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ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
e
If someone tried to reach into your wallet once, you
might whack them with your hand.
If they tried it again, this being Monroe County,
Ga you might introduce them to Mr. Smith and Mr.
Wesson.
If they tried it a third time, well, let's just say that
wouldn't be wise on their part.
Yet that's what Monroe County is trying to do to its vot-
ers in the election that's already underway and will culmi-
nate Nov. 5. Your neighbors are already casting ballots on
a referendum of whether government should take a bigger
portion of your paycheck. Yet this may be the first you've
heard about it. More on that later.
Suffice it to say that for the third time since 2012, the
county is seeking your permission to get into your wallets
by raising the sales tax in Monroe County from 7 to 8
percent. Why? To pave more roads. They're calling it a T-
SPLOST, or Transportation Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax.
State lawmakers tried this first in 2012, selling it as a
regional approach to transportation whereby counties
would get together and share tax revenues for area proj-
ects. Voters across the state soundly defeated it. Georgians
know that government already confiscates way too much
money from families.
In 2016 Monroe County tried again, this time with
promises that more money would stay at the local level.
Again, Monroe County voters wisely defeated the tax
increase by a significant margin.
Yet here we are again. Our elected leaders will not take
no for an answer. And they've quietly scheduled this vote
on an off-election year hoping to sneak it by the voters. I
hope they fail.
It was just one year ago that Monroe County taxpayers
agreed to renew the county's 1-percent sales tax that will
siphon $19 million out of our wallets. About $4 million of
that will go to pave local roads. But government is never
satisfied They always want more.
Elected officials like to call this the penny tax to mini-
mize its impact on local families. But think about this: the
median household income in Monroe County is $50,666.
It is true some things are exempt from sales taxes: Rent or
mortgage payments and most groceries. But that's it. Let's
conservatively assume that only half that income, $25,000,
is spent buying taxable things each year. Under that
example, this tax increase would cost the average family
$250 per year. And they want to impose it for five years.
So that's $1,250 taken away from your family. That leaves
families without funds to pay for things like field trips, or
new clothes, or medical care for their children.
And then consider that once these sales taxes are
imposed, they are rarely, if ever, repealed. The Geor-
gia legislature first allowed school systems and county
governments to impose 1 percent sales taxes in 1985, and
Monroe County families have coughed up millions ever
since.
In the past, elected officials have sold this transporta-
tion tax increase as a way to keep paving roads with local
money, with the promise of matching dollars from the
state. That was the carrot. But now county manager Jim
Hedges is suggesting that if voters do not pony up, an
increase in property taxes may be required to pay for road
improvements. They try this tactic a lot. It's called the
stick. I say call their bluff.
I don't deny Monroe County roads could use improve-
ment. But more important are Monroe County families
and their budgets. Every dollar siphoned out of local fami-
lies for government diminishes our ability to meet their
own needs. Monroe County is a conservative county. We
understand that the family and the individual come first.
Government comes second. When government is already
hitting families with property taxes, sales taxes, death
taxes, income taxes and every other kind of tax, then Nov.
5 is a good time for Monroe County taxpayers to tell their
elected officials for a third time: "No mas!"
And maybe this time, they'll listen.
www. MyMCR.net
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, President. Robert M. Williams Jr Vice President
Cheryl S. Williams, Secretary-Treasurer
STAFF
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Business Manager
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Community Editor
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Creative Director
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Publication No. USPS 997-840
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
projections for
metro Aflanta's
growth over the
next three de-
cades point to some hard
truths not only for people
who live there, but also
for people
who live in
Georgia's
other major
cities and
its rural
areas.
The latest
forecast
comes by
way of a
new report
fium the
Atlanta
Regional
Commis-
sion. The
headlines from the report,
which is updated every
four years, have mostly
focused on how metro
Atlanta in 2050 will be
much bigger - the popula-
tion is projected to grow
to 8.6 million, an increase
of 2.9 million -- and much
more diverse: 33% black,
31% white, 21% Hispanic,
14% other.
A quick aside before I
Continue: If you re won-
dering whether I remem-
ber that just last week I
wrote about the difficulty
humans have in predicting
the future, the answer is
yes. But I also noted we are
good at seeing trends, just
not anticipating disrup-
tive change. Looking at
the projections made me
wonder whether we ought
to seek some disruptive
change to alter the trend.
What really interested
me, though, was the ques-
tion of how much of the
state's overall
growth might be
going to metro
Atlanta vs. other
areas. The ARC
report didn't ad-
dress statewide
growth, but its
projections for
the region are in
line with state
estimates.
The current
forecast by the
state Office of
Planning and
Budget is for
metro Atlanta to continue
to get the lion's share of
growth. Whereas the
21 -county metro area ac-
counted for 56.5% of the
state's estimated popula-
tion in 2017, it's expected
to be 62.4% in 2050.
The inverse of course is
also true: The other 138
counties will account for a
smaller proportion of the
state's total population.
Some 55 counties are
projected to lose popula-
tion over the next few
decades. We are accus-
tomed by now to seeing
rural counties on that list.
What's striking is how
many of Georgia's other
urban counties join them:
Richmond (where Au-
gusta is located), Muscogee
(Columbus) and Bibb
(Macon).
Could those counties
simply be losing people
to their own suburbs? In
Augusta's case that's true:
Neighboring Columbia
County will more than
make up for Richmond
County's losses.
But metro Columbus
is expected to lose about
41,000 people by 2050, and
metro Macon about 8,500.
The Albany metro area is
also projected to shrink, by
more than 22,000 people.
Among the state's other
metro areas, only Adl~n~
and Savannah are forecast
to grow faster than the
state average, though nei-
ther is expected to keep up
with metro Atlanta's pace.
Areas including Brunswick
and Dalton figure to grow,
but slowly
For me, all these data boil
down to two essentials.
First, reviving rural
Georgia will be nearly
impossible if the state's sec-
ond-tier cities are stagnant
or shrinking. Southwest
Georgia needs a strong Al-
bany to be its regional hub.
The same goes for middle
Georgia and Macon, west
Georgia and Columbus. At
the moment, that's not how
things are shaping up.
Second, it's in metro
Atlanta's own interest for
the rest of the state to grow
more quickly than the cur-
rent trends.
The population declines
in some counties may
mostly be about deaths
outpacing births. But in
many, maybe most, cases,
one big factor is the con-
tinued migration toward
the state's biggest city.
That shift puts a strain
on their resources, but
also on metro Atlanta's.
For the declining coun-
ties, depopulation means
a smaller tax base to
maintain vital services. For
metro Atlanta, such rapid
population growth will be
difficult, if not impossible,
to accommodate with
infrastructure, from roads
to schools.
I'm not suggesting
Albany or Dalton will, or
should, challenge Atlanta's
status. The big city is going
to get bigger. But more
balanced growth would
alleviate some of the
inbound pressure Atlanta
faces, while also better
distributing the burden of
maintaining state services
and functions.
The trick, naturally,
is how to do that. But
acknowledging how much
worse the imbalance
stands to grow is a neces-
sary start.
The president and CEO
of the Georgia Public
Policy Foundation, Kyle
Wingfield's column runs in
papers around the state of
Georgia.
BACK 'N' FORTH by Bill Weaver
ffmoere are 16 handicapped
arking spaces outside the
nt doors of the westem-
ost entrances to the
Walmart and Ingles stores in For-
syth- eight reserved parking spaces
at each store. More times than I can
remember I've walked by cars parked
in those spaces and
grumbled in disgust
because some of the
people I've seen going
to or from their vehide
looked pretty spry and
hardly looked handi-
capped at all.
SOMETIMES THE
vehicles in those spaces
didn't seem prop-
erly permitted. Either
they didn't have a tag
hanging from their
rearview mirror or
they didn't have the
wheelchair symbol on
their license plate, or
both.
BUT IT'S not like I live in these
parking lots to know ff this is a big
problem. How could I know?
those spaces during that hour.
Of the 22 vehicles, I counted only
three that didn't have a hang tag or a
designated license plate.
Over at Ingles, the eight spaces
were never full. Only 13 vehicles used
them during the hour I was there.
Only one vehicle without a handi-
capped tag or plate
used a space, and that
driver didn't get out of
the car but apparently
was picking up some-
one. All other vehicles
using those spaces had
the hang tag or the
license plate.
SO, TO my surprise
and delight, the vast
majority of people
using these parking
spaces had the tag or
plate auth rizing them
to park there. That's
a good thing, so con-
gratulations Monroe
motorists. The more
difficult part of this "research" was
determining if the people getting out
of those vehicles were the "handi-
capped" people for whom the permits
were issued.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON I spent
an hour parked in the Walmart lot
watching those eight handicapped
parking spaces, then spent an hour
watching the eight spaces at Ingles.
My hour at Walmart was from noon
to 1, then I went to Ingles for the next
hour. Herds some of what I observed:
THE WALMART parking spaces
were rarely emp . When one opened
up someone else quickly took it. I
counted 22 different Vehicles using
OF COURSE, not all handicaps
are visible, but based solely on my
observation RI guess only about 60
percent of the people were the permit
holder. The other 40 percent might
have been using the permit for their
own parking convenience, not as a
convenience for a handicap.
MY CONCLUSIONS from this
simple little exercise were these:
MOST PEOPLE are honest about
not using the spaces without a visible
handicapped permit. It was much
better than IU imagined.
Many people park where the permit
allows even though the permit holder
isn't present. It was worse than Ikl
imagined.
IS THIS a big deal? Not to us able-
bodied shoppers, but it is if you are
handicapped and need those park-
ing spaces because of your limited
mobili .
WHAT CAN be done? Those who
can walk, should, and they should
leave the parking spaces for those
who can't. Also, if Forsyth police
officers are on routine patrol they
would encourage compliance if they
simply drove by, stopped, got out and
checked a few vehicles. The mere
threat of getting a ticket would be a
deterrent.
THOSE OF us who don't need
these parking spaces should be
thankful we don't. We owe those who
do the courtesy of our compliance.
Bill Weaver lives in northern Mon-
roe County. He can be reached via
email at billweaver81 l @gmail.corn.
Back in June, Monroe County paid $2,765 for an investi-
gative report into a county empiol~'s allegation that commissioner
Larry Evans harassed her for not hiring his "niece". But commissioners
have refused to let the who paid for the report, see if.
They've kept it hidden from public view. Only District 3 commission-
er John Ambrose supports letting the public see it. If you think you
have the right to see the report, tell your commissioner or call the
office at 994-7000 and let them know. Meanwhile, we will count
days y've he their constit e in the dark until itS, eosed.
,
