In The Red

We're off to an auspicious start. The city hasn't even started and we're already in the hole.

While the income side of the ledger includes almost $2.5 million in franchise fees it turns out that we will pay these fees throughout 2009, but the city won't collect until 2010. Business occupation taxes won't roll in until the end of the year either. So in the first year the city will be around $2.5 million short on revenue. No real surprise here.

But let's apply a little critical thinking to this situation and maybe we'll find a solution to the problem.

The AJC tells us that there are 27,000 registered voters in Dunwoody but DeKalb claims it is a little over 24,000 so let's use that figure. We also know that there was a 43% turnout for the referendum and 81% voted Yes! That means about 37% of registered voters, a little over 8,500, threw a party and now they want us all to pick up the tab.

Here's a better idea. Let's turn all that partying and celebration into cold, hard cash. Let's have each and every one of those 8,500+ supporters of cityhood pony up a measly $500 each. Far less than that Bimmer or Merc payment and probably less than one summer power bill.

That would give the city over $4 million and we would start off with a surplus approaching $2 million. That's not too much to ask, given it was their amazing foresight that put us in this situation.

TOD