Do Cities Hurt Counties?
That’s a really hard question to answer directly, because it’s a nonsense question. Cities are all contained within Counties. So if a City improves its situation, development or government, it also improves the County that contains it.
Find out what's happening in Virginia Highland-Druid Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Start with the obvious.
Would DeKalb County have 700,000 residents if there were no City of Atlanta? The presence of a City has dramatically improved the fortunes of our area.
Find out what's happening in Virginia Highland-Druid Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Does Chamblee hurt DeKalb County? Of course not. Does Decatur? Has anyone suggested abolishing them because they hurt the County? If you ask the County Commissioners, would they suggest that?
What if a City, by promoting itself and improving its services, increases the value of its property? About 95% of the property taxes go to the County and the County School system. So the City only gets about 5% of the benefit of what it does to improve itself; but has all of the costs. How could that possibly hurt the County?
If a City takes over Police services in its area, and increases its police protection, does that hurt the County? No, it reduces the problems that the County has to worry about, and limits the area the County has to take care of. But it takes only the money the County is currently spending on policing that area.
And think about the question! It’s not the County’s money; it’s the people’s money, which they decide by their vote to give to a government organization. It’s the citizens’ choice to give some amount to one governmental agency, and some amount to another.
And wait a minute, if cities are bad for Counties, then Counties must be bad for the State. Just think if all of our tax money could be thrown into one pot, and legislators from Valdosta and Ringgold could decide where and how it’s spent. Would that be better? Perhaps they could do our zoning too.
Citizens in a local area know best what they want for themselves and their families. The important issues are not the same in Chamblee and Statesboro; and they're not the same in Oak Grove and Arabia Mountain.
And I should point out that the creation of a new city brings tax money into the County that is now being distributed throughout the state. HOST money that is going to other areas would come to DeKalb County to be spent here. Franchise fees that are going to other parts of the state would come to DeKalb County.