Commission sends letter to legislators about need to reform; Georgia Annexation Laws to stop harm by private developers using loopholes and “hook and catch” tactics
by Janice Daniel
Carroll County Board of Commissioners met for monthly work session Thursday, February 26, 2026 at the Historic Court House, 323 Newnan Street, Carrollton with all commissioners present.
Finance Director Alecia Searcy presented financial reports as of January 31st, 2026, with the seven months year-to-date numbers as follows:
Revenues $63,558,607 74.37% of Budget
Expenditures $53,256,048 62.32% of Budget
General Fund $57,467,445
Year-to-Date excess of Revenues over Expenditures: $10,302,559
Searcy said that revenues are just a little over this time last year, and expenditures include a capital purchase of $3,688,865 which reflects actual year-to-date expenditures of $49,567,183 or 58% of Budget.
2021SPLOST shows January, 2026 receipts, including interest, investment income and LMIG revenue of $3,373,729; Insurance proceeds from Transfer Station $840,915; Transfer out to Carroll County Cities ($1,232,021). TOTAL$2,982,623
2021SPLOST seven months 2026 year-to-date expenditures for: Roads, streets, bridges and sidewalks $2,263,532; County Administrative Building/parking/equipment $2,814,547; Sheriff vehicles $354,500; Fire vehicles/equipment $734,055; Judicial facilities/equipment $236,87; Other $273,740. TOTAL $6,677,250.
2015SPLOST expenditures FY2026, spent primarily on county administrative building/parking/equipment: $8,553,374. After commitments and expected future expenditures, the 2015SPLOST balance available is $1,505.
Chairman Michelle Morgan read a letter addressed to Georgia State Legislature members Timothy Bearden, Matt Brass, Tyler Paul Smith, Jutt Howard, David Huddleston and Lynn Smith at the Georgia State Capitol, 434 Capitol Avenue SE, Atlanta, GA 30312, regarding the need for reform of Georgia Annexation Laws as presented by Matt Bass in Senate Bill 496.
The purpose of the letter is to raise, on behalf of Carroll County, urgent concerns regarding the continued misuse of Georgia’s Municipal Annexation Laws by private developers, and the resulting harm to the agriculture properties, rural communities, county governance, and comprehensive planning. “Recent annexation activity in your districts, opposed by many of statutory deficiencies that leave counties with no meaningful ability to oppose harmful or illegal annexations.”
The letter listed increasingly common tactics used by developers to engineer annexations which prioritize their private development interests over sound planning, public accountability, or even the minimal legal constraints imposed by statute. “In practice, certain procedural flexibilities and statutory definitions enable ‘contiguity’ loopholes that developers and municipalities exploit to effect annexations with minimal functional connection to existing city boundaries. These tactics include but are not limited to:
1. Strategic use of “hook and catch” annexation where a developer acquires a small parcel or narrow strip of land [in a city] to act as a ‘hook’ in order to include a much larger, nearby unincorporated target parcel or area, which is the ‘catch,’ in order to attempt to meet the technical contiguity requirements, but with minimal actual connection to the municipality;
2. Coordinated petitions by related or affiliated property owners to meet statutory thresholds while excluding affected neighboring properties;
3. Timing annexations to precede zoning or development approvals in order to avoid county land use regulations, and
4. Annexation of property for intensive development while shifting increased service responsibilities to the county, such as improvement and upkeep of adjacent access roads that remain in the unincorporated county.
The letter cited a recent example of such tactics where a data center developer sought an annexation of 310 acres of rural agricultural land into the City of Temple by way of two small tracts that would hypothetically touch at a single point in the middle of an interstate highway. “This is despite the general requirements that the abutting area to the city must be at least 1/8th of the aggregate external boundary of the area to be annexed, or 50 feet, whichever is less, OCGA 36-36-20(a)(1). A circulated map of this recently proposed illegal annexation is attached so you can visually see how the attempted annexation did not even meet the minimal legal requirements by the statute. . . It has been reported, as in many of these cases, that the developer and the city and/or development authority entered into a non-disclosure agreement claiming they were not allowed to discuss the proposed project with anyone.”
The letter expressed “To ensure that annexation serves community interest equitably and transparently, we respectfully request the General Assembly’s consideration of the following reforms:
1. Require county consent for certain annexations: Adopt provisions like those in SB496 that make annexations contingent upon county approval, ensuring counties have a meaningful voice when territory and tax base are affected.
2. Strengthen contiguity standards: Narrow overly broad definitions of “contiguous,” closing loopholes that allow annexations disconnected from core municipal areas.
3. Mandatory service and transition agreements: Require binding agreements that delineate service delivery responsibilities, cost sharing, and infrastructure commitments before annexation is finalized.
4. Expand county standing and remedies: Amend OCGA 36-36-113 to broaden grounds for county objection to include demonstrable fiscal impacts, uncompensated loss of revenue, and public service inequities – not solely changes in zoning or density.
5. Ensure compliance with planning consistency: Require annexations to be consistent with adopted local and regional plans developed with county participation.
All seven of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners signed the letter.
Gary Thomas, member of the 911 User Board, asked the Board of Commissioners to authorize Mission Critical Partners to issue requests for proposals for the Law Enforcement Records Management System (LERMS) and the Jail Management System (JMS), simultaneously with the RFP for the computer-aided dispatch (CAD and mobile data system (MDS), and to assist the evaluation and implementation of the systems selection by the Board of Commissioners for a fee not to exceed $100,500 to be paid from the 911 fund.
Thomas advised that this commitment to procure both the RMS and JMS as a suite solution would create efficiencies to reduce cost, the quantity of proposals and review time, due to using only one vendor rather than obtaining multiple proposals. He said that MCP (Mission Critical Partners) and the Carroll County Team were efficient in completing Phase 1 and Phase 2 tasks for the CAD and MDS, and that MCP is able to apply some remaining labor to affect a cost reduction on the RMS/JMS phases, and reduce staffing for onsite visits and use case demonstrations. Thomas said the total savings for the professional services from MCP is $34,339, and added that MCP has been responsive to answer questions and provide information.
A Resolution to approve cost-saving measures for solid waste services and transitioning solid waste services to a self-sustaining department supported by user fees was presented by County Attorney Avery Jackson. The cost for solid waste services operated by the Carroll County Board of Commissions for the citizens of the county is between $9 million and $10 million per year, with the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund covering approximately half this amount, and the remaining costs being supplemented from the county’s general fund, which is funded with property taxes. The county currently operates ten (10) convenience centers for citizens throughout the unincorporated areas of the county to drop off their household garbage, and pays contractors to staff and haul the garbage from nine (9) of these convenience centers to the county’s transfer station located at 439 Simonton Mill Road as well as the services of a contractor to haul the garbage from the transfer station to a landfill in Rockmart, Georgia.
Shortly before the county’s FY26 Budget was completed, the hauling fees from the convenience centers to the transfer station were changed by the contractor from a fixed cost of approximately $1.6 million to approximately $3.1 million, a $1.5 million unexpected increase to the general fund operating budget. The Board of Commissioners took immediate steps to reduce this increase by changing from front-end loading containers to roll-off containers, to save about $420,000 per year, and purchased and placed compactors which drastically reduced the number of hauls from the convenience centers and saved approximately $600,000 per year, dropping to original $1.5 million increase to around $480,000 per year, still a significant and unexpected expense.
It is anticipated that the cost for solid waste services and fees will continue to increase in the coming years, with more funding being required from the property taxes of landowners. The county seeks and desires to move to a self-sustaining Solid Waste Enterprise Fund where the revenues received cover the expenses of providing the services, and resolves to adopt the following cost-saving strategies and steps to achieve that goal.
- Due to the cost and inefficiencies involved in hauling furniture from the convenience centers to the transfer station, after the new transfer station is completed and opened (expected July, 2026), furniture will only be accepted at the 439 Simonton Mill Road transfer station, and not at any of the convenience centers. This change is estimated to save $1.2 million per year in cost.
- As of July 1, 2026, the county will implement a user fee and pass system for users of the convenience centers of $50.00 per year, or $25.00 for senior citizens. This fee is lower than that of the adjoining counties or private services providers in the county, but county residents may still choose to use a private service provider in lieu of the county convenience centers if they so desire. The county staff shall determine the most efficient means for implementation of the user fees and passes for final approval by the Board of Commissioners.
- Due to the labor involved in processing and hauling brush and lack of market to sell processed brush, the fee for accepting brush at the transfer station shall be $70 per ton (the same as household garbage).
4. The assets, revenues and expenses of solid waste services, including operating the convenience centers, will be moved to the county’s Solid Waste Enterprise Fund.
District 2 Commissioner Clint Chance stated that the increasing cost of handling solid waste is to a great extent due to lifestyle changes of the public in general. His example was, in the past if Walmart had a large container of shampoo delivered, there was one large container of solid waste. But due to the convenience of home delivery by Amazon and similar companies, a large percentage of people are ordering their shampoo on-line, thus creating thousands of smaller containers destined for the trash. “We are producing more trash at the same level of consumption.” Chance also mentioned his conversation with government auditors who advised that solid waste should be handled like the water and sewer enterprise fund, i.e. it should pay for itself rather than using taxpayer money that could be used for other county services. He reminded everyone that Carroll County has a very conservative Board of Commissioners who has, at least for the last eight (8) years, adopted a partial or full rollback on its millage rate. “I appreciate the actions the Board has already taken to reduce the cost of handling solid waste,” he said, “but this is becoming critical.”
District 6 Commissioner Danny Bailey also expressed appreciation for the actions already taken by the Board when presented with a very large increase just prior to Budget preparation for FY26, but he acknowledged that negative feedback is possible and he welcomes any comments from his constituents, and he reiterated that throwing away furniture is still free – it just has to be taken to the transfer station rather than a convenience center because the compactors can’t handle furniture efficiently. “Everything has to change at some point in time,” he concluded.
The last item considered at the Work Session was a Funding Request for Moss Ferry Park pavilion/restroom building (36’x32’) and parking facilities in the total amount of $175,000 to come from the 2021 SPLOST. Parks Director, Ken Johnston, told the Board that the land at 660 Moss Ferry Road was donated to the county in 2020 with the intent of creating a “low impact” outdoor recreation space. To serve the public safety and protect the local environment, he said the restrooms to be built are for public health and to support longer-duration visits for hiking and nature observation. The pavilion portion of the building would allow for use as a small group rental space and an area to meet before or after hikes and nature exploration. He said the paved surface parking area is needed to reduce maintenance, soil erosion and driveway washout. He added that the work needed will be completed by the county construction and road crews.
No Consent Agenda was created, so all these items will be voted on at the Regular Meeting on March 3rd, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.