Cutting a new Milton County out of north Fulton County was the subject of debate at the Sandy Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Bagels and Business Meeting at the Westin North Atlanta Monday in Sandy Springs.

Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos argued the benefits of a new Milton County not only for Sandy Springs and north Fulton communities, but for the city of Atlanta and the remainder of Fulton County as well.

“The creation of Milton County, would give us services closer to home that we control, a more effective government, a government that might be able to privatize as many of the municipal governments have done and it will further the possibilities of lower expenditures and lower taxes,” she said.

The proposed Milton County would stretch from the southern boundary of Sandy Springs at Wiecua Road up to the current northern boundary of Fulton County and its population would be about 290,000.

She also talked about the implications of a new school system, which would be formed for the new county.

“We’re the only school district in Georgia that is totally split in the middle with an intervening school district,” she said. “That in itself is rather problematic.”

She argued that South Fulton schools tend to have lower tests scores and different demographics, which translate, to some extent, lower standards for the North Fulton schools.

“I think that if we have our own school district it would be easier for the [potential] board of education to set higher standards that would be met,” she said.

John Sherman, president of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, argued against splitting up Fulton County, saying the action was not only legally questionable, but if executed could be devastating for the city of Atlanta and the remaining Fulton County.

Armed with a report from the Fulton County Blue Ribbon Commission, a committee created by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to examine all of the operations of the Fulton County government, Sherman conceded the county needs fixing, but not by chopping it up.

“The city is overpriced. The school district [Atlanta Public Schools] is overpriced. The county is overpriced, but this is not the way to solve it,” the Buckhead resident said.

He said 67 percent of the costs of Fulton County are mandated or subscribed by law.

“To meet these fixed costs, Fulton County would have to raise taxes by 30 to 40 percent and that would be the end of Atlanta,” he said if Fulton County lost 36 percent of its taxpayers to the new county.

That tax increase, he said, would cause businesses and residents to move out of Atlanta’s city limits.

He said the Blue Ribbon Commission believes current county government structure is the best mechanism for providing a wide range of services, but the report also recommends changes in transportation, decreasing spending and restructuring the current commission board.

“The problem is one of leadership,” he said, referring to Fulton County’s slow pace to change. “You don’t have the leadership in the county that you have in Sandy Springs sadly.”