Any regrets on city incorporation? (e.g Johns Creek, Sandy Springs etc)

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

They could have also originally had more annexations to Alpharetta and Roswell.

The reason you might want to combine Johns Creek and Milton is they could share alot of administrative expenses and had more economies of scale on police dept spending etc... It would overall be cheaper to manage a city of 100,000 than two of 70k and 30k.

Sorry, but I don't see the logic. Having come from New England where every little town of a couple of thousand people has its own schools, police, fire, etc., I can understand the benefits of a more consolidated county gov't. Having said that, why force that, especially for 30K to 70K people?

70K and 30K residents is a pretty big small city. Why does it need to be huge? What is the fascination on this board with local gov'ts being these huge monolithic entities that takeover everything in their path?

The schools are still the Fulton Cty schools. Some of the services are shared by agreement already, such as E911 services. Why can't Milton residents decide they want to control their zoning in a different way from Johns Creek, which has a different demographic and profile?

[RoslynHolcomb]

I'm in Dunwoody and I'm happy with the change. I always assumed taxes would increase. I'm not tax expert, but I didn't see how they wouldn't. There are crews out working on our abysmal roads nearly every day, and we're getting sidewalks on my street. There is talk about improving the parks and expanding green spaces. Obviously these things are pretty far off into the future, given the economy, but it's good to know that we're at least talking about them and making plans.

[Tresninas]

I purchased a home in Johns Creek soon after incorporation, so I can't compare what it was like before or after. But I will say this-- I see my tax dollars at work here. The police are everywhere patrolling. (They were at the Regal Cinemas when I got out of a late movie Friday night, they drive around the side roads, they have been very proactive about a break-in in a local subdivision.) The city council and mayor have been adding lanes to roads and working with Forsyth to alleviate congestion. (And it's working.)

The taxes are high, yes, but I'm happy to pay them because I see them at work here.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Tresninas

The taxes are high, yes, but I'm happy to pay them because I see them at work here.

At least local residents get a local say in their tax burden and can agree to take on a higher burden for a direct local impact.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Sorry, but I don't see the logic. Having come from New England where every little town of a couple of thousand people has its own schools, police, fire, etc., I can understand the benefits of a more consolidated county gov't. Having said that, why force that, especially for 30K to 70K people?

70K and 30K residents is a pretty big small city. Why does it need to be huge? What is the fascination on this board with local gov'ts being these huge monolithic entities that takeover everything in their path?

The schools are still the Fulton Cty schools. Some of the services are shared by agreement already, such as E911 services. Why can't Milton residents decide they want to control their zoning in a different way from Johns Creek, which has a different demographic and profile?

Ok .... getting a little disingenuous here

No one ever made an argument about forcing anything on anybody other than your comment.

The only thing I am saying is if they were one rather than two... they could share some of the same costs, which would give them more economies of scale. I was surprised there weren't fewer cities formed given the biggest complaints for a really long time came down mostly to high taxes.

They created these cities, since they couldn't separate Milton and it gave them the ability to negotiate the tax millage structure with Fulton Co.

Most of us in the region live in an unincorporated area of a county. I'm sorry if that is too much of a huge monolithic entity to you, but for many of us it often works very well and allows us to get more out of out governments for less. Even if you happen to disagree with it or don't see it, it is worth a fairer consideration than it was given.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I'm in Dunwoody and I'm happy with the change. I always assumed taxes would increase. I'm not tax expert, but I didn't see how they wouldn't. There are crews out working on our abysmal roads nearly every day, and we're getting sidewalks on my street. There is talk about improving the parks and expanding green spaces.

I think many people are okay with higher taxes as long as they're getting a reasonable bang for the buck. The lack of that has been Fulton's undoing.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

They could have also originally had more annexations to Alpharetta and Roswell.

The reason you might want to combine Johns Creek and Milton is they could share alot of administrative expenses and had more economies of scale on police dept spending etc... It would overall be cheaper to manage a city of 100,000 than two of 70k and 30k.

I don't see how you could expect Milton and John's Creek to combine, they have no common border. The city of Alpharetta sits squarely between the two. They have a very different feel as well, John's Creek is much more dense suburban development, Milton is more rural with large acreage homesites, lots of horse farms and such.

Check a map of North Fulton and explain to me how these two could merge. That's like asking Kennesaw and Smyrna to merge or Doraville and Decatur to merge, they are different, don't border and have other cities between them. It's funny, but the latter examples could actually do this easier than Milton and John's Creek because there is unincorporated county between these cities where you could gerrymander a connection, odd as that would be. There is no unincorporated county between Milton and John's Creek to come together unless they took a swath of Forsyth and I don't think anyone in Forsyth County is clamoring to align with the N. Fulton cities.

If my memory serves me right, I remember reading an article (about a year before the new cities in N. Fulton started coming together) that the area that is now the city of Milton petitioned to be annexed into Alpharetta. If I have my facts straight, it seems Alpharetta was the one turning them down as that was too large an annexation for the city to adequately handle in one fell swoop. Someone who knows how to archive AJC articles might could find the one I'm referring.