Dunwoody Residents Demand Public Vote on Proposed Fire Dept. Funding

Dunwoody citizens are speaking out about concerns their public vote would be revoked if the city decided to establish and fund its own fire department.
Dunwoody Patch sat down with two citizens who are angry and concerned about the possible removal of the public vote at recent Dunwoody Charter Commission meetings.

The Dunwoody Charter Commission voted at its June 5 meeting to ask the state legislature to have the city take over the fire millage rate and allow the Dunwoody City Council to increase the fire tax rate up to 20 percent more, to cover fire department costs, without a public vote.

Two weeks later, the charter commission voted to instead recommend a charter amendment that would still allow the city to take over fire services from DeKalb County, but with the ability to impose a fire tax rate that does not exceed the three-year average of DeKalb's fire tax millage rate...without a public vote.

Dunwoody citizens were outraged that the charter amendment would remove their ability to vote on any changes with the fire tax rate, and they showed up en masse at the Dunwoody Charter Commission meeting on July 3. (See the YouTube video attached, shot by Reporter Newspapers editor Dan Whisenhunt.)