A city of “Brookhaven” from Perimeter Mall to Buford Highway is not viable. Based on the 2012 Tax Digest, revenue is down 6.8 percent. This means a deficit of more than $360,000 for the city from day one.

Also, the new 59 percent HOST credit proves that taxes for a city would be greater than the taxes we now pay DeKalb County.

A vote for a city is a vote for higher taxes.

A city would take $30 million away from DeKalb County, yet we would still be part of DeKalb County.

This means our other services would be cut 20 percent, millage rates increased 3 percent and we would have a second layer of government to deal with.

Read the “Brookhaven” city charter. That is the contract we are voting on July 31st – not the promises or propaganda of politicians. Nowhere in the Charter are specific numbers given for the budget or even what services we will have. This is like signing a contract that says, we’ll tell you later what the rent is and for which building.

The proposed city would start at its maximum millage rate. This means there would be no room for growth and no reserves. We would have to vote again to raise the cap or cut services immediately.

Peachtree Corners, the newest city, warns us: We went to our first city meeting and learned the budget is more than three and a half times what we were promised by the CVI feasibility study, the Yes-city promoters and the politicians.

Why the rush to make an irreversible decision?

Dunwoody had three studies over 10 years. We should vote No City until we have time to get a second study. Read the charter at AshfordNeighbors.Org. We do not need to be a city.

Laurenthia Mesh is a spokeswoman for the Ashford Neighbors group which opposes creating a city of Brookhaven.