About the Author James V. Burgess, Jr. has over fifty (50) years of experience in the fields of local government, law and business. He served as an instructor at the Institute of Law and Government and the Institute of Community and Area Development (ICAD) at the University of Georgia. In 1968, as president of Public Research and Management, Inc., a public management consulting firm in Atlanta, he worked on a variety of city and county government issues, including the first city-county consolidation in Georgia, Columbus and Muscogee County. In 1983, he was selected as the Executive Director of the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), where he served as CEO until his retirement in 1995.Following retirement from GMA, he was elected Mayor of the City of Social Circle and served from 1997 until 2011.
He also served as state legislative liaison for the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) and the City of Savanna until 2017. Burgess is a retired attorney specializing in municipal law and has served as a public policy mediator and consulting attorney in matters affecting local and state government. About the Book Improving Local Service Delivery is a history of attempts to reform the service delivery systems of city and county governments in Georgia over the past 50 years. It focuses on proposed strategies to eliminate service duplication and double taxation of citizens in financing local government services. The constitutional equalization of legal authority between counties and municipalities is considered in terms of its impact on local service delivery. Proposals to reduce the number of counties in Georgia are evaluated. It further examines alternatives for improving local service delivery through political or functional consolidation of counties, merger of cities with counties, municipalization of Georgia's urban counties, and joint performance of city and county functions and responsibilities. Remedies for resolution of city and county disputes regarding service delivery are identified.
Finally, it reviews the history and constitutional challenges regarding Georgia's Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) for financing local government services.