Henry County Manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews gave an informational update on the Service Delivery Strategy to the Henry County Board of Commissioners at the March 5 Commission meeting.

  The Service Delivery Strategy, commonly referred to as SDS, is an intergovernmental agreement between counties and cities that offer certain necessary services to residents within city boundaries.

  In Matthews’ update, she explained that over the past eight months, both county and city staff members have worked to review those specific services to develop an equitable methodology for all residents in the county. As of today, neither the county nor the cities have been successful in reaching an agreement as required by the SDS Act.

  In order to ensure that the County avoids the imposition of sanctions, the Board unanimously passed a resolution this morning, authorizing and directing the county attorney and county manager to initiate dispute resolution proceedings.

  “The County felt that this was necessary in order to avoid any sanctions that could be imposed by the SDS Act for failing to submit an Agreement to the Department of Community Affairs in a timely manner,” said Matthews.   Matthews further added that the county management team wants to ensure that the unincorporated residents of the County aren’t paying more than their fair share for services provided. This will require the County to continue to work with each city to address all service concerns, specifically the millage allocation for unincorporated and municipal residents.