Condo owners’ lawsuit claims city’s frontage fee ‘an illegal tax’

Atlanta is facing litigation from condominium owners seeking relief from the city’s years-old annual gar- bage fees.

In 2019, the city’s annual frontage fees for trash pickup and street sweeping increased to a range of $500 to $12,000 per property for commercial or multifamily developments, according to the complaint filed in Fulton Superior Court in February.

However, the lawsuit alleges Atlanta’s frontage fee is “an illegal tax, rather than a reasonable fee for any solid waste collection ser- vices provided by the City.” The litigation also alleges Atlanta “has not engaged” in waste collection for them, nor has Atlanta “generally” performed collections for other, similar properties.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking fee refunds, alleged

Atlanta will receive $28 mil- lion in fee revenue in fiscal year 2021 alone — within the scope of approximately $80

million in fee revenue over the past five years.

A spokeswoman for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The Atlanta City Coun- cil recently held a special two-hour executive session with the city’s law department after C. Elisia Frazier, Atlanta’s managing deputy city attorney, said the city needed to discuss the litigation in relation to solid waste fees. The council also listened to complaints from condo residents, including many seeking refunds.

“For over 10 years, we’ve been lobbying to get these unfair solid waste fees eliminated,” said Margaret Roach, vice president of the Cross Creek Condominium Association in Buckhead.

The complaint was filed by Anne McKillips and Gary McKillips and the 351 Group LLC. The McKillips own two multifamily condos in the Buckhead community. The 351 Group owns commercial property along Moreland Avenue.

The pro perty ow n ers claimed to have “generally contracted privately” for waste collection, documents show.