HB 233, one of the property tax bills, has been controversial — so controversial that Senators Doug Stoner and Tim Golden co-authored an editorial about it.
You can read it here.
While our property tax system needs some reform, after much thought and deliberation, we have come to the conclusion that HB 233 is another unfunded mandate that simply forces local governments to either raise millage rates, and/or reduce vital services and lay off employees, including the law-enforcement and public safety officers who protect us every day. This restriction on local control would especially hurt our already underfunded public schools.
Just one problem.
When it came to a vote in the Senate, neither Golden nor Stoner voted on the legislation. Golden had an excused absence. Stoner just simply did not vote.
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Would it not make more sense to increase service fees or user fees based on cost and decrease statewide income tax?
The real issue is people want the service without the cost. And with all the money flowing to the federal or state government the local citizen does not understand the cost verse reward proposition.
It seems part of the problem is because of the rob Peter to pay Paul system that has no controls.
For example in most cases we have under utilization of Tech schools yet we build more High schools and hire more teachers. And this behavior is based lack of carrots and sticks to modify responsible behavior with tax payers’ money.
If you look at the redundancy in education alone it is scary. We have a system that the federal government pushes unfunded mandates on the State and the State pushes on the local communities.
Now we have bureaucracy cost at the federal level that created bureaucracy at the State level which pushes it down to the county level and onto the schools. And we have Kathy Cox and Sonny Perdue with two different staffs also in the equation.
Multiple this times every area with no one accountable from top to bottom and now you know why it is a mess.
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