ATLANTA (December 16, 2015) | Senators Elena Parent (D- Atlanta), John Albers (R- Roswell), Charlie Bethel (R- Dalton), Frank Ginn (R- Danielsville) and Fran Millar (R- Atlanta) gave final approval for the Senate Annexation, Deannexation and Incorporation Study Committee report released Wednesday.
The Committee held four meetings throughout the late summer and fall at the State Capitol to review current annexation, deannexation and municipal incorporation laws and procedures, and to ensure the process is clear, open and equitable. Throughout the four meetings the Committee heard testimony from reapportionment and redistricting experts, as well as informed citizens from throughout the state. After examining the information collected, the Committee provided several recommendations to improve the process of annexation, deannexation and incorporation including:
- Codify feasibility studies for any new cities and require the study to include the impact on existing cities, county government and government entities including school districts
- Further study of a township or village concept
- Codify the House Governmental Affairs and House Intragovernmental Coordination Committees rule that requires all municipal incorporation legislation be introduced during the first year of a biennium so it can be reviewed properly over a two-year period
- Codify a referendum requirement
- Prohibit the City Lite concept
- Directly notify every affected local government whenever local legislation is proposed
- Clarify the annexation arbitration process
- Create and adopt a new Service Delivery Agreement before the end of the transitional period
- Further study of the current process of transfer and compensation of property due to annexations and incorporations to establish a more uniform and equitable method
For more information and to review the full report of the study committee: http://www.senate.ga.gov/sro/Documents/StudyCommRpts/2015AnnexationStudyCommitteeFINAL.pdf.
# # # #
For Immediate Release:
December 16, 2015
For Information Contact:
Jennifer Yarber, Director
Brittany Wagner, Communications Specialist
brittany.wagner@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028