Judge allows votes on cityhood referendums

A Cobb Superior Court judge Thursday allowed three cityhood elections to proceed on the May 24 ballot, issuing an order that postpones the lawsuits challenging them until after election day.

The lawsuits had sought to either delay the referendums to November or have them blocked from the ballot entirely, arguing the proposed city charters of Vinings, East Cobb and Lost Mountain violate the state constitution.

“This court declines to interfere with the legislative process and remove the referendum from the ballot,” Chief Judge Robert Leonard wrote in the order. “... In the meantime, it is incumbent on the proponents, opponents, and voters — not this court — to educate one another on the issues presented in this lawsuit.”

The stay order stopped short of an outright victory for the cityhood movements, which had asked the court to dismiss the suits entirely.

Leonard wrote that if any of the cities are approved, “the complex issues presented in this case” would be heard with full arguments from both sides, rather than on a “rushed timeline” ahead of the vote. If the cities are rejected by voters, he added, the cases are moot anyway.

At issue is whether the city charters improperly limit the home rule powers of cities. Under the state constitution, cities are granted 14 supplementary powers that outline what services they can provide, and the authority to levy taxes.

The charters specify that the cities

will provide some services, like code enforcement and planning and zoning, but not others. And while cities in Georgia can offer limited services if they choose, the lawsuit argues the charters put forward by the legislature unconstitutionally limit future city leaders from making that choice.