I love Living and Working in the (newer) City of Sandy Springs, GA! Just four short years ago, we voted in Fulton County GA and made a new city, named Sandy Springs. I have lived in this same area (within a 1/2 mile radius for the last 20 years. However, previously it was an unincorporated area of Fulton County. Now, we are a full fledged City.
What's interesting is by becoming a city we are one of the largest in Georgia. We are located just east of the Chattahoochee River, including inside I-285, as well as outside I-285 on the northern Perimeter Arc. On the south side, we meet the City of Atlanta's city limit. What's amazing is our location is AWESOME. We are close to downtown and central to a lot of Atlanta with a short commute. (I put this to the test working for IBM in four locations - downtown, east at I-75 & Mount Paran Rd, Northwest at I-285 and Riverside, as well as a further NW location, all within a 20 minute commute!)
I have to give it to the group that worked so hard to make this long term dream come true to make this City, such as Eva Galambos, our current and re-elected Mayor. Their logic as a group was that a lot of the money getting sent in for property taxes was not getting used for services within the area, but used to offset other budgets. Now, we have a much larger police force, fire and emergency services. As well, there are all kinds of projects that have been completed such as paving roads, new sidewalks and street signs with more to come.
Most importantly, this has been accomplished while keeping taxes lower. In 2005, they started by freezing property values. So, for the last five years, my property tax assessment has remained the same, while at the same time, my taxes went DOWN! This works for me! In total our personal property taxes went down 10% from 2005 to 2008. There was a slight rise this year, but I think that was related to a Statewide removal of Homestead Exemption credits.
It's a good feeling to live in a City that has a fiscally responsible group running a city that got to work from a position of strength and didn't inherit a lot of financial issues. We are one of the few cities in Georgia with a good rainy day budget, as we as a balanced budget. You can't say that all around the state. So, in case you haven't heard the news, Sandy Springs is a great city, come on over ya'll.
For a lot more information about Sandy Springs check out www.SandySpringsGA.org.
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