surepip

And repairing/replacing dangerous intersections with newly designed ones with traffic signals to stop continuous accidents? Bridges, one of which became impassible and one which burned down, plus replacing another 1 lane bridge on a highly traveled road. AND close to 200 miles of paving.

Thanks.....De Nada! Cobb has a lower overall sales tax, but I don't know if it is lack of EPLOST or SPLOST. But Cobb has something like a 55% yo 60% industrial tax base. Most of our citizens don't realize how badly King Jerry and his merry band of RBMDs hurt our chances for a reasonable tax base between industrial, commercial, and residential. All we have is residential and commercial, both of whom are in worse shape than they have been in for 20+ years. Industrial creates high paying jobs, and uses very little to no services. Or at least only a tiny fraction of what Joe the

General rule of thumb has always been to have local politics in the Cafe or Countywide News. When it slides over to National, it goes to the Political forum.

Happy Anniversary BB. Your husband must be a SAINT! 30 years, but I imagine it only seems like 30 minutes ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... UNDER WATER

As I recall, it was Kirby, and he was fuming over shelving the Burnt Hickory Fire Station until the square footage pricing could be re-negotiated to be more in line with what we had spent on the other fire stations instead of "rubber-stamping" and approving it just because. They came back a couple of months later with a much better price for the same basic square footage. Yes, that was a classic moment in BOC history. After Kirby said he guess he was screwed, I believe Don Powell leaned into the mike and said something along the lines of "I know exactly how you feel", referring to

278 to Rockmart and 120 widening/4 laning to West Marietta, and that was principally from the state and the feds, not local. Part of the Hiram Parkway was a negotiated trade with GDOT: We paid them something like 1 $million to go towards the GRTA buses which go from Movies 278 to downtown and back. They paid in something like $12million to go towards the Hiram Parkway, nee Bill Carruth. Pretty good trade off. Most everything else just got more gravel on occaision. The list on the chamber website of the projects completed with the SPLOST which is about to run out is quite impre

We voted to approve up to a 5 mil Fire Tax in I believe 2006 [?]. King Jerry assured us [many times here on p.com] the tax would be used to supplement the Fire Departments Budget from the county. In the budget after it was approved, the Fire Department was 100% funded by the fire tax with the execption of capital expenditures covered in the last SPLOST. But I do understand our fire rating is going to improve September 1st, and we should see some rebates on our fire insurance premiums next year.

Dallas did their downtown rennovation with grant money. I don't believe any local tax payer money was used. Those types of grants are set up specifically for downtown rennovations and cannot be used for other needs. They rebuilt the theater [nicely I might add] and built the Dallas Civic Center with similar grant money which again, could not be used for other purposes. The fountain is nice. Turning it off would simply make it a smelly algae pool for mosquitos to breed in, and over time would destroy the pump. If they sit, the bearings go flat. The cost to run the pump is miniscule. I h

Depending on what Post you are in, I know Todd Pownall and David Barnett have been spending most of their Saturday's going from door to door to meet with the voters. If you are in Post 2 or 4, give the appropriate one a call.

The school SPLOST was for specific capital expenditures and by law cannot be used for anything else. It CANNOT be used to supplerment salaries. The country has cut the budget by some HUGE numbers. The problem faced is the value of our properties in Paulding have fallen by and average of 17% in the actual tax assessment. So the county had to cut the budget to make up for that shortfall. And at the same time, the BOC had to start paying last summer for King Jerry's Taj Mahal Palace out on the 4 lane as well.

We have had the SPLOST, for DOT, Public Safety and Parks & Rec for going on to 10 years now. Because the previous administration only pushed for building high density housing, our tax base is 85% residential, and will continue to climb until we can attract industry to pick up some of the tax base. SPLOST, versus property tax at least allows some outside money and spreads the burden so it is not 100% on the homeowners.

And the Roads and Public Safety Departments ?

The county has already purchased property at 120/Billy Bulloch for another park, but for the time being I believe there are zero plans. Burnt Hickory would be the other one under construction. I don't believe there are any plans for any more purchases. P&R has been working with some citizens groups on joint ventures to add to the walking trail system with free labor. That is great for everyone concerned. Thing is all our parks are used alot. Ball Fields are Braly seem to be in use every afternoon/evening/night. White[y] Oak is the most used park in the county. The Silv

Ruritan ball is for the little kids. Where does everyone else get to go to play soccer, softball, etc. ?

These roads are under the State DOT. And that comes out of the State DOT budget. Our illustrious legislators have done little since 4 laning 278 many years ago. Our BOC can lobby our legislators to try and get these projects moved up higher on the priority list, but not much else. We do get grants and matching money from the State and the Feds for certain other projects such as Bill Carruth/Hiram Bypass Parkway. By not having the funds to put forward for projects such as these, we forfeit the State and Fed money. They will not pay their part unless we pay ours. That's the way the laws are

I believe any widening for 92 and 61 has to come via GDOT as those are State highways. Completing the Hiram Parkway from 92 over to 278 & Cleburne Parkway will alleviate some of the sprawl through Hiram and 92&278. PDOT has done quite a bit of necessary new road work with the SPLOST income the past 5 years. I think there is a list on the Chamber site showing the miles of roads and various intersections.

Animal, Your old buddy King Jerry and his troop of ROBBER BARON MEGA DEVELOPERS ruled over an era that brought thousands and thousands of new residents to live in the high density housing developments while at the same time they brought no industry with well paying jobs to the county, creating a residential tax base putting all of the revenue burden for the county on the shoulders of the homeowners. Industry pays much more in ad valorum and property taxes, but puts little strain or demand on the necessary county services. We have an 85% residential tax base while Cobb has closer to 50%. T

You can pay 1 cent at the cash register, or a couple of hundred more per year on your property taxes. Either the county cuts services back to zero, or they raise the property taxes if SPLOST does not pass. No Blackmail, just simple economics. Do you want police and other such services cut by 30% to 40% ?

Just where is this $500,000 going to come from in the budget ? I don't see anywhere left to cut. Seems to be political grandstanding to me AND, if the SPLOST does not pass it will be irrelevant. The BOC will have to raise our property taxes just to keep the deputies on the road.

The ball field land at and adjacent to Braly is no "Sweetheart" deal for anyone. Those fields are built on top of the old dump. Landfill. You can't but much of a building on it because the earth is still settling and will be for years to come.

To the best of my knowledge the government, and/or Parks & Rec has nothing to do with the Ruritan Ball Organizations. Ruritan Ball goes back to before Parks & Rec existed and did everything on their own. When the SPLOST started, the county donated some money to the Ruritan to help them out buying lights, etc. Where did you get the idea you were paying to "The Government" for your kids to play ball at a Ruritan field ? If you are paying for some sort of League Play at a country field, and writing the check to Paulding County, that would be different. I know some counties do charge leagu

I have not cooked any quail in a long time. Used to go hunting with my dad, and grandad all the time and would cook them once or twice a month....in the olden days. The brine made them very, very juicy. The bacon wrapped time on the grill added that wonderful "pork fat rules" taste, and they were really quite good. Every once in a while I even impress myself. Thank you very much

And just how does the average 17% reduction across the board for the county fit into this ? If Jason is on top of his game like you say, why don't we cut the Millage rate back to the old rate, and keep last years assessments ? The BOC would then have plenty to balance the budget and replace the depleted surplus Jason's buddy Jerry pissed away. All property owners are going to get an average decrease in property taxes, across the board, of 17% this year. If you paid $1000 last year, you will pay $830 this year. And Jason wants to cut the millage rate .15 mils ? For what and why ?

I would suggest directing that question to the BOC. I know the entire area where Braly and the New Hope Ruritan fields are was originally the local dump. They may have indeed worked out a sweetheart deal years ago. And as I recall, the SPLOST, via Parks and Rec gave each Ruritan field $10k for improvements [lights, sod, fences, etc.]. Best I know, none of the Ruritan clubs are a "for profit" organization, and our kids played ball at New Georgia and New Home in the 1990s. I saw nothing but volunteers. Don't know where there could have been a "for profit" scheme. None the less, I don

Can you explain what you are talking about ? I am totally lost ? A governmental entity registering with the IRS as a non-profit ? Can you give some details on where you are coming from ?