Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners has not only decriminalized the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in a small portion of the county, the board has called on the State of Georgia to stop jailing folks for holding less than an ounce of marijuana.
Tag: Fulton County
Posted inMaggie Lee
How Fulton County voted for governor, precinct by precinct
We can’t tell you how your neighbor voted, but we can tell how each Fulton County precinct voted in the gubernatorial primary.
Posted inLatest News
Sketches of Atlanta Central Library new windows, tenants, draw criticism
If there’s something everyone can agree on, it’s that Downtown’s Atlanta’s main library is in sad shape. The news that bathroom renovations are coming drew some cheers from folks at the library Wednesday night, though they had little positive to say of new windows and new tenants sketched out for the landmark building.
Posted inUncategorized
Opening A New Chapter in Global Health
By Dave Ross, ScD, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Task Force for Global Health This month, we will move into a larger headquarters in downtown Decatur to meet the growing needs of our programs and launch new initiatives to solve large-scale health problems. Due to the success of our programs, we have been growing at […]
Posted inLatest News
Some Fulton property tax caps start moving through Legislature
The dozens of lawmakers who represent Fulton County are wrestling with a question and little time to deal with it: is it time for a broader cap on how much property taxes can rise from year to year?
Posted inLatest News
Credit woes face Fulton County, Atlanta schools, after ruling on tax collections
Fulton County and the Atlanta school district face fiscal woes even though a judge has approved a temporary collection of property taxes. Their cost of borrowing could increase now that a bond rating house has cut the credit rating on one county debt and has placed a total of more than $500 million of county and Atlanta school debt under review for a possible credit downgrade in the future.
Posted inLatest News
Fulton sues for harm caused by opioid drug manufacturers, distributors
By Maggie Lee Fulton County’s top elected official said the county is seeking redress for “great harm” as he announced on Monday that Fulton is suing more than two dozen entities that manufacture or distribute opioid drugs. The 258-page complaint accuses drug companies of deceptive and unfair marketing, and of downplaying opioid addiction risk, in […]
Posted inLatest News
Fulton County begins court and jail reforms that include helping the mentally ill
Fulton County is beginning a reform of its court and jail systems and expects the efforts will save from $4 million to $8 million a year.
Posted inLatest News
Fulton County to renovate water feature that helped bolster Republicans in 1990s
Fulton County and Keep Atlanta Beautiful are partnering to update the water feature at the front the Fulton County Government Center, an attraction that factored into the political rise of Republicans in suburban Atlanta 25 years ago.
Posted inSubmitted Photos
Photo Pick: Fulton County Library by Chad Carlson
More from Chad: “The Fulton County Commission is once again calling for the demolition of the Fulton County Library. It is a fantastic example of the style of Brutalism—from the French, “breton brut,” which means raw concrete. The building was listed by the World Monuments Fund as an architectural treasure in 2010. Designed by Marcel Breuer […]
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Palmetto Pipeline loses ground in Fulton County Superior Court, state House
A Fulton County judge on Tuesday upheld GDOTs refusal to allow a pipeline company to condemn land along the Savannah River. The company said it is reviewing its options.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Fulton’s transportation stance nears consensus despite differences among mayors
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves has been working for months to build consensus among all the mayors in his county on how to move forward with transportation funding.
At Tuesday’s meeting of Fulton’s mayors and county commissioners, the various political leaders moved a step closer to consensus – with the exception of Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Fulton County to hire lobbyists as state seeks to control tax rate
Fulton County on Wednesday is slated to hire a team of lobbyists that includes a top Washington firm and two local Republican firms that have connections at the state Capitol. The annual fee would total $216,000, with a three-year renewal option.
The team at the state Capitol could help Fulton resolve disputes with top Republican lawmakers, who have sued the county over tax collections. The team would include a chief advisor to then Gov. Sonny Perdue, and a former leader of the state GOP who oversaw Republicans begin their take-over of state government in the 1990s.
In Washington, Fulton intends to hire Greenberg Traurig, an international law firm with a strong lobbying presence on Capitol Hill. The firm’s Atlanta office represents a state authority in the proposed sale of most of Fort McPherson to filmmaker Tyler Perry.
Posted inDavid Pendered
New intrigue in proposed remake of Fulton County tax commissioner
The perennial proposal to do something, anything, about the Fulton County tax commissioner is bottled up in the Georgia legislature.
The state Senate on Thursday tabled a proposal, filed by ranking House members, that contains two big provisions. At this stage in the legislative session, there’s no telling if the proposal has a chance of being passed this year.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Fulton County, its cities face fiscal cliff of their own creation; Thursday deadline set by state attorney general
Fulton County and all the cities in it could fall off their own fiscal cliff on Thursday. Atlanta could lose tax revenues that pay for 19 percent of its current year budget.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told the Atlanta City Council in a special session Wednesday evening that the future is uncertain for a major source of sales tax revenues shared by Fulton County and all its cities. Unless Atlanta signs an existing distribution agreement for the 1 percent local option sales tax, Fulton may not be able to continue to levy the tax, Reed said.
The urgency is arising because Atlanta’s lawyers evidently were unprepared for a ruling last week from the Georgia Supreme Court. In a case out of Turner County, in south Georgia, justices tossed out an arbitration process concerning LOST distribution formulas that Atlanta intended to use to seek a bigger bite of LOST revenues.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Comedy or tragedy? Fulton legislative meeting heralds new era in county politics, government, civic theater
The latest act in the civic theater that is Fulton County began Thursday in a crowded room on the fourth floor of Georgia’s Capitol.
Republican lawmakers sat quietly while an hour’s worth of speakers protested Republican proposals to change what has been the natural order of the county – at least, it was the natural order before Republicans took effective control of the county’s legislative delegation this year.
The chorus in this case could do little to relieve tension, but the 75 who gathered certainly helped establish the mood. There were few smiles among the crowd of lawyers and lobbyists, community advocates and union reps, preachers and seniors – many of whom are familiar faces at meetings of the county commission and Atlanta City Council.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Redistricting proposal for Fulton County creates three white, three black commission districts
A redistricting proposal for Fulton County’s board of commissioners would create three commission districts serving majority white populations in north Fulton, and three districts serving majority black populations in south Fulton. The seventh post, county chair, would be elected and serve countywide.
This plan is moving at a time Fulton County’s government appears to have no registered lobbyists to present its views at the Capitol. The county’s previous lobbyist, Michael Vaquer, who served six years, terminated representation Dec. 31, according to the state’s Government Transparency Commission.
An added wrinkle is that the redistricting proposal comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing a legal challenge to the constitutionality of a portion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that regulates the formation of districts. Georgia’s attorney general signed a brief urging the court to take up the case, from Shelby County, Ala.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Redistricting proposal for Fulton County’s board of commissioners creates new district, cuts at-large post
The long-awaited redistricting map to be proposed for Fulton County’s board of commissioners was introduced Friday, and it contains at least two major changes in Fulton’s form of government – while keeping a seven-member board.
One new district would be created in northwest Fulton, and one countywide post would be eliminated, under the plan introduced by Rep. Lynne Riley (R-Johns Creek), who chairs the Fulton County delegation.
The proposal calls for elections under the new district boundaries to be held during the general election of 2014, according to House Bill 171.
