Nancy Jester Reports: The Pension Legacy Tax - Bad for DeKalb

Nancy's office distributed the following item this morning.

A DeKalb legislator wants to financially penalize DeKalb cities for incorporating.  But not ALL cities.  Just the ones that incorporated in this century in order to stem the financial hemorrhage due to corruption and mismanagement.

I wonder what Mary Margaret Oliver stands to gain from this little trick if it is allowed to pass....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

The Pension Legacy Tax
Punitive and Based on False Assumptions

I am writing to alert you to a potential property tax increase coming from the Georgia General Assembly. House Bill 711, sponsored by Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Druid Hills), seeks to add a special tax district to cities formed after 2005. Rep. Oliver believes that newly formed cities owe, what she refers to as, "pension legacy costs". The notion that these legacy costs exist is false and here's why.


1. Newly formed cities continue to pay fully into the General Fund and the Fire Fund. Embedded in these funds are the costs for benefits, including pensions for the employees providing these services.


2. Newly formed cities continue to pay fully into the self-sustaining funds of Sanitation and Watershed. Embedded in these funds are the costs for benefits, including pensions for the employees providing these services.


3. DeKalb County lowered the millage rate for the Police Fund (a fund newly formed cities do not pay into) in the 2015 budget.


4. DeKalb County did not reform the pension benefit system until December 2015 - 7 years after the formation of Dunwoody.


5. DeKalb County used unrealistic actuarial assumptions that negatively impacted funding.


If DeKalb County believed there was a crisis in the pension plan, chiefly driven by the new cities no longer paying into the police fund, why would the county lower the police fund millage rate in 2015? If the county believed that the crisis was caused by newly formed cities, why did pension reform not occur until just a few months ago in December of 2015?


House Bill 711 is only directed at newly formed cities. It is punitive, based on false assumptions, and is not congruent with the facts. Make no mistake about it, it is a discriminatory tax aimed at Brookhaven and Dunwoody. It is a bailout that would allow DeKalb County to continue poor fiscal management.


Read the full post - with facts on Understanding DeKalb's Millage Rate System here: http://ow.ly/YAgSH