Ten Republican state lawmakers in Georgia joined with Democrat senators to sink a proposal to let an affluent, conservative neighborhood secede from Atlanta on Thursday.
“If we jerk the heart out of the city of Atlanta, which is Buckhead, I know our capital city will die,” said Sen. Frank Ginn, a Danielsville Republican who chairs the committee that sent the bill to the full Senate.
The state Senate voted 33-23 to reject Senate Bill 114, which would have set up a referendum on turning the Buckhead neighborhood into its own city. Conservative Buckhead residents have for years claimed they are not adequately represented in the Democrat-run city, arguing that Democrats don’t do enough to fight crime and provide services.
Advocates for secession point out that Buckhead makes up less than 20% of the city’s population of 500,000, but is the source of about 40% of its tax revenue.
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“These people are being ignored,” Sen. Randy Robertson, a Cataula Republican who sponsored the bill, said just before the bill was defeated. “And I think the response that we’ve seen has been just enough and then they hope it will go away.”
But Atlanta Democrats and the city’s business community opposed the measure, arguing it was legally unworkable to divide the city. Opponents raised practical concerns over how Atlanta public schools would operate and how the city would divide its debt obligations with the proposed City of Buckhead.
“Constitutionally, it’s not possible to divide the city of Atlanta, with its schools, with its debt obligations,” said Democratic Sen. Jason Esteves, who represents part of Buckhead.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration was among those opposed to the secession movement, questioning whether secession is legal and how it could affect the bond and credit ratings of other Georgia cities.
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