Health and Wellness Sponsored Section ►►page 20
Seniors' pets can stay with masters
Meals on Wheels for pets new program from Senior Services NF ►►page 4
Football Week 3 roundup Milton beats Johns Creek with 7 touchdowns ►►page 8
September 12, 2013 | northfulton.com | 73,500 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 13, No. 37
How the LOST funds get divvied up City
Previous %
New %
Previous $
New $
Net Change
Alpharetta
5.22
5.81
$12.4M
$13.7M
$1.3M
Atlanta
42.88
40.44
$101.8M
$96M
($5.8M)
Johns Creek
6.97
7.75
$16.5M
$18.4M
$1.9M
Milton
1.71
3.29
$4.0M
$7.8M
$3.8M
Roswell
8.8
8.92
$20.8M
$21.7M
$0.9M
North Fulton cities receive LOST windfall By JONATHAN COPSEY & HATCHER HURD
HATCHER HURD/Staff
Fall Festival has shrieks of fun. These two girls are going absolutely nowhere very fast. This was just one of the attractions at the Johns Creek Fall Festival.
Fall Festival big hit with residents JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – A bright, sunshiny day last Saturday brought out thousands of visitors for the fifth annual Johns Creek Fall Festival at Newtown Park. It was simply a perfect day to be in the park, even if you did have to cruise a while waiting for someone to leave to grab a parking spot. Children had plenty to do with carnival games, arts and crafts, live music, a giant slide and a huge Tiki rock climb. There was lots of
food including free hotdogs, and it was the final farmers market until next year. For the city, it was great turnout with lots of family fun. It was also a great preview of more fun to come with the Johns Creek Arts Festival Oct. 19-20 and Founders Day Dec. 7. —Hatcher Hurd
For more PHOTOS see Page 14
NORTH FULTON, Ga. – North Fulton’s cities gained the most population in the last Census, therefore they came out on top of the recent renegotiations of sales tax monies with the county. The last Census resulted in numbers showing an increased movement of population from unincorporated Fulton County and Atlanta to the cities and suburbs. The newly negotiated split of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) money reflects this. The 1 cent tax collected about $237 million last year. Normally Georgia law requires that the largest city in the county negotiate with the county commission for a formula for the division of the sales tax revenue every 10 years. Other cities may elect to opt out of the negotiated formula and instead choose
to receive a share based on population ratio of that city. An alternative, which was used in this case, allows for cities representing a majority of the citizens to also negotiate with the county. In Fulton County it was the latter case this time as 12 of the cities – Atlanta and Fairburn sat out – negotiated with Fulton County for a pro rata split. This left Atlanta as still receiving the largest slice of LOST revenue but nevertheless with $5.8 million less. According to one source, the coalition of cities came about so they could negotiate with Fulton County instead of Atlanta. It was felt among the cities that Atlanta was angling for a larger portion of the tax, around $106 million, than its reduced population warranted, the source said. A deal was struck to provide a larger than pro rata share to three South Fulton
See LOST, Page 11