With apologies to the residents of the other 158 counties, I wouldn’t have put up another Gwinnett Tax hike post, except John Cook had a very informative comment I felt deserved front page attention as it directly relates to state law and the Service Delivery Strategy requirements of local cities.
The Commissioners are lying to us! We don’t really “need” that many more police. Here’s why:
After the public hearing on Tuesday at GJAC, a man who said he was a past councilman from Suwannee said that this tax increase results from a testosterone contest of Chairman Bannister and other commissioners trying to flex their muscles to punish The Gwinnett Municipal Association (mayors). The mayors went to the Gwinnett Commissioners and said that they are providing services to city residents, but city residents get no break on the county millage rate–city residents are currently charged the same millage rate as other county residents even though the cities provide police protection and other services. State law requires cities and counties to share the millage rate based on services provided.
Bannister reacted harshly and is punishing them–so the new tax proposal charges residents of cities a HIGHER millage rate than the residents of unincorporated areas–just so Bannister can prove that he can spit further than the mayors can. (Petty politics?) Not only did the cities not get the requested decrease, they are getting an additional 5% increase in millage rate more than unincorporated Gwinnett as punishment. In order for Bannister to get opportunity to increase the millage rates on the cities, he has to get an increase on the rest of the county to make the dastardly deed appear legitimate.The “need” for additional police results from the mayors saying that the County doesn’t provide police protection to city residents, so they should get a millage decrease from the county to compensate for what residents in incorporated areas of the county pay to the cities for police protection. Bannister’s reaction is that he will start to provide police protection rather than give the sharing in millage rate that State law requires. Thus the manufactured “need” for additional police.
Scroll down the Dacula website under Announcements for a statement from Mayor Wilbanks regarding this:
http://www.daculaga.gov/default.asp
Exerpts:
“Georgia’s Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) law requires that county and city governments reach agreement on how they deliver all services to property owners. SDS agreements must also address how taxes are charged to avoid double-taxation.“. . . . Our current SDS agreement expired on February 28, 2009. Failure to have a current SDS agreement causes the loss of our “qualified local government status” which amounts to state sanctions against the County and all Cities. The result is the inability to receive state grants, loans and permits. In early February, before the last agreement expired, Gwinnett’s mayors signed a 2-month SDS extension and delivered it to the Gwinnett County Commissioners. This extension would have avoided sanctions and allowed more time to negotiate. Unfortunately for all taxpayers, Gwinnett County refused to sign the extension, and instead filed a lawsuit against each city. . . .”
So why aren’t the Commissioners telling us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
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I attended the Dacula City council meeting that this was bought up. The over payment figure I heard was in the 20 million dollar range. This is the amount city taxpayers over paid Gwinnett County for services that we overpaid for.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 28, 2009
COUNTY-WIDE TAX PROTEST SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY NIGHT
IN SUWANEE TOWN CENTER
Suwanee, GA – FreedomWorks and Atlanta Tea Party Patriots have teamed-up with concerned citizens in Gwinnett County, and will host a tax protest Monday, June 1, at 7 PM at Suwanee Town Center.
“Gwinnett County citizens do not intend to sit idly by and allow the Gwinnett County Commission to impose up to a 30% tax increase on us,” said Debbie Dooley, Georgia Grassroots Coordinator of FreedomWorks, and a Gwinnett County resident. Atlanta Tea Party Patriots is co-sponsoring the event with FreedomWorks.
The purpose of the protest is to inform citizens about what is happening with regard to the tax hike in Gwinnett, and to encourage citizens to attend the public hearing at the GJAC Tuesday, June 2, at 4 PM.
“This is democracy in action,” she continued. “We elected these Commissioners, who all ran as low tax, fiscal conservatives, and we are going to hold them to their word. Be there and be heard!”
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Didn’t Bannister say earlier this month that the Gwinnett County Police was going to begin patroling in all of Gwinnett cities regardless of whether there was a municipal police department? That is a pretty arrogant position. Why isn’t he seeking cooperation rather than duplication?
“Bannister to table millage rate increase
Gwinnett Commission Chairman Charles Bannister announced today that the proposal to hike property taxes in the county will be tabled for further review.
At a press conference this afternoon, the Chairman said he would table the millage rate increase at next Tuesday’s meeting in order to give the county more time to look for ways to cut expenses and look for ways to increase revenue other than a property tax hike.”
Table it? The protest is still on. We need a vote!! A strong message needs to be sent that we will not stand for a tax increase
Jonathon Krohn will be one of our speakers.
I want a refund.
Kellie, as you said, you don’t vote in Gwinnett. You get no refund because you are operating in a foreign county. Kinda like operating in a foreign country.
Uh… How long has the Gwinnett been taxing city property at the same rate as unincorporated Gwinnett? It reflects poorly on city governments in Gwinnett County. Even Decatur liberals have enough sense to know that you don’t pay county government for city-provided services.
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