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FayCOG vows to defeat SPLOST |
2009-10-01 |
By Mary Moore |
The Fayette County Citizens for Open Government led by former county commissioner Harold Bost met Tuesday night at Whitewater Country Club to voice concerns about the SPLOST.
FayCOG is planning a nonpartisan campaign to defeat the SPLOST renewal that will appear on the Nov. 3 Fayette County ballot.
“This is a laundry list SPLOST. It’s just a supplemental annual budget,” stated Bost, who cited several SPLOST projects he deemed extraneous.
“I don’t want to build Woolsey a City Hall. I don’t want to pay for library building debt retirement for Brooks. I don’t want to pay for retirement of general obligation debt for Peachtree City, and so on,” Bost listed off at Tuesday’s meeting.
“And why does the county need to pay $800,000 to build expensive roundabouts when they could just as easily pay $2,000 for stop signs?”
“Fayetteville and Tyrone want 3.5 million to replace their fire stations. Those fire stations are supposed to be paid for by fire taxes. Why do they need more money?” former County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn added rhetorically.
“If it were for a good reason we were trying to raise all this money - then okay. You do not get something from nothing” said Bost.
“But why pay something for a bunch of stuff like this? For example, this one cent extra sales tax will cost you $400 on a new $40,000 car.”
Bost passionately advocated raising County awareness about the SPLOST and has formulated a plan to reach local voters.
“A low voter turnout will ensure that the SPLOST will pass,” he explained.
“I want to reach everyone who is eligible to vote in this election.”
“No one knows anything about it this year. This should be called the stealth SPLOST,” added Dunn.
Bost plans to mail flyers to 25,000 homes encouraging county residents to vote “no” to the SPLOST in the Nov. 3 election.
He estimated a total cost of $10,000 to print and ship the flyers.
Bost wrote a check for $2,000 Tuesday night “to show how passionate he is on this issue” and is planning fundraising initiatives to pay the remaining $8,000. The target mailing date is Oct. 15, two weeks before the election.
“People should know that if we vote down the SPLOST - then nothing will happen,” explained Dunn.
“Residents won’t see a decrease in the quality of life - the County just won’t do these projects. Some of these projects might be needed 10 years from now - but not right now.”
County resident Michael Myer offered to consult with a marketing company on the flyer and other meeting attendees made plans to discuss fundraising strategies with local retailers.
To support the effort to defeat the SPLOST, residents can also send contributions to FayCOG, P.O. Box 2026 in Peachtree City. For more information on upcoming FayCOG meetings, go online to www.faycog-pac.org.
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Comments:
MICHAEL MEYER writes: Good Reporting Mary.
Robin Daniels writes: Your news and sports editor, Trey Alverson, is confused. Perhaps he should have interviewed teachers around Fayette County prior to expressing his opinion that teacher morale is not low in our county. I have taught for 19 years, with 10 years being in Fayette County, and I have never known teacher morale to be lower. Furloughs on top of pay cuts, with threats of benefit cuts, and more demands from our own county leads to dismally low morale. However, because teaching tends to be a calling, rather than a just a job, we persevere for the sake of the students.
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