Georgia County Fights to Retain the Right to Raise Its Own Taxes
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The Democratic-controlled county government that’s home to Atlanta is fighting Republican legislators determined to make it the only county in Georgia unable to raise its own taxes.
Fulton County leaders last month approved the first property-tax increase in 23 years to close a shortfall of more than $35 million in its $625.4 million general-fund budget. In a move being watched by credit analysts, six Republican lawmakers from affluent areas sued, saying the increase violates a law passed last year that forbids Fulton County -- and only Fulton County -- from raising taxes.