer the broad array of opportunities that students need. …
“The same is true with local governments. In some cases, you can’t get … the economies of scale to serve the public.”
Still, Jones said she doesn’t consider herself “the champion or the catalyst behind changing how local governments work in other parts of the state … I feel very deeply that’s a local issue for them to decide.”
In the case of Fulton and Milton, a commitment from Atlanta officials to seize the opportunities that Jones outlined for the city would go a long way toward persuading local skeptics to decide to get on board.
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123 comments Add your comment
Lil' Barry Bailout
September 12th, 2010
8:22 pm
Ronin: Without the NF tax revenue, they will be unable to maintain services.
————
Well, they could just raise taxes, right? That seems to be the Democrat solution to most any problem.
Lil' Barry Bailout
September 12th, 2010
8:25 pm
Only 860 days until Mike Luckovich starts doing cartoons critical of the President.
Luckovich: Coward. Sellout.
Cutty
September 13th, 2010
12:52 am
As long as Milton reimburses Fulton County for al the infrastructure it has built up that way, they can do whatever they want. Otherwise, its theft.
We’ll really see the new Milton go the way as the old Milton, and these secessionists will have only themselves to blame. Atlanta is still the goose that lays the golden egg, no matter what anyone says. Georgia would be Mississippi without it.
itpdude
September 13th, 2010
5:53 am
Don’t we already have the most counties of any state in the US? And we want another county? Seems silly to me. But the North Fulton folks wanted those cities (how’s that workin’ for ya?) so we now have police doing some major revenue raising via speedtraps and police literally patrolling for seatbelt violations in hopes of finding something bigger with which to raise money.
North Fulton already has the best streets in the county, the lowest crime in the county, and the best schools in the county. What are they complaining about?
Do the Math?
September 13th, 2010
8:39 am
Hey, I am simply confused on the statement in the article above that says “an Atlanta-Fulton County consolidated” would still be the FOURTH-largest local government in Georgia (Milton would be fifth).
Wouldn’t it be the LARGEST (in terms of population like Fulton already is now)?
Or was that a reference to land size?
Not germane to the argument here; I was just curious because that comment didn’t seem to add up.
Carry on.
Do the Math?
September 13th, 2010
8:41 am
NEVER MIND…that’s without Milton…the whole point of the article…
Carry on.
CAIR Bears
September 13th, 2010
9:06 am
HA! Dewstar is arguing with other people instead of me!
CAIR Bears
September 13th, 2010
9:07 am
“JB shouldnt you be preaching a sermon in a church full of your inbred relatives somewhere?”
I always love how retards from GA talk about other people in the sense of being inbred but they themselves……reside in GA.
Intown
September 13th, 2010
11:19 am
Milton County would not be good for anyone. In the short term, whoever ends up making Milton Co would reap tax benefits. In the end it would polarize and tank the entire metro area.
Pro-Milton advocates have never been honest about this debate. They’ve spent State tax dollars on a one-sided study, they’ve included all of Sandy Springs in their plans even though most of Sandy Springs was ALWAYS part of Fulton County, AND their legislation would hold a referendum only in those parts of the county seeking to secede from Fulton.
If they were honest, they would have an independant unbiased study of the proposal, they would draw the boundaries based on the real history of Milton and they would let the entire county vote on the referendum to break it up. But, they are liars.
No More Progressives!
September 13th, 2010
11:27 am
Ayn Rant
September 11th, 2010
9:50 am
The 9/11 terrorist attack was punishment for the US support of Israel and the secular governments in the Arab countries (Saudi Arabia’s king, Egypt’s “fake” democracy, etc.). Al Qaeda strives to unite the Arab countries under Islamic fundamentalist rule, and to destroy Israel. They don’t give a rat’s butt about America’s “freedom” or way of life; they just want us to butt out of the Middle East.
They just want us to butt out.
Well why in the heck are they building mosques here? If we butt out, will they go home?
NO!!!
DEWSTARPATH
September 13th, 2010
11:29 am
CAIR Bears —- September 13th, 2010
9:06 am
“HA! Dewstar is arguing with other people instead of me!”
– HA! Hard to believe, isn’t it – since you are on here
more than any other poster in AJC history. Someone
else got a word in edgewise.
tommytwotone
September 13th, 2010
11:59 am
“So, the pro-Milton crowd needs to make the case that the rest of Fulton would be better off, too.”
—————
Um, no we don’t. Fulton can worry about Fulton. Like another poster said, let the dems in the city limits raise taxes on everything to make up for it. Since the Democrats love taxes so much, they won’t mind.
Mrs. Fulton
September 13th, 2010
12:31 pm
You think you can just take all the money you made while we were together and walk away! HA! You think you’ll be happier without me and everything *I* brought into this marriage? Good luck and good riddance! Of course it will cost you. What, do you think you can go from being broke to being wealthy during all our years together, then just take all the goodies and scram? TALK ABOUT YOUR ENTITLEMENT MENTALITY! Pay up on your way out.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 13th, 2010
1:36 pm
Don’t we already have the most counties of any state in the US?
No. Texas has 254.
Jefferson Jackson
September 13th, 2010
3:57 pm
Whatever happened to “free determination.” If the prople in that part of Fulton want to split and form Milton County, so be it. The fact that central and south Fulton would “sufer” for loss of tax revenues is indicative of the problem.
CAIR Bears
September 13th, 2010
4:14 pm
“since you are on here
more than any other poster in AJC history. ”
Guess you’ve never visited Bookman’s blog. Guarantee you will change your tune once you see the clowns who post over there 24/7. I’ve actually cut back since Kyle got mad at me for calling other people retards.
catlady
September 13th, 2010
5:13 pm
Ms. Jones needs to understand that “economies of scale” doesn’t work well in education. In buying widgets, perhaps. But education is too sensitive to input to determine output. Kids are not widgets you can buy in bulk.
DEWSTARPATH
September 13th, 2010
6:36 pm
CAIR Bears —– September 13th, 2010
4:14 pm
– I’ve been to Bookman’s blog before.You’re right about the number.
Six or seven pages of posts is a lot to read through and respond.
Legend of Len Barker
September 13th, 2010
9:25 pm
@Jefferson Jackson: “Free determination” as in the creation of a new county, is currently prohibited in the state constitution.
Unless you can get two counties to combine. Or can convince Alabama or Florida to take Seminole off our hands.
chris
September 14th, 2010
10:54 am
A little history – the reason we have so many counties is the “county unit system” a jim crow era scheme for allocating state legislators. By creating a bunch of small white controlled counties they could out vote large counties with sizable black populations (Fulton.)
Jefferson
September 14th, 2010
11:00 am
Well I thought about this for the last 2 DAYS, and I still say NO.
Legend of Len Barker
September 14th, 2010
11:39 am
@chris
A – The vast, vast majority of Georgia counties predate the county-unit system, which was introduced in the 1910s.
B – The number of counties exploded thanks to the expansion of railroads in the state. County seats were also hugely affected. Fairburn became Campbell’s county seat because Campbellton refused to allow the railroad to come through.
C – In comparison with other counties, Fulton didn’t have much of a black population. Places like Glynn and Burke counties were 80% minority 100 years ago. Farming was the main industry and Fulton just didn’t have that. Well, not nearly at the same level.
South Fulton
September 21st, 2010
11:32 am
Again, I remind you that this is a mute point because the whole state would have to vote to change the state constitution….Not gnna happen.