A group of state senators say the Georgia Senate will hold hearings on allowing the upscale Buckhead neighborhood to secede from the city of Atlanta in a November special session on redistricting.
However, the senators, including Republican Brandon Beach of Alpharetta, said Wednesday that there will not be a vote on any secession bill until the 2022 regular session at the earliest. Supporters hope that Buckhead voters will be able to decide whether to leave Atlanta in a referendum in November 2022.
However, it remains unclear whether Gov. Brian Kemp or House Speaker David Ralston, both Republicans, will support allowing the affluent community to exit the state capital. A departure is complicated by questions over everything from how debt will be shared to what school district would serve Buckhead children to how much Atlanta would charge for water and sewer service.
Supporters of a new city of Buckhead City — there’s already an incorporated town called Buckhead in Morgan County — say they could work through those questions after a vote.
The breakaway effort’s leaders are using crime as the main motivation for the mostly white area of about 100,000 people to pull away from the 500,000-resident city of Atlanta. They’re promising to hire a large police force to crack down on crime.
