Let's talk about wasteful and extravagant spending

[BH87]

Textbooks for the students

We spend the least of any county in Georgia to educate each student, I believe the taxpayers in the county are satisfied with that

 

 

and what a crying shame that is for Paulding County

 

I am not, I think we all need to pay more for the future of our kids as Paulding is taking less revenue on property taxes.

 

Airport and court house, the jury will be out for at least 20 years. Two possible verdicts. 1-(had it not been built) what the hell were those people thinking, they knew growth was coming and did not build facilities to handle it. 2- What a flop.

I like to believe we are the bridge builders to the future.

 

An old man going a lone highway,

Came, at the evening cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

Through which was flowing a sullen tide

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

 

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day,

You never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

 

The builder lifted his old gray head;

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followed after me to-day

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

Edited July 27, 2012 by bh67

[BH87]

PS this is not a talk, it is a give me your thoughts as I want to knock them down.

[halo 2]

Not to disrespect you LPPT, I know that you mean well. But I STILL consider all that I said to be true.

In respect to the jobs added...I don't buy it, sorry.

denial doesn't mean things didnt happen. Its pretty simple and LPPT explained it very well. I understand feeling like its wasteful but honestly she is dead on with this post... and LPPT and I dont see Eye to Eye all the time either but she is on this one.

[LPPT]

I know with the city of Hiram there were stipulations on how the money had to be spent, not specific to the project, but general guidelines. But that was SPLOST money, I assume it's the same with the stimulus money

 

The guidelines and strictness surrounding funds is to protect them from abuse.

If people agree to pay taxes for something specific you can't turn around and create a project that makes your relative or friend a lot of money while you are in office.

It's not perfect, but that is the general idea of these things.

I know there has to be some grant money out there somewhere to help the owners of the downtown businesses to improve those old buildings and maintain them.

 

There is a saying that grant writers are worth their weight in gold. I think it would benefit down town building owners to pool their funds and hire a grant writer to save the infrastructure on our historic buildings in Paulding.

 

There are a lot of businesses that can not go in down there because of the outdated wiring and plumbing of those buildings.

I am very proud of what was done with the old theater and the addition of the civic center.

I am proud that we have a college down there, my son and all his friends planned and attended there. It is so much more affordable for them to attend close by.

 

We are slowly but surely pushing back the decay of not just the towns but actually older industrial areas with the opportunity zones.

 

Cartersville is a perfect example of how this can be done.

[cobb transplant]

LPPT: okay smarties....name one so-called waste of money...blah, blah, blah

Forum: The sidewalk to nowhereThe fountain on the Square The New Courthouse The Airport Several NEW parks New Library

LPPT: Okay, but other than those...those don't count. Just name something specific...but not those. Okay? not those. now, see if you can name one...see if you can

Edited July 27, 2012 by cobb transplant

[Blondiega1]

How bout the pretty new signs in downtown Dallas for "Welcome to Historic Dallas, Ga."

Where'd the money for those come from?

[GeorgiaTornado]

LPPT asked for wasteful spending by Paulding Co? Those projects listed were not projects that used tax dollars right from our millage tax. Those are FEDERAL moneys.. The County had nothing to do with collecting them. I guess we should NOT apply to have our own tax dollars spent in our county...Hell lets all keep paying the taxes and let's let Douglas or Carroll have nice fountains or ADA approved sidewalks.

 

Good Job LPPT... You answered it better and nicer than I would have.

 

 

Jamie.....Keep up the good work. I may try to stop by and chat with you today if you are available this afternoon.

[kwood]

In that case, can you give me a list of projects that Paulding County has funding over the past say 5 to 10 years, and I'll tell you if I'm happy with them or not. Thanks in advance.

[its mr sarcastic to you]

What about these new black signs popping up around town? An example is the one in the roundabout at Walmart which has to be a very expensive sign. It appears to be a very expensive item appearance wise.... I assume they are like Cherokee County and point to different communities (like the new retirement facility by Walmart) but really is that necessary to pay for with government funds or is it a sponsored thing and the retirement community pays for it? I would assume since it has Paulding County on it we paid for it, but you know what they say about assuming! LOL

I for one do hope all these business' keep coming, I hate my 20+ mile one way commute!

[Blondiega1]

What about these new black signs popping up around town? An example is the one in the roundabout at Walmart which has to be a very expensive sign. It appears to be a very expensive item appearance wise.... I assume they are like Cherokee County and point to different communities (like the new retirement facility by Walmart) but really is that necessary to pay for with government funds or is it a sponsored thing and the retirement community pays for it? I would assume since it has Paulding County on it we paid for it, but you know what they say about assuming! LOL

I for one do hope all these business' keep coming, I hate my 20+ mile one way commute!

That's the one's I'm talking about too!!

Where'd the money for those come from?

[looking4thetruth]

In that case, can you give me a list of projects that Paulding County has funding over the past say 5 to 10 years, and I'll tell you if I'm happy with them or not. Thanks in advance.

 

You will never make ALL of the public happy about everything. There are over 140,000 people living here now and I would be willing to bet you can't get them ALL to agree that today is Friday.

[its mr sarcastic to you]

You will never make ALL of the public happy about everything. There are over 140,000 people living here now and I would be willing to bet you can't get them ALL to agree that today is Friday.

It can't be unless we are trick or treating tonight! Nice try though....

[kwood]

You will never make ALL of the public happy about everything. There are over 140,000 people living here now and I would be willing to bet you can't get them ALL to agree that today is Friday.

 

In some places it's Saturday today.

[BH87]

In that case, can you give me a list of projects that Paulding County has funding over the past say 5 to 10 years, and I'll tell you if I'm happy with them or not. Thanks in advance.

 

 

I can go back further to when I moved here and so many were against the bike trail.

The boogie man will come with those terrible buses for commuter going downtown

Hiram High being built

Bill Carruth pkwy

The Hiram Walmart

The park where Paulding Meadows is held

The new animal shelter

Mt Tabor park

 

Not saying they are good or bad as you did not ask that, I don't want to pull a LPPT here. These are the projects I will not say which I was for or against. I will let you decide if it built said bridge to the future. bruce

 

Added: I don't know which was funded by Paulding or not. That is what need to be untangled for many.

Edited July 27, 2012 by bh67

[BH87]

LPPT, if you want to educate the public with info on how money is spent you are doing a poor job.

 

You asked a loaded question so you could fire back and call people stupid for not knowing in your own way.

It is a shame we don't have a real source of news in Paulding so people could be easily informed on the facts.

 

I agree with Ga Tornado that you explained things correctly on funding of projects. But you asked it like an attorney

so when an answer was given you could lead into your agenda.

 

Educate us, start a post that says I want to clear up funding practices and issues. Explain there is a lot of mis information

that needs to be cleared up. List examples and ask for others, that way it looks like a public service not a loaded question.

 

I want to add I learned this the hard way, I often asked loaded questions in the past and realized it made me a poor debater.

i was then in a long term relationship with someone that specialized in loaded questions.

[GeorgiaTornado]

One project that I like....and will benefit from East Hiram Bypass!

[its mr sarcastic to you]

I can go back further to when I moved here and so many were against the bike trail.

The boogie man will come with those terrible buses for commuter going downtown

Hiram High being built

Bill Carruth pkwy

The Hiram Walmart

The park where Paulding Meadows is held

The new animal shelter

Mt Tabor park

 

Not saying they are good or bad as you did not ask that, I don't want to pull a LPPT here. These are the projects I will not say which I was for or against. I will let you decide if it built said bridge to the future. bruce

 

Added: I don't know which was funded by Paulding or not. That is what need to be untangled for many.

You had some credibility until you said Hiram Walmart.... :shivers:

[kwood]

One project that I like....and will benefit from East Hiram Bypass!

 

I agree, I think this is going to cut a lot of time off my commute.

 

You had some credibility until you said Hiram Walmart.... :shivers:

 

Did the county build the Walmart?

[Ugadawgs98]

The sidewalk in question gave the citizens of Dallas access to their community library and park. It may not be important or seem wasteful to those who live outside of the city but I would expect that because they are not the ones using it.

[its mr sarcastic to you]

I agree, I think this is going to cut a lot of time off my commute.

 

 

 

Did the county build the Walmart?

Um, it was a joke

[kwood]

Um, it was a joke

 

I guess I needed a after that

[its mr sarcastic to you]

I guess I needed a after that

[michelay1000]

What about these new black signs popping up around town? An example is the one in the roundabout at Walmart which has to be a very expensive sign.

Hmmm, I assumed those were owned by a business being paid to advertise and not the County. I may need to look into that. Did you see that they put another one in New Hope yesterday in front of Walgreens? How many of those signs does one corner need

[its mr sarcastic to you]

Hmmm, I assumed those were owned by a business being paid to advertise and not the County. I may need to look into that. Did you see that they put another one in New Hope yesterday in front of Walgreens? How many of those signs does one corner need

I haven't seen the New Hope one's.... maybe it is supposed to be a revenue generator kind of thing, dunno....

[michelay1000]

I haven't seen the New Hope one's.... maybe it is supposed to be a revenue generator kind of thing, dunno....

There is one near Rite Aid, in front of Walgreens, and right at Due West.

[cobb transplant]

The sidewalk in question gave the citizens of Dallas access to their community library and park. It may not be important or seem wasteful to those who live outside of the city but I would expect that because they are not the ones using it.

 

You have unwittingly made the point of very many...why are my tax dollars in use to improve the life of the residents of Dallas and not me (by remaining in my pocket for me to spend)? Why not have the citizens of Dallas band together and pay themselves for whatever it is that they want - thereby making it none of my business?

Let's use your math here:

I would like a new car, why don't we do a SLOST to pay for that? It would benefit the community and society in general because it would cut down on the use of foreign oil because it would be more fuel efficient. It would polute less because my aging car burns a little oil. A new car would be safer for the community as my older car takes much further to stop and so I would be less likely to damage your property or you. It would create and support many jobs through the building of it, the sales of it and etc... But most importantly, because I desire a more luxurious car and cannot afford it. However; if I get just a small percentage of your money every month, I be able to buy it; therefore, it is a good idea.

 

 

[looking4thetruth]

In some places it's Saturday today.

 

Not here. At least not for several more hours.

 

It can't be unless we are trick or treating tonight! Nice try though....

 

Sorry, I am having a slow day.. I must have missed something.

[LPPT]

Hmmm, I assumed those were owned by a business being paid to advertise and not the County. I may need to look into that. Did you see that they put another one in New Hope yesterday in front of Walgreens? How many of those signs does one corner need

 

You will find that most upscale communities are doing this.

I think the object is to cut down on big obnoxious signage.

I think you may be forced to pay to be on the sign because you can not put up a certain type of sign after the program is started.

I am not fond of them especially when I am in a new area,, but it has become a modern standard in communities all over the country.

[politicalmonster]

LPPT asked for wasteful spending by Paulding Co? Those projects listed were not projects that used tax dollars right from our millage tax. Those are FEDERAL moneys.. The County had nothing to do with collecting them.

I'm sorry, but this whole "It wasn't local tax money" thing drives me nuts!

 

Our elected officials at each level are responsible for making sound fiscal decisions with any spending they undertake! I don't care if the money came from the National Account for Somalian Fart Studies, that is still a dollar that the government took from me, and has now been spent on a sidewalk going to nowhere, that was not needed, and nobody will use!

 

If we the public don't hold our officials to account for ALL wasteful spending, then there is less incentive for them to worry being fiscally conservative across the board!

 

If constituents across the country told politicians not to take money that wasn't needed, eventually that money would be re-allocated, possibly to something that made sense. (I know, it's a pipe dream)

-PM

[gpatt0n]

Without pointing fingers, I have to admit after reading this topic, I have the distinct impression that at least some of the folks here complaining must have been laid off from county or government jobs because of the retrenchment. They are jealous of things like the fountains, the sidewalks, the airport and other public works.

 

They are playing to the conservatives who, back in the 1980s, gave Earl Duncan all sorts of hell for buying Paulding Meadows Park, were certain that if the county ever had more than one stop light, everyone was certain to go to hell.

 

What is being complained about is progress. They see the county spending that money ... in the case of the airport in total ... at least as much as has been cut from local spending over the past four years ($30+ million). They'd rather have their jobs than an airport; they'd rather have their jobs than a sidewalk and they'd rather than have their jobs than a fountain.

 

All progress, to them, is bunk.

 

What they don't grasp is the benefit of those additions often is more about the style than immediate personal utility. To draw an analogy, think about a woman's appearance. You have one that has a depression era dress, long, unwashed, unkempt hair, no makeup, barefoot with dust clinging to ankles and you have the same woman, dressed to the nines, well-coiffed hair, makeup, and a happy smile.

 

What the detractors don't understand is the leadership of the community is all about putting the make on those outside the community whom we want to move here because that is the path to progress. We want their factories, we want their jobs and their investment and we may even show them a little leg to entice them

 

But one thing we can't do is give into to those whose mission to halt progress. Yes, there is also one absolute fact about any community anywhere and that is there will always be those who think progress is bunk.

 

Me personally, when I saw that list, I rejoiced because each one of them is a victory for progress!

 

pubby

[LPPT]

You had some credibility until you said Hiram Walmart.... :shivers:

As far as I know there has only been one new building under this administration, some of the early things in North Paulding were in the process and could be changed but not stopped.

The studio has a single goal and that is to pump outside money into the local economy.

The newest is the Cedercrest extension the purpose of that is to recover wasted infrastructure going to a bank owned failed residential development. We can zone parts of it commercial and industrial and bring jobs to the county.

I am not sure that this administration can claim the hospital 100% but I know dirt did not move until they took office.

They can claim creating a corporate business park that is bringing in great jobs.

I believe there has been some support at the airport to assist in building it to accommodate aircraft manufacturing and maintenance/repair/overhaul businesses out there.

 

The only businesses that have ever seen supported by the public are retail and restaurants. If we don't do these things our tax base will continue to shrink we will lay off more and cut services or we will be forced to go after the homeowner and small businesses in a big way.

It's not that complicated or that hard to understand how it works.

I will say that some have not benefited for the change in direction.

 

The direction we were going in benefited the few and harmed the majority, the very things people are complaining about are the things that cost us dearly in this county.

[cobb transplant]

Pubby: What is being complained about is progress. They see the county spending that money ... in the case of the airport in total ... at least as much as has been cut from local spending over the past four years ($30+ million). They'd rather have their jobs than an airport; they'd rather have their jobs than a sidewalk and they'd rather than have their jobs than a fountain.

 

*************************************************************************************************************

Well, said..."they" are the truly selfish, self-centered and just mean spirited people to rather have their job than a fountain for me. If not for my fountain, they wouldn't have a job...er, wait, I mean, let's see here, they don't have a job because they don't like my fountain...no, that don't work neither, ummmm...lemme get back to ya

Edited July 27, 2012 by cobb transplant

[billh]

The sidewalk to nowhere

You do know that that was stimulus money that did not cost local taxpayers a dime and that had we not taken it someone else would have because it was earmarked and could only be spent one way on those type of projects

 

All the sidewalks did were to give jobs to the Mexicans. If you were watching all the workers were not from Dallas or Paulding county. This was t total waste.

The fountain on the Square

You do know that that was stimulus money that did not cost local taxpayers a dime and that had we not taken it someone else would have because it was earmarked and could only be spent one way on those type of projects.

 

Ok so the fountain looks good. How many new jobs did that create? Who pays the maintenance cost to keep it up and to provide water when it gets low? That spot could

have been used for a business or even a parking lot. Also if you were watching it was all Mexicans who built it.

 

We kept people working, house notes and other bills paid, rather than unemployment and food stamps.

 

The New Courthouse

You do know that Jerry Shearin and his BOC which are no longer in office bought that with bonds, we can not stop payment on those bonds. We also continue to have to spend because of some issues with the construction.

As long as Jerry is no longer involved with our local government we should not have any other problems like that.

 

The court house should have been voted on and there should have been open records as to who was doing the work. Until there is more open records in this county anything

like this. I have seen the credit card records for now, and there are so many things that should have not been bought, like all the trips out of town (Jekyll island etc).

 

The Airport

The airport was also done under the Shearin team. To help you understand what is at stake there are certain things that have to be done to have it payback the citizens of the county what they were forced to put in it.

But lets just be blunt about the airport situation. That some folks either want the progress stopped and want to be bought out to the tune of millions because the airport is disturbing them.

They believe that the taxpayers money should first be spent to buy them out, then the airport can proceed to make money to pay back taxpayers investment.

When you look at the potential for jobs and tax base, look at Mccullum,commercial property backs up right to the hangers on all sides. It is a huge boost to economy. the land out there will only grow in value for tax base and jobs.

 

The airport was voted out three times, and it was still built. All funding should be dropped and let the airport make it's own way. If it can't then it should be closed, or

at least made private. It is on the top of a mountain with all the trees cut in all directions, there is always going to be a problem with wind if there is no windbreak.

 

Several NEW parks

New Library

 

Back at square one the Shearin team appropriated the money for this, you do understand about appropriation right? Then proceeded to spend almost 1/2 of those funds on planning and moving dirt. They put no limits on cost over run giving the selected builders a blank check to finish the job.

The newly elected BOC rebid it and had new plans saving the taxpayers millions of dollars that they had been obligated to spend.

 

Has anyone looked at the shape some of our parks have gotten in since we built the new parks. Just go look at Paulding Meadows and it draws more out of

county people then all the rest combined for the arts and crafts show.

 

What we needed was.............

 

A water resevoir

 

And once again we are back to Shearin and team, there is a rumor of a pissing contest lost by Paulding county that resulted in a hell would freeze over before there is funding for this. It was shelved during the last administration.

The dust being blown off a year later caused us to incur huge expenses to finish the studies for it.

 

And who caused the pissing contest?

 

Textbooks for the students

We spend the least of any county in Georgia to educate each student, I believe the taxpayers in the county are satisfied with that.

 

NO AND A BIG NO! How can a student study at home if they don't have textbooks? Ok you say CD's My kid went to PHS and there

was no textbooks, and no cd's All the money was spent on a big new gym that wasn't needed. For the amount that was

spent on the gym there could have been textbooks for all the students.

 

 

NO furlough days for county employees.

It was furlough, layoff, or raise millage. We are all free o contact the commissioners and tell them how bad we feel for the county employees and ask them to raise our millage rate. It was my understanding that they did not receive any messages of this type from taxpayers. Probably because many of them were laid off and barely able to pay their mortgages.

 

There wouldn't be layoffs etc if the money was spent for the right things. Trips out of town for David and Steve to all over the place didn't do anything

for the county except spend the money and give them a place to go.

 

AND....hold on to your hats................JOBS.

 

Over 200 new jobs have been created in Paulding in less than a year. We have had many areas with existing businesses declared opportunity zones. Existing businesses here in the county will get huge tax breaks for adding employees.

 

The millions that the movie studio and new companies are pumping into the economy monthly will result in small and existing business hiring more.

80 of those new jobs will pay around 40,000 10,000 above the average 30,000 currently.

 

My understanding is that there is a huge amount of international companies looking to locate here. If we can do this in one year, with a new economic development plan, I am excited to see what we can do in the second year.

I am hearing so much excited chatter from small companies about the new jobs and tax breaks it is incredible.

 

 

Ok so how many people did the movie studio hire from Paulding county? Tell me what 80 jobs you are talking about and how does one get one of these jobs.

I thing one of the major problems in this county is the economic development team. How much is their salary compared to the common workers that

keep the county going? It's time to rid ourselves of a lot of the top heavy people and get back to running the county for the people not for the politicians.

 

[Tahoe]

]

When government earmarks money it can not be spent on anything else. The original idea of this was to appropriate funds for needed projects and not allow them to be diverted to pet projects as politicians came and went.

The city of Dallas did not create that, and that money could never be used for anything else if it sat there a 100 years.

 

Plus the City of Dallas has nothing to do with the Paulding County Board of Commissioners. The Commissioners have absolutley NO say so in the spending of the City of Dallas and Hiram....

 

Also, the Paulding Board of Commissioners is a different governing authority that the Paulding County Board of Education. The county collects the taxes and sends the Board of Education almost 75% of your tax bill. The Commissioners have absolutley NO say so in the purchasing of books for students.

 

Librarys were built with SPLOST which the taxpayers of Paulding County voted YES on.

 

And you call things like this Wasteful and Extravegent spending....OMG find something more useful, senseable and pertinent to complain about.

[Lady Raider]

Without pointing fingers, I have to admit after reading this topic, I have the distinct impression that at least some of the folks here complaining must have been laid off from county or government jobs because of the retrenchment. They are jealous of things like the fountains, the sidewalks, the airport and other public works.

 

They are playing to the conservatives who, back in the 1980s, gave Earl Duncan all sorts of hell for buying Paulding Meadows Park, were certain that if the county ever had more than one stop light, everyone was certain to go to hell.

 

What is being complained about is progress. They see the county spending that money ... in the case of the airport in total ... at least as much as has been cut from local spending over the past four years ($30+ million). They'd rather have their jobs than an airport; they'd rather have their jobs than a sidewalk and they'd rather than have their jobs than a fountain.

 

All progress, to them, is bunk.

 

What they don't grasp is the benefit of those additions often is more about the style than immediate personal utility. To draw an analogy, think about a woman's appearance. You have one that has a depression era dress, long, unwashed, unkempt hair, no makeup, barefoot with dust clinging to ankles and you have the same woman, dressed to the nines, well-coiffed hair, makeup, and a happy smile.

 

What the detractors don't understand is the leadership of the community is all about putting the make on those outside the community whom we want to move here because that is the path to progress. We want their factories, we want their jobs and their investment and we may even show them a little leg to entice them

 

But one thing we can't do is give into to those whose mission to halt progress. Yes, there is also one absolute fact about any community anywhere and that is there will always be those who think progress is bunk.

 

Me personally, when I saw that list, I rejoiced because each one of them is a victory for progress!

 

pubby

 

 

Awww pubby that makes perfect sense..... make the county look good at no expense so people will want to build here,and come here but in the mean time the county is broke,poor, can not take care of the issues we have (woman dressed poorly) but.... that is ok as long as the county looks good(showing a little leg) and we get builders in here who leave empty subs sitting around...or empty retail stores, or hire out of the county people to work... I am none of the ones you described in your post. I like progress however... i do feel we need to take care of the issues we have in the county instead of spending money we do not have to make the county look good(showing that leg) to outsiders. this reminds me of the USA always helping others when we should take care of the ones who live in the USA first.I have nothing against helping others i do it all the time but i will not do it at the expense of my family suffering from it.

 

I also look at it this way if you come to my home and you do not like it fine you do not have to come back, but i am not going to build a new house just to get you to come see me.

[kwood]

The sidewalk to nowhere

You do know that that was stimulus money that did not cost local taxpayers a dime and that had we not taken it someone else would have because it was earmarked and could only be spent one way on those type of projects

 

All the sidewalks did were to give jobs to the Mexicans. If you were watching all the workers were not from Dallas or Paulding county. This was t total waste.

The fountain on the Square

You do know that that was stimulus money that did not cost local taxpayers a dime and that had we not taken it someone else would have because it was earmarked and could only be spent one way on those type of projects.

 

Ok so the fountain looks good. How many new jobs did that create? Who pays the maintenance cost to keep it up and to provide water when it gets low? That spot could

have been used for a business or even a parking lot. Also if you were watching it was all Mexicans who built it.

 

We kept people working, house notes and other bills paid, rather than unemployment and food stamps.

 

The New Courthouse

You do know that Jerry Shearin and his BOC which are no longer in office bought that with bonds, we can not stop payment on those bonds. We also continue to have to spend because of some issues with the construction.

As long as Jerry is no longer involved with our local government we should not have any other problems like that.

 

The court house should have been voted on and there should have been open records as to who was doing the work. Until there is more open records in this county anything

like this. I have seen the credit card records for now, and there are so many things that should have not been bought, like all the trips out of town (Jekyll island etc).

 

The Airport

The airport was also done under the Shearin team. To help you understand what is at stake there are certain things that have to be done to have it payback the citizens of the county what they were forced to put in it.

But lets just be blunt about the airport situation. That some folks either want the progress stopped and want to be bought out to the tune of millions because the airport is disturbing them.

They believe that the taxpayers money should first be spent to buy them out, then the airport can proceed to make money to pay back taxpayers investment.

When you look at the potential for jobs and tax base, look at Mccullum,commercial property backs up right to the hangers on all sides. It is a huge boost to economy. the land out there will only grow in value for tax base and jobs.

 

The airport was voted out three times, and it was still built. All funding should be dropped and let the airport make it's own way. If it can't then it should be closed, or

at least made private. It is on the top of a mountain with all the trees cut in all directions, there is always going to be a problem with wind if there is no windbreak.

 

Several NEW parks

New Library

 

Back at square one the Shearin team appropriated the money for this, you do understand about appropriation right? Then proceeded to spend almost 1/2 of those funds on planning and moving dirt. They put no limits on cost over run giving the selected builders a blank check to finish the job.

The newly elected BOC rebid it and had new plans saving the taxpayers millions of dollars that they had been obligated to spend.

 

Has anyone looked at the shape some of our parks have gotten in since we built the new parks. Just go look at Paulding Meadows and it draws more out of

county people then all the rest combined for the arts and crafts show.

 

What we needed was.............

 

A water resevoir

 

And once again we are back to Shearin and team, there is a rumor of a pissing contest lost by Paulding county that resulted in a hell would freeze over before there is funding for this. It was shelved during the last administration.

The dust being blown off a year later caused us to incur huge expenses to finish the studies for it.

 

And who caused the pissing contest?

 

Textbooks for the students

We spend the least of any county in Georgia to educate each student, I believe the taxpayers in the county are satisfied with that.

 

NO AND A BIG NO! How can a student study at home if they don't have textbooks? Ok you say CD's My kid went to PHS and there

was no textbooks, and no cd's All the money was spent on a big new gym that wasn't needed. For the amount that was

spent on the gym there could have been textbooks for all the students.

 

 

NO furlough days for county employees.

It was furlough, layoff, or raise millage. We are all free o contact the commissioners and tell them how bad we feel for the county employees and ask them to raise our millage rate. It was my understanding that they did not receive any messages of this type from taxpayers. Probably because many of them were laid off and barely able to pay their mortgages.

 

There wouldn't be layoffs etc if the money was spent for the right things. Trips out of town for David and Steve to all over the place didn't do anything

for the county except spend the money and give them a place to go.

 

AND....hold on to your hats................JOBS.

 

Over 200 new jobs have been created in Paulding in less than a year. We have had many areas with existing businesses declared opportunity zones. Existing businesses here in the county will get huge tax breaks for adding employees.

 

The millions that the movie studio and new companies are pumping into the economy monthly will result in small and existing business hiring more.

80 of those new jobs will pay around 40,000 10,000 above the average 30,000 currently.

 

My understanding is that there is a huge amount of international companies looking to locate here. If we can do this in one year, with a new economic development plan, I am excited to see what we can do in the second year.

I am hearing so much excited chatter from small companies about the new jobs and tax breaks it is incredible.

 

 

Ok so how many people did the movie studio hire from Paulding county? Tell me what 80 jobs you are talking about and how does one get one of these jobs.

I thing one of the major problems in this county is the economic development team. How much is their salary compared to the common workers that

keep the county going? It's time to rid ourselves of a lot of the top heavy people and get back to running the county for the people not for the politicians.

 

 

 

It is my understanding, and I may be wrong, but in regards to the movie studio, I think they are hiring union workers from places in Atlanta. So I don't know that it brought any permanent Paulding County jobs. However it is actually up and running, so assuming we didn't let them operate tax free they should be bringing in some taxes as well as bringing people out to this area in hopes to relocate or spend money on their brakes or on their drive to and from work.

[Tahoe]

One project that I like....and will benefit from East Hiram Bypass!

 

 

And that is built with State and Federal Funds....http://www.paulding.gov/index.aspx?nid=768

[gpatt0n]

What is being complained about is progress. They see the county spending that money ... in the case of the airport in total ... at least as much as has been cut from local spending over the past four years ($30+ million). They'd rather have their jobs than an airport; they'd rather have their jobs than a sidewalk and they'd rather than have their jobs than a fountain.

 

*************************************************************************************************************

Well, said..."they" are the truly selfish, self-centered and just mean spirited people to rather have their job than a fountain for me. If not for my fountain, they wouldn't have a job...er, wait, I mean, let's see here, they don't have a job because they don't like my fountain...no, that don't work neither, ummmm...lemme get back to ya

 

The silly fact is that the money for the fountains and for the sidewalks were federal grants to the city of DALLAS and couldn't be used to pay salaries for building inspectors that, because the housing bubble burst, had no buildings to inspect.

 

The airport was paid for out of federal aviation administration money and the county was able to leverage a $50 million investment for less than $1 million in local money ... of which only a miniscule portion came from county operating funds. The airport, during its construction, provided a slew of jobs befitting its $50 million cost.

 

The county also maintains a fund balance which has been diminished over the past four years but still remains somewhere in the $15 million range. (It will vary as the county collects taxes in the fall and often in the period prior to the main property tax collection season, will use the fund balance to even its cash flow in August-October.) The county has reduced that

 

And I know that it would have been a wonderful thing to be a new home building inspector in a building bust because you'd get paid to do 'nothing' (there is no activity to inspect.) But we also know that even when there was activity in the county a good number of the inspectors did little or nothing or there wouldn't be as many out-of-compliance homes in the county with occupancy permits signed by the county.

 

Still, the only hope of those folks would have been a stimulus program that granted counties monies to keep employees like teachers and public safety workers on the job only the Tea Party congressmen nixed that option. Of course it wouldn't have had much impact on building inspectors even if it had passed.

 

pubby

[LisaC]

Textbooks for the students

We spend the least of any county in Georgia to educate each student, I believe the taxpayers in the county are satisfied with that

 

 

 

WRONG, I am an unsatisfied tax payer.

I would much rather spend a little extra money and have our children actually receive an education.

 

I'm NOT satisfied with that and will now be paying for my child to get a private school education in Cobb County. Too bad the taxes I pay to Paulding can't be sent to that school - I'm sure the school would make much better use of the money.

[michelay1000]

 

I also look at it this way if you come to my home and you do not like it fine you do not have to come back, but i am not going to build a new house just to get you to come see me.

:clapping: