The legal showdown between the Fulton County Commission and the Georgia General Assembly over the county’s vote to raise property taxes, laid out in two suits challenging the actions, has been simmering since last year when the Legislature voted to cap the tax rate until 2015.
On Wednesday, the same day commissioners voted 4 to 3 to pass a 17 percent millage increase, six members and one former member of the Georgia House of Representatives sued to block the tax hike. The suit was filed by House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones and reps. Wendell Willard, Lynne Riley, Joe Wilkinson, Harry Geisinger and Chuck Martin, along with former Rep. Ed Lindsey, who stepped down to launch an unsuccessful bid for Congress earlier this year. The seven Republicans sponsored last year’s tax-cap legislation.
