Welcome to Anti-Vernonville

The breakneck race to create a city of Dunwoody has been halted for now in the General Assembly, but some perplexed onlookers remain mystified as to what was driving that runaway train — while others harbor suspicions about the motives of the cityhood proponents.

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"The only explanation that makes sense is that people up there don't want to be under a black government," says state Rep. Stan Watson, D-Decatur, referring to DeKalb's majority-black county commission and its controversial CEO, Vernon Jones.

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Watson's not the only one who's been taken by surprise by the sudden push to incorporate the county's affluent northern suburb.

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"I'm not sure what's driving this," says state Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur.

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One answer, of course, could be city envy, courtesy of Dunwoody's next-door neighbor, Sandy Springs.

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Since Georgia's newest city was created at the end of last year, other communities have been able to see how incorporation could benefit them, as well. "There's a state of euphoria in Sandy Springs," Mayor Eva Galambos chirped last month.

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That euphoria is understandable in Sandy Springs, which was treated for decades as Fulton County's personal piggy bank while roads deteriorated, government services lagged and development ran amok. No one could be blamed for wanting to put some distance between Sandy Springs and the dysfunctional Fulton County Commission.

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The question is, though, what does any of that have to do with Dunwoody?

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By nearly all accounts, north DeKalb enjoys top-notch municipal services and, thanks to the county's homestead option sales tax, pays by far the lowest property taxes in metro Atlanta.

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In short, what's there to gripe about?

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"We have no voice," Dunwoody homeowner Tammy Anderson complained to a legislative committee. "We're totally underrepresented."

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"I think it's about time our nebulous community had its own identity," added another homeowner, Richard Gray.

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Still, nobody knows quite how Dunwoody or DeKalb would be affected by creating a new city, says Rep. Mike Jacobs, D-Atlanta, who represents a chunk of the area.

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"DeKalb legislators want to do the will of the people, but we're not even close to ascertaining what that is," he says. "I see the potential for a significant property tax increase if a new city is formed."

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The reason for the confusion is that a Dunwoody feasibility study is not due to be completed before June. In the meantime, DeKalb Finance Director Michael Bell has estimated that the county would lose nearly $21 million in revenue to a city of Dunwoody, and that homeowners would lose their property-tax exemption.

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"You lay on an extra level of government up there and you're going to save money?" he scoffs. "From a financial point of view, it doesn't make any sense to do this."

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A day before his bill was set to be voted on by the full Senate, state Sen. Dan Weber, R-Dunwoody, who sponsored the incorporation legislation, announced he would hold off until next year. Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Atlanta, says she suggested that Weber amend his bill to provide for a nonbinding referendum instead of the binding incorporation vote he'd wanted later this year.

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"We just need time to get a true gauge of public sentiment," Chambers says.