Empty Nest
Sponsored section ►►page 20
HQ relocates Fulton County School System gets a new base of operations ►►page 8
Lights, camera, location
Raiders roll Defense comes up big in win over Cougars ►►page 24
Director goes locationscouting in North Fulton ►►page 31
&
Alpharetta-Roswell
Revue News
October 24, 2013 | northfulton.com | 73,500 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 28, No. 43
NF Cities try to keep sales tax Court ruling threatens distribution By JONATHAN COPSEY jonathan@northfulton.com FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – A last-minute deal between 12 Fulton County cities and holdouts Atlanta and College Park has local cities breathing a cautious sigh of relief, after the county’s sales tax distribution was put in jeopardy. The Local Option sales Tax (LOST) is collected by the county every year and distributed to the cities, largely based on population. The bigger the city, the bigger their slice of the pie. Only in this pie, most of the parties involved have to agree on a distribution. It’s not entirely by population. In September, 12 of Fulton County’s cities agreed to the distribution. The idea is that a majority of the county’s population must agree to any distribution. With Atlanta and JONATHAN COPSEY/Staff
Guests were encouraged to dress in traditional German garb for the event. From left are Lina Lee Parker, Tammy Tate, Manuela Myrich and Julian Tonesh.
Bulloch celebrates Oktoberfest ROSWELL, Ga. – It was all lederhosen and bratwurst at the annual “Sip of the South” event Oct. 19 at Bulloch Hall. This year’s theme was, fittingly, “Oktoberfest,” and celebrated all things German. Cumming-based Gasthaus Tirol provided brats and wurst and all the sauerkraut one could handle while live music from Freewhee-
lin’ got people moving. Bulloch Hall was home to the Bullochs, one of Roswell’s founding families and a prominent Southern clan. Mittie Bulloch married into the Roosevelt family and was mother to President Theodore Roosevelt. —Jonathan Copsey
College Park opposed, the other 12 managed to just top 51 percent. When cities and counties cannot decide on a solution, they submit their opposing plans to a judge to decide. However; the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled the way this was settled is unconstitutional. “Arbitration took the role of local government and gave that to the court,” said Alpharetta Deputy City Administrator James Drinkard. “By creating that arbitration avenue [the Supreme Court] is saying it’s unconstitutional to leave it to a judge to decide.” In short, governments are in place to make such decisions, not judges. The problem comes with the governments of at least 17 counties and their cities
See LOST, Page 31
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