This legislation stipulates methods by which the General Assembly can create new cities. 

 

In counties where more than 25% of the population lives in cities, in order to create a new city, the remainder of the unincorporated area would have to be placed in the new city or annexed into existing cities. 

 

In any type of county, a bill to create the new city would have to be introduced in the first year of a two year legislative session, studied in between sessions and adopted in the second year of the session. In the time between sessions, a study of the proposed city would be conducted to include: the economic viability of the proposed city, the plan for the remaining unincorporated area of the county, the amount of taxes necessary for the proposed city to provide services to its residents, the financial impact of the new city on the county and adjacent cities in the county, a comparison of the estimated police, fire and sanitation services in the new city, the county and the adjacent cities before and after the creation of the city, the financial impact of the plan on the remaining unincorporated area of the county, and the county as a whole and the existing cities.

 

The legislative committees considering the creation of the new city would be required to hear testimony to determine if there are less disruptive or less costly alternatives than creation of a new city.  For instance, they would hear testimony about whether overlay zoning districts, special land use districts, and special tax districts would better meet the needs of the residents of the proposed city. 

 

If a proposed city is within a certain distance of existing cities, the existing cities must adopt a resolution consenting to the creation of the new city. 

This legislation changes the Service Delivery Strategies Act to prohibit a water service provider from charging higher water or sewer fees to customers outside their political jurisdiction - unless otherwise provided by a contract.  It applies only to cities created since January 1, 2000, and others that may be created in the future.  The water service provider shall have no obligation to serve the outside customers/entity if an agreement is not reached, and that service could be cut off with a 6-month written notice.       

This legislation revises current Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) law by providing that each SDS agreement be reviewed and updated by January 1st of the third year after the census, along with other, new renegotiation triggers. It also allows any city to trigger renegotiations unilaterally. In addition to losing state grants, loans and permits, local governments failing to submit or implement a service delivery strategy within 180 days of being required to do so will have 10 percent of all SPLOST, LOST, HOST or other local tax proceeds held until an SDS agreement is reached. 

 

For a more detailed summary, please click here.