Dear Editor, As the guest of a Harbor Club resident, I attended the recent Town Hall Meeting which was held for the purpose of informing those residents of the plan to fund LOA’s construction desires via a countywide property tax increase over the next 20 years. As a former EDC member and voting resident of our county, I’m questioning the entire premise of this highly unusual proposal. Chairman Bullard himself indicated none of the 159 counties in Georgia have ever tried this. From the public backlash I witnessed at this meeting, I can certainly understand why. If we’re talking about taxing property owners for economic development motives, I feel our commissioners first priority should be to improve the quality of life for our existing families-- the people our commissioners are actually elected to represent. We do this by expanding existing employers and seeking out new employers. I hear Commissioner Bullard lament the poor situation of our existing workforce and our schools but I don’t hear any commitment to correct them – only what seemed like a proposal to offset and out number those negatives by attracting new residents and new students to LOA. In my opinion, if our existing workforce is largely unskilled, we should train them. If our existing schools are sub-par, we should fix them. If our existing towns and communities need revitalization, we should revitalize them. (After all, we’re talking about spending $25 million here.) If we do all these things first, we won’t have to rely on an alternative school to attract new people -- because balanced residential growth will naturally follow. However, everything in this proposal is either about attracting new parents to move into certain new communities or enticing students away from our other existing public and private schools. I see nothing in this proposal to address the county’s dire economic situation outside of the lake area. $25 million is a lot of money for a rural county to raise and invest with the ultimate goal of economic development. Obligating all citizens for the next 20 years to a single, controversial project appears to be huge gamble and does nothing to address the immediate concerns of the majority of our citizens. Economically speaking, this proposal seems to fall far short of what should be our true economic development objectives. On the other hand, if we’re really talking about education here, it should be noted we already have an elected Board of Education charged with that responsibility. As far as I know, the BOE hasn’t been fully consulted in this decision. If you don’t like them you can certainly work to vote in replacements but you should not bypass them. By choosing to invest heavily in one school, the commissioners would place themselves in the awkward position of arbitrarily picking educational winners and losers. I’m afraid this virtual “Seal of Approval” would send the signal that our commissioners have all but lost faith in the public school system. That’s the wrong message to be sending to potential employers and it is certainly the wrong message to be sending to local voters. The risk of voter backlash is great and could jeopardize the BOEs pending $25 million ESPLOST. If voters feel they are being played, they will put self-interest aside for the purpose of sending a message every time. They’ve done it twice before and they will do it again. This is no time to be taking chances with voters and risking the ESPLOST funds for everyone. What we do need is a comprehensive plan to improve our current school system, train our workforce, improve our existing neighborhoods, and show prospective employers Greene County is seriously unified when it comes to attracting employers. While corporate executives might be attracted to gated communities for their personal residence, they realize their employees will largely be residing in the traditional communities and rural areas of the county. Their overriding business concern will be for nice, affordable neighborhoods and good schools throughout the entire county. This is where I feel our commissioners focus should be. Respectfully, Dee Lindsey
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:55:50 +0000