Month: March 2019

Editor’s note: This editorial is the first in series of pieces examining the issues involved with incorporation.

Fear and loathing frame the local incorporation debates.

But at the ballot box, Americans vote their wallets. The decision on cityhood, be it in two weeks on Skidaway Island or in the years to come elsewhere in Chatham County, comes down to costs to residents.

Millage rates. Exemptions. Sales tax distributions. Fees.

Funding a municipality

Funding municipal operations is foremost among the complexities surrounding incorporation.

Cities, large and small, rely on revenue to serve residents. And the potential revenue sources — taxes and fees — for new municipalities are grossly misunderstood.

Here in Georgia, municipalities rely primarily on property taxes and penny sales taxes for revenue. For example, Skidaway is projected to collect 80 percent of its annual revenue from a combination of real estate and sales taxes, according to a November 2016 feasibility study on Skidaway incorporation conducted by the Georgia State University Center for State and Local Finance.

Real estate tax proceeds for proposed new municipalities are easily forecast, especially in Chatham County, where a special homestead exemption establishes a static value for most residential properties. Charters for proposed cities can mandate that homeowners keep this exemption at its established value — as is the case with Skidaway.

This value multiplied by the millage rate determines the real estate tax bill. Only a significant millage change would lead to wild swings in real estate tax bills for those property owners moving from unincorporated to municipal status.

In Skidaway’s case, the millage rate would decrease, at least initially, from 4.9 mills to 4.13 mills, equal to $77 per $100,000 in value. Additionally, residents would not pay the $85 fee they currently pay the county for yard waste and bulk waste collection.

Sales tax squabbles

Much less predictable is the penny sales tax distributions to municipalities.

Chatham County levies a 3 percent tax on the sale of most goods and services. One of those pennies, the Local Option Sales Tax or LOST, can be spent on government operations.

LOST money is typically the second largest revenue source for municipal general funds. However, calculating a city’s LOST share is not as simple as looking at the pennies collected at businesses within the corporation limits.

LOST distribution is based on eight different criteria and portions are negotiated among Chatham County and the local municipalities, including the city of Savannah, once every 10 years.

These negotiations have proved unpredictable. The last time, LOST talks took nine months to resolve and ended up in court. Savannah saw its share cut 10 percent. Chatham County saw a 5 percent increase, but agreed to shoulder more jail-related expenses.

Among the other municipalities, Pooler and Port Wentworth received bigger shares while Garden City got less, largely due to population shifts. The other small cities saw little or no change.

How much a new municipality would receive in the next LOST negotiations, coming in 2021, is a guessing game.

Covering shortfalls

Georgia State’s feasibility study based its LOST projection on a per capita basis. However, this runs contrary to Georgia’s distribution guidelines, which specifically state that population is not to be more heavily weighted.

What’s more, Skidaway’s projected LOST proceeds, per the feasibility study, constitute 37 percent of total revenue. Statewide, LOST monies make up just 16 percent of general fund revenues, on average.

Should Skidaway or any new municipality not receive its projected share of LOST funding, the new government would have to find those budget dollars elsewhere. This would most likely impact the budget surplus most proposed municipalities project in feasibility studies.

In Skidaway’s case, the surplus totals more than $1.8 million per year, money earmarked — wisely — for a rainy-day reserve.

Cityhood comes with a range of tax revenue ramifications. Residents would do well to consider them as they consider incorporation.

Georgia’s secretary of state offers insights on the features required of the state’s new voting machines and when Georgians can expect to be using them. Brad Raffensperger also comments on the other voter-related changes outlined in the election legislation, all of which are meant to ease or even eliminate talk of voter suppression.

Ask Georgia political insiders the name of our state’s most important leader right now, and they won’t mention our new governor or lieutenant governor or any of our elected officials in Washington, D.C.

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston is the state’s most powerful and influential politician at the moment. He’s led the House since 2010 and is respected across party lines for his pragmatism. Until Gov. Brian Kemp settles in and the scabs from November’s midterm elections flake away, Ralston speaks with the greatest authority.

Given his position and responsibility, Ralston must move immediately to address an issue that undermines his credibility.

Two weeks ago today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an investigative report focused on Ralston’s law practice. Like all Georgia General Assembly members, Ralston is a citizen lawmaker, not a professional politician.

As House Speaker, he makes nearly $100,000, significantly more than the $17,342 paid to other members. Ralston, though, continues to work as a defense attorney back home in Blue Ridge, in the North Georgia mountains.

The newspaper investigation shows many of the Blue Ridge area’s biggest troublemakers have Ralston on retainer — and not necessarily because he’s a courtroom star. State law allows legislators to declare that court dates interfere with lawmaking duties and delay hearings, and Ralston exercises this power frequently, according to the report.

Defendants know this and also understand that delays weaken prosecutors’ cases against them. Frustrated victims move on. Witnesses forget details. Investigators move away from the area. Prosecutors become more amenable to plea deals.

The investigation cites many statistics and specifics, but here’s a summary: Ralston filed 57 requests for continuances involving 21 cases over a two-year period. Of the 93 days he begged off, 76 of those did not conflict with legislative sessions.

Granted, the speaker’s duties extend beyond presiding over the House chamber. Every legislator will tell you serving in the legislature is equivalent to a full-time job, even as the session generally lasts only three months a year. The speaker’s role is even more intensive.

But Ralston the lawyer has an ethical responsibility not just to his clients but to the judicial system. One of the tenets of the process is the right to a speedy trial — see Amendment VI of the U.S. Constitution. And while this law is meant to protect defendants, it also applies to victims.

Ralston’s scheduling practices would appear to victimize the victims.

Slow reaction

Ralston’s response to the revelations is evolving.

He declined an interview with the Atlanta newspaper prior to the story being published. Since the news went public, he’s attacked the media and invoked references to how Justice Brett Kavanaugh was treated during his Supreme Court nomination hearings.

Never mind that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was able to document Ralston’s delay requests through the state’s open records laws. Or that Ralston declined to share his work calendars with reporters or respond to inquiries about his whereabouts on missed court dates.

It took a mini-uprising within the House Republican ranks to shake Ralston. Ten GOP House members, including a committee chairman, signed a resolution calling on Ralston to resign. The Speaker reacted Monday by announcing the creation of a bipartisan panel to review the legislative leave law that has allowed him to stretch out so many trials.

He also pledged to take on no new defendants until his delayed cases are adjudicated.

A call for changes

Count this editorial board among those opposed to Ralston stepping down.

He’s much too important to the legislative process, particularly right now, midway through the 2019 term and nine days out from crossover day, the point in every session after which the House focuses on bills that have already passed the Senate.

But Ralston must change his habits away from the Georgia Capitol. Those accused of serious crimes — child molestation, assault, domestic abuse, drunk driving — are taking advantage of his position to escape justice.

Ralston can remedy the situation by devoting more time to his practice or by taking on what is known in legal circles as a “second chair,” an attorney who assists the lead attorney. This assistant often handles preliminary hearings and proceedings.

Homeschooling is a perfectly valid alternative to educating children in a traditional school setting.

Few would argue that, and those who do have a warped sense of what liberty means in a country founded upon it.

However, the freedom to raise and teach your child as you see fit does not absolve you from the responsibility of educating youth. That makes oversight, be it of a large public school district, small private school or a homeschool, not just necessary but imperative.

Accountability is at the crux of education, as well as the biggest student takeaway from the school experience. Pupils are presented with material and expected to learn it. Success is measured in the form of tests, grades and ultimately diplomas. Same goes for the schools, where performance is monitored by state and local officials.

Why homeschool parents would shun such oversight and accountability is hard to comprehend. Yet, as state lawmakers consider strengthening Georgia’s reporting requirements for homeschools, some in the homeschool community are protesting like an elementary schooler unhappy with the quality of the lunchroom pizza.

Georgia’s standards are equal parts laughable and horrifying. Once a year, a parent need only report to the state the child’s name, age and address. The state also mandates mom or dad write an annual progress report, although submitting the document is not required.

And you thought keeping food cold — plug in refrigerator, place item inside, close door — was easy.

The absence of oversight is troubling from an educational standpoint; learning to read and write, and add and subtract, prepares children for life. Even more worrisome is the opportunity the lax standards provide for those rare parents who homeschool their children specifically to hide abuse and neglect.

That danger alone should be enough to convince homeschool parents to embrace new accountability standards.

Tragedy prompts concerns

Present scrutiny of Georgia’s homeschool reporting requirements does stem from the deaths of two Effingham County homeschooled children.

Elwyn Crocker pulled his children, Elwyn Jr. and Mary, from public school after being investigated for child abuse by Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services, or DFCS. When the kids’ bodies were found behind the family home in December, we learned Elwyn Jr. had vanished from public view in 2016 and Mary hadn’t been seen since last October.

The alleged murders stoked the community’s emotions in the aftermath. The public has criticized DFCS for its failure to monitor the Crocker situation, particularly given a 2017 report from a concerned neighbor. Other Effingham community members, including neighbors and law enforcement, felt guilt over the deaths.

The public discussion soon turned to preventing similar incidents in the future, and that made homeschooling requirements an issue. Tighten the standards to protect children. Something as simple as periodic visits to schools or law enforcement offices — or a home visit from a school or law enforcement official — would suffice.

Such a mandate is not unreasonable. Not in the least bit.

As Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie said, “I’m not trying to get into your business. We need to make sure everyone’s safe … Had we had checks and balances, we would have known (Elwyn Jr. ) was gone. Something needs to be done. ”

Legislative action necessary

This editorial board agrees with McDuffie and supports efforts by state legislators to explore the homeschool reporting issue. Three influential state lawmakers represent Effingham County — House Majority Leader Jon Burns (R-District 159), Rep. Bill Hitchens (R-District 161) and Sen. Jack Hill (R-District 4), the chair of the Senate Appropriations committee.

As Hitchens told a large group of Savannah-area government officials and business leaders at last month’s Savannah-Chatham Day at the Georgia Capitol, “When kids get pulled from school like (the Crockers), it needs to trigger something with somebody to follow up.”

Such steps are not intended to infringe on parents’ rights to raise and educate their children. This is not the start of a movement to outlaw homeschooling. Homeschool parents are not presumed guilty until proven innocent.

Strengthening standards is about looking out for the welfare of children. The overwhelming majority, probably 99.9 percent, of homeschool parents are doing an excellent job and are beyond reproach.

But if greater oversight saves one child from abuse — or death — then it is worthwhile. Those who find that offensive need to go back to school and learn more about accountability.