What does Ruling on Gwinnett SDS mean for Loganville Residents?

Now that a judge has finally ruled on the some specific information has been revealed. While it appears the outcome benefits all Gwinnett County residents living within city limits, those living in Loganville could be the big winners.

According to Loganville City Manager Bill Jones, it means $106.50 less a year on the county property tax bill of a resident living in a $150,000 home in .

“If we take the difference of 1.87 percent, which is what it was in 2010, it would come out to 71 cents per $1,000 of value, which is where that $106.50 comes from,” Jones said. “The total amount for 2010 was $187,000 paid by city taxpayers. Of that, $86,000 was from residents and the balance from businesses.”

This applied only to Gwinnett County residents who live within the city limits of Loganville. Basically, that is the amount of property taxes overpaid by Loganville's Gwinnett County residents for duplicate fire and police services. Loganville's fire chief and city manager were two of the people who testified during the hearings.

In his ruling, In addition, the fire district tax was rolled into the general fund tax levy and no required public hearing on property tax raises was ever held.

Barrett also noted that the Gwinnett Fire Department continued to respond to calls within the City of Loganville even when the Loganville Fire Department cancelled the request for help. Also, during the dispute years over the SDS, GFD appeared to respond in an attempt to build a record of fire service calls.

The judge did not make any ruling regarding back taxes from Loganville residents since 2005, which was when these changes were made. The ruling has no financial benefit to the cities. The dispute was taken on by the cities on behalf of the Gwinnett County taxpayers in their municipalities.

Complying with these rulings will put additional pressure on Gwinnett County’s budget even though only 20 percent of the county’s 805,321 residents - as at the 2010 census - live within incorporated areas of the county.

Part of the dispute was the county’s contention that it was residents in the unincorporated areas who picked up the greater portion of the tab because cities were able to keep the additional revenues garnered through such things as building permits and fees levied through planning departments or other city specific ordinances. Although this revenue was not shared with unincorporated areas, city residents still got the benefits of county services such as the court system. However, the judge found that city residents also contributed to maintenance of the 8,964,000 road miles (91.58 percent) as well as the transit system in the unincorporated area as well as the 824,000 road miles (8.42 percent) within city limits. Residents in unincorporated areas, however, do not contribute to the various city budgets for road maintenance.

There are some filing dates that parties have to comply with, but city officials in Loganville feel things will be easier going forward. However, Jones said there has been a better working relationship between Loganville and the county since the election of Chairman Charlotte Nash.

“We were already working and moving in a more positive direction with the county and we expect that will continue," Jones said.