City Council Preview: Hotel Tax, 911, Master Plans

The Dunwoody City Council has plenty to tackle Tuesday night, as it holds both a work session and a special called meeting.

The special called meeting has one item on the agenda – a second read on an ordinance amendment that would increase the city’s excise tax on hotel room rentals – a way to bolster the city’s bid for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

Two weeks ago, Dunwoody’s bid came in in a survey of members of the Hall of Fame Authority. But Dunwoody still is in the running for the hall as the authority declined to accept the survey’s recommendation.

However, ome authority members had concerns about Dunwoody’s funding for the hall, as the Dunwoody proposal counts on private donations, which have not yet been guaranteed. Other cities proposals rely, at least partially, on local municipal funding.

At the Dunwoody city council retreat a week and a half ago, Ross introduced a way in which the city could guarantee some funding for the hall of fame without relying on taxpayer dollars.

The plan calls for the city to raise its excise tax on hotel rooms.

Currently that tax is at a 5 percent but under the amendment the rate could increase to as much as 8 percent. The money collected from that tax would be dispersed between the Dunwoody CVB and the hall of fame.

911 update

The council will get an update on the 911 negotiations.

The city has been weighing two options – staying with DeKalb County, which is offering better service, including dedicated call takers and a dedicated radio channel, or going with ChatComm, which offers both of those options, as well as dedicated call takers, a stronger track record with call times and an ability to coordinate easily with Sandy Springs Police, who are also on the ChatComm system.

The ChatComm deal is a bit more expensive than DeKalb County, but the city has just renegotiated the offer with ChatComm, which was last discussed in October. ChatComm agreed to a price reduction of $125,000 on an annual basis through the contract, according to a memo from City Manager Warren Hutmacher.

Over a three-year basis, the DeKalb County option would cost $135,000 out of the city’s general fund, while ChatComm could cost from an estimated $777,264 to $1.1 million.

Hutmacher, in his memo to the council, says he still recommends going with ChatComm because of the overall quality of service and benefits.

Master Plans

All four in-progress master plans will be discussed, and staff is recommending that the council formally discuss each on March 14, and adopt each as early as March 28.

The plans that will be discussed Tuesday are:

-       The Parks and Recreation Master plan

-       The Dunwoody Village Master Plan

-       Georgetown/North Shallowford Master Plan

-       Comprehensive Transportation Master Plan

Among other items on Tuesday’s agenda are:

• a discussion about impact fees, which are one-time fees collected when a new development or project is built, which help to pay for infrastructure improvements in the city. The council is discussing whether or not to use such fees as a revenue source.

• dialogue about the city’s economic development strategy

• discussion of appointment of an internal auditor

• an agreement with the city of Decatur for an Energy Efficiency Conservation Block grant

• approval of workflow management software

• approval of an on-call asphalt patching contract

• first reads on ordinances related to animal registration tags and pain management clinics