|
|
Money flows in DeKalb |
| Jan 28, 2005 |
"No new property taxes for 2005," said DeKalb County's CEO.
Vernon Jones. Ah, the language of politics. The statement ranks right up there with innocent-sounding "choice" or that Clinton favorite, "investment," instead of spending.
The money is flowing to government in DeKalb under Jones. He has a record of accomplishment, but it is a costly one. In her lone dissenting vote on the Jones budget, Republican Commissioner Elaine Boyer noted that spending has increased 25 percent under Jones for a total of $100 million. In four years.
The county countered by saying spending was up only $92 million in the Jones years. Hey, what's $8 million among friends?
That commission vote of 6-1 was the death knell for prudence in the state's second-largest county.
With that vote, the healthy friction of the last 20 years on the DeKalb Commission is gone. The late Manuel Maloof used to grumble about "the four housewives" who took his budgets apart. Liane Levetan got into a lawsuit with them. Their number is down to one.
The new DeKalb order makes a mockery of the county's tax system. Under the Homestead Option Sales Tax, from 80 percent to 100 percent of receipts can be used to offset property taxes. The intent of the referendum approving it was that 100 percent be used for tax relief. The lower amount was intended for emergencies. Jones campaigned on that premise and was elected. He's good at what he does. He abandoned his promise and was re-elected.
The chief executive now proposes a budget based on 100 percent of HOST for tax relief and allows the commission majority to mark it down. In the new budget, $17 million in sales tax funds will go to local pork.
Each year Boyer makes a blindingly simple point: If sidewalks, roads and traffic improvements are needed, budget for them and set priorities.
Instead, what the commission calls infrastructure improvements are local pork, with each commissioner signing off on the others' projects.
What's worse, however, is the spending spree. Boyer says the county has added 600 employees in four years and is approaching a payroll of 8,000 people. During recessions, businesses retrench. DeKalb government enjoyed the gloom years.
The result for the homeowner is startling. DeKalb taxpayers got a sizable tax cut when HOST went into effect. In four years, the county portion of the tax bill has jumped almost 600 percent according to Boyer (and my checkbook). The county also is collecting a new stormwater fee and has approved higher water and sewer fees. Property owners also are paying off the greenspace bond issue approved by voters, who aren't necessarily property owners.
As if that all weren't enough, Jones has a blue-ribbon panel at work about to recommend to voters a bond referendum of $236 million for capital projects.
Jones, described by his criminal attorney as a "political celebrity," is in the news all too often for his personal antics and his alleged repeated assaults on women. What also should be analyzed is how he lied to the taxpayers and then systematically fleeced them.
Williams is publisher of the Crier Newspapers and host of "The Georgia Gang" on WAGA-TV (Channel 5). Contact him at (770) 849-2425; or e-mail (thecrier@mindspring.com). |
|
