'Illegal' Millage Rate Vote Challenged By Commissioner Ellis

MILTON, GA — A Fulton County commissioner is calling on Chairman Robb Pitts to nullify the vote taken last week to set the county's millage rate at 10.2 mills. District 2 Commissioner Bob Ellis, who voted against the rate, said he believes last week's vote is "illegal" because county commissioners at the June 20 meeting agreed to move forward with a rate that would only generate the required revenue for the budget.

That revenue adds up to $478 million, and Ellis contends the general fund millage rate needed to collect that amount of money is between 9.77 and 9.98 mills. This depends on whether the county holding on its trend of a 94- to 96-percent property tax collection rate, the commissioner adds.

The vote to approve the resolution at the June 20 meeting, Ellis argues in a press release, shows a "clear, public representation was made that no millage rate would be considered which would be higher than the amount needed to generate the property tax revenue" for the 2018 budget.

"Citizen opportunity to make public comment at the three scheduled public hearings regarding our final adopted millage rate was premised upon the above vote," he said.

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The maximum rate the county could have considered at the Aug. 1 meeting, Ellis states, was 9.98 mills. Anything above that is in conflict with the June 20 resolution adopted by the commission and Georgia law.

Ellis, of Milton, also said any discussion about the millage rate didn't take place until after County Commissioners closed public comment, which he also notes is a violation of Georgia law and a "breach of public trust."

Ellis is requesting Pitts to schedule a new vote on the 2018 millage rate at a called meeting or at the commission's Aug. 15 meeting. County Commissioners at the Aug. 1 meeting voted 4-3, with Pitts and Commissioners Emma Darnell, Marvin Arrington Jr. and Natalie Hall approving, to set the rate at 10.2 mills. Commissioners Ellis, Liz Hausmann and Lee Morris voted against the question.

Ellis talked with Patch Monday afternoon and said the two commissioners who joined him in voting against the rate, Liz Hausmann of District 1 and Lee Morris of District 3, "both concur" with his stance that the Aug. 1 vote is in contrast to what the county's advertisement spelled out. He noted he has not heard back from Pitts, County Attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker or the three remaining commissioners.

Holding the rate at 10.2 mills, Ellis adds, would "illegally" bring about $20 million more into the county's coffers. If the County Commission were to go forward with the higher rate, it would not only be a breach of public trust, but would also be the exact opposite of what it voted to do at the June 20 meeting.

Commissioner Hausmann agreed, adding she was "extremely disappointed" in the decision by the majority of the board to go against what was advertised at the June 20 meeting. Hausmann said the 10.20 millage rate will bring in about 7.9 percent more than what's needed to cover the county's $487 million general fund budget.

"I’m disappointed that we did not keep our word to the citizens of Fulton County," she added.

Morris, who represents Buckhead on the Commission, said the vote at the June 20 meeting basically said the county would not receive a "windfall" of cash due to the spike in property reassessments coming down the pipeline. He also said the decision in June was seen as a way to temper the fears and anxiety of the public that the county would try to take advantage of the additional revenue from those reassessments. Unfortunately, Morris said the majority of the commission "voted to take a windfall."

"In effect, we misled the public and what the effect of that was to suppress the (public) attendance and to suppress the outrage about the reappraisals," he said, adding he has received quite a few negative comments following the Aug. 1 vote.

Morris added he was also disappointed to see some of the commissioners who voted for the increase talk about how they wanted to spend the revenue. In other words, the 10.2 millage rate was not set in an effort to bolster the county's reserve fund.

"They are going to spend it," he added of the four commissioners who voted in favor of the millage rate.

Commissioner Arrington told Patch the County Commission has the right to change any resolution, policy and procedure by a majority vote unless state law says otherwise. He noted the Board of Commissioners also committed to additional expenditures that exceeded the 2018 budget, which was a factor in the majority's decision to approve a millage rate that's higher than the rollback rate.

The board's vote, he said, will give the county the money it needs to cover expenses, such as the performance bonus program, Grady Surgical Center bond payments, a full year of funding for living wage adjustments, a half-year for the court system's pay and compensation plan and debt service related to the second round of facility improvement bonds.

Commissioner Arrington told Patch he respects Ellis's opinion.

"There have been many votes of the Board that I have not been happy with, but the will of the board prevails and life goes on," he said. "We reduced the millage rate for the fourth year in a row."

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