Public Hearing: YES ☐ NO ☒ Department: Board of Commissioners
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): All Districts
A Resolution Of The Governing Authority Of DeKalb County, Georgia To The DeKalb County Delegation Of The General Assembly Relating To Supporting The 2019 ACCG Legislative Priorities, And For Other Purposes;
Body
Information Contact: John W. Manson IV
Phone Number: 404 371 6207
PURPOSE:
To adopt a resolution that supports ACCG’s Legislative items as described in the attachment;
NEED/IMPACT:
a. Support implementation of 5G small cell service while opposing proposed legislation that would preempt the authority of local governments to manage and control their rights-of-way during installation of 5G small cell infrastructure by telecom companies in public rights-of-way.
b. Support state appropriations to fully fund the replacement of Georgia voting equipment with equipment that provides a verifiable paper trail and is not susceptible to outside hacking or tampering; and to fully fund training of local elections officials for the new voting equipment.
c. Support state appropriations to expand and support mental health services including:
1. increased funding to community service boards for core services
2. funding for additional Behavioral Health Crisis Centers; and
3. Increase funding for evaluation and treatment of individuals in county jails while awaiting evaluations to determine competency to stand trial.
d. Support legislation to:
1. increase title and tag fees to an amount sufficient to cover the cost of providing this service to the public by the county tax commissioner; and
2. Support legislation to revise procedures for valuing used motor vehicles the same as new vehicles for TAVT purposes in order to counter abuses by some used car dealers.
e. Oppose legislation that would bar local governments from collecting fees for county services on property tax bills.
f. Support capital and operating financial assistance to Georgia’s urban and rural transit systems including support to address gaps in transit service coverage.
g. Support additional funding for Georgia’s airport system sufficient to meet active capital improvement requests by local governments.
h. Support one or more constitutional amendments creating constitution-based trust funds to ensure dedication of fees to statutorily-designated purposes and preventing re-direction to other non-designated purposes.
i. Support legislation to fully inform counties when sales tax refunds of local significance are authorized by the State Revenue Department and establish procedures to allow counties to accommodate significant refunds including authorization to deduct refunds from future sales tax distributions.
j. Support legislation to enact meaningful changes to annexation statutes and incorporation statutes to ensure consideration of the impacts of incorporation on counties and unincorporated citizens.
k. Support legislation authorizing counties to collect franchise fees on utility services;
FISCAL IMPACT:
None;
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
To approve the resolution and authorize the chief executive officer to execute all necessary documents....