DeKalb Pension Information Facts

 The DeKalb Pension is a benefit (an expense),  it is not a service.  Pension costs are paid directly by property owners in DeKalb, and thus it is not a  service or fee that cities pay in DeKalb County. The fee is paid by all property owners in DeKalb regardless if you live in a city or not. Cities do not pay pension costs because it is paid by all individual property owners through their county property taxes.

According to the county budget department, the new cities residents are contributing to the county pension plan, though not to the same extent as if they had not become a city.

The typical portion that new cities may not be equally contributing to is police or designated services if new cities are providing their own services in those areas.  All the other county funds contribute to the pension costs DeKalb County has 13 cities, and there are only 4 cities who do not contribute to the police fund, Atlanta, Brookhaven, Doraville, and Dunwoody

There are 7 different county funds, including the general fund in which pension costs are associated. The county charges each of the 7 funds a percent to cover the pension costs.
If one looks at the County Millage table/chart below the 7 funds are listed.

Police pension is not separate from the general pension fund. The pension fund money is drawn from 7 funds: General, Fire, Police, Designated, Grady, Bond Countywide, Bond Special Tax District. The amount in year (2015) was 38.6 million to pay towards the DeKalb pension

Supporters of Cityhood publicly acknowledged that there is no law that allows cities to avoid paying DeKalb pension costs.  All though at one time they were telling people that there was a law which permitted cities not to pay for the DeKalb County pension.  As was stated above cities do not pay for the pension costs, it is assessed through the county 7 funds which residents may are may not pay only  6 to 7 of the funds depending on where they live. Unincorporated residents are responsible for paying into all 7 seven funds and depending on the city other resident lives, some residents may not contribute to all 7 funds, it may be only 6 of the county funds, because the city may be providing their own police or not contributing to the special designated service.   There is no situation where residents who live in a city are not contributing to the DeKalb pensions.

Supporters of Cityhood continue to present a confusing and misleading explanation of the DeKalb Pension issue and its costs, causing residents to believe that they will be treated unfairly in South DeKalb. We will be left paying the pension if everyone else become cities is what supporters are telling people.

There are some legislative initiatives to make the formula for supporting the DeKalb pension legacy costs more equitable.

The 7 county funds that contribute to the pension are:

General, Fire, Police, Designated, Grady, Bond Countywide, Bond Special Tax District.

HB 244 Proposed legislation to make pension funding into law. Currently, there is no law.
http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20172018/HB/244

HB 711 Proposed legislation to make pension funding into law. Currently, there is no law.
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20152016/HB/711

DeKalb Co Pension Plan 2014 ACTUARIAL VALUATION SUMMARY
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_WGhvaGduYnNjYkE/view?usp=sharing

DeKalb Pension Benchmarking Status Dec 2013
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_ZGprWHlTSV9taVk/view?usp=sharing
 
Pension Cost  Legacy Formula DeKalb
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_NEpKR2dBRHRINjQ/view?usp=sharing

 DeKalb Current Millage Rate 2017
https://www.dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/Millage%202017%20%282%29_1.pdf

 DeKalb Millage Rate 2016
https://www.dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/Millage2016%20TC.pdf

DeKalb Millage Rate 2015
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_Z1hfQ2IzNXFRWWM/view?usp=sharing

Facts About DeKalb Pension Costs and New Cities
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_THd4TVVzbVgzXzA/view?usp=sharing
Articles that cited pension statements made by CCCSD, media, elected officials and/or Kathryn Rice that are not true.  All were used to mislead residents into supporting cityhood. Some of the media are not serving the public interest when it comes to telling real facts about the issue.  You can find old archive Crossroads articles at  https://issuu.com/crossroadsnews/docs

http://crossroadsnews.com/news/2015/sep/25/greenhaven-cityhood-debate-draws-crowd/

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/new-cities-might-escape-dekalb-pension-debts/njxRP/. 

http://crossroadsnews.com/news/2015/jan/30/south-dekalb-city-be-called-greenhaven/

http://crossroadsnews.com/news/2015/apr/10/no-referendum-year-new-cities-south-dekalb/

http://www.decaturish.com/2015/01/greenhaven-city-proposal-gets-sponsor/

http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/proposed-south-dekalb-city-named-greenhaven/

http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/proponents-promote-large-south-dekalb-city/

http://oncommongroundnews.com/local-news/health/itemlist/date/2015/4.html 

http://issuu.com/ocgnews/docs/ocg03_07_15_b887e2009bde35  

http://m.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/group-pushes-new-city-south-dekalb-county/nkLx2/ 

http://www.decaturish.com/2014/11/plans-south-dekalb-city-taking-shape/



DeKalb Pension Information (article)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_OG04aHZZcHQ4Ym8/view?usp=sharing

Greenhaven Cityhood Main Issues (handout)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rHTsNOsLE_YmZ2d0otdDM3OUE/view?usp=sharing



Ed Williams. Ed.D. Chair
Concerned Citizens For Effective Government
Citizens Against Cityhood in DeKalb
facebook.com/ccegdekalb
ccegdekalb.blogspot.com
(678) 304-7736
Twitter @truthcrushthee2

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