Residents speak out against tax increase
- 7/8/11
- Categorized in: DeKalb News
A resident of DeKalb County for more than 25 years, Mary Ann Brown said she adamantly opposed any millage rate increase.
“I have not gotten an increase in my retirement in over two years,” Brown said. “I can’t afford any tax increase. I have to cut my budget.”
Another resident, Blue Anderson said the county needs to cut services and employees.
“You’re going to have to cut personnel,” Anderson said. “If you made a 30 percent cut in employees, you wouldn’t miss a one of them.
“You are gong to have to start operating this county as a business and not as a charity,” Anderson said.
Brown and Anderson were two of the residents who participated in two July 5 public hearings on the county’s proposed tax increase.
After receiving a recommendation by DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, the board voted last month to advertise a millage rate increase of up to 4.5 mills. Although Ellis’ latest budget proposal requires a 4.35-mill increase, the 4.5 mills would give the commissioners flexibility if they decided the amount was needed in the final budget. Based on a 4.5-mill increase, an average home valued at $155,700 would pay $672 in county property taxes.
Bob Morris, who has lived in DeKalb for 36 years, said any tax increases considered by the board should not permanent.
“Given the situation right now, if you consider any tax increase I ask that they be temporary and not be in the form of a … millage increase,” Morris said.
Another resident, Tom Scott, also said taxes should not be increased.
“I was taught to make do with what I had or do without,” Scott said. “There are many people that are struggling to make their home mortgage payments.”
If they lose their home it will drive property values down further, affecting the tax base, Scott said.
Lee May said this is the third year Ellis has recommended a tax increase.
“The two prior years this board has said ‘no,’” May said.
While acknowledging the “realities of the housing market, the Board of Commissioners is taking into consideration unemployment, residents living on fixed incomes and the high foreclosure rate, May said.
“Those are all things we have to take into consideration when we are looking at our budget, all while still maintaining a certain quality of life here in DeKalb County,” May said.
The last of the three public hearings on the tax increase is set for July 12, the county’s deadline for adopting millage rates.
“We hear you and we are listening,” May said. The board’s task now is to determine what is a “realistic millage rate to fund this government.”
I actually agree with most of your comments, especially,
"Part of the reduction in staff could be accomplised by letting go of this dead weight. The remaining staff are already the ones doing most of the work, so give them a pay increase and hire new staff at lower rates that are capable and willing to do hard work".
The "predictions of doom" were just dumbed-down examples...
I work in a county department that is very customer-oriented, and laziness and rudeness are not tolerated. Not a government-employee mindset, just a reminder to the masses that think NONE of the county workers do any work, that some of them do excellent work and deserve every penny they earn.
What needs to be exposed is the percentage of each dollar actually spent on necessary functions as related to all salaries/pensions & non-essentials.
Rita
Pandering Preachers and Pandering Politicians proped up by a mountian of ignorance will bring the other half down also !
And EVERYONE in DeKalb County will get what they deserve for Voting in This Board of Carpetbaggers !
Sort of reminds me of ancient Rome. It had to raise revenue to fund its foreign ventures and lifestyle of the Emporer and taxed the working class and small business people out of existence and look what happened.
You are either unable to make distinctions between core government functions or are unwilling to admit they exist for the purposes of a debate. Government leaders who rely on across the board budget cuts are lazy cowards. We are not in a slight downturn in the economy, but this is what DeKalb leaders have been acting like for the past few years, hoping that things will improve. They have been unwilling to do the restructuring of county government that is necessary.
An overwhelming majority of the DeKalb County employees I've interacted with have been lazy, incompetent or disinterested. And this is not something new; this behavior has existed for years. The amount of slack in county government is incredible.
Part of the reduction in staff could be accomplised by letting go of this dead weight. The remaining staff are already the ones doing most of the work, so give them a pay increase and hire new staff at lower rates that are capable and willing to do hard work.
As for your predictions of doom: 1) If I have a water leak I'll call a private contractor to fix it. Governments drag their feet on small matters like this anyway. They like to argue about it not being their problem in hopes that the property owner will take care of it themself. 2) You are truly a fool to bring up trash service as an example. This is one area that can definitely be cut. Two days of trash pick up is unnecessary. One is enough and if people recycled more it would be easy to reduce their actual trash amount. Having a separate day for yard waste is foolish as homeowners can dispose of their own yard waste...in their own yard. 3) Libraries are a prime example of non-core functions of government. From what I've seen, they've generally become nothing more than glorified internet cafes. Leave a few big, well-stocked locations in different parts of the county accessible by Marta and close the rest. 4) Honey, if someone kicks in my door I ain't wasting time calling 911 and waiting for officers to arrive. I'm using what the second amendment guarantees me the right to have.
"Be careful what you wish for....you just might get it. Remember this when you have a water leak in your yard and the water and sewer people can't get to you for a week and your yard floods, remember this when you have to take your own trash to the landfill because there is not enough staff to run the garbage trucks, remember this when you want to check out a library book and have to drive ten miles to a branch that is open, and especially remember this when someone armed with a gun kicks in your front door and no one answers your emergency call because the 911 call center is understaffed!"