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The Gainesville City Council is set to vote in April on the rezoning of Mundy Mill. By changing the zoning to allow apartments to be built prior to the retail and office, all of the costs of serving the needs of the apartment residents will be passed directly to you, the property taxpayers of Hall County.
The costs of a new school, added police, transportation, fire, etc., will be added to our tax cost at a time when adding to the burden of taxpayers is a bad idea. We are talking about millions of dollars of costs being added in our annual expenditures.
On one hand, the rezoning of Mundy Mill would greatly benefit the banks and developers as it would help them out of a tough situation. The bad news is that Hall County property owners are rewarded with a higher tax rate during a recession, more high density and less desirable housing that hurts surrounding neighborhoods values.
When Hall County has one of the highest foreclosure rates in Georgia, common sense tells us there are plenty of empty houses for folks to rent. Our local leaders should be concerned with getting the foreclosure rates down and getting those houses sold, not adding to vacancy rates of an overbuilt real estate market.
Please contact your Gainesville City Council members and tell them to vote no on Mundy Mill zoning changes. Remind them to think about the burden they are placing on Hall County families while bailing out their friends at the local banks. Tell them that Hall County is one of the only counties in the state who did not reduce property tax assessments for the last several years.
Our property taxes where frozen at 2007 levels by the tax assessors office under direction of the Hall County commissioners. This policy makes all houses in Hall County less desirable.
Why would anyone buy a foreclosure here when they are forced to pay tax rates from a market high point of 2007? We will continue to see lots of potential real estate investors "run for the hills" as our county, state and federal taxes go higher.
Unless more citizens start caring about how our local government is inflicting pain on the families which they serve, while government officials feel no economic pain but can easily manipulate the system for their own personal gain, our local economy will suffer for a long time.
Unless citizens are willing to speak out and demand that local leaders represent the best interest of Hall County taxpayers, we will keep getting what we deserve. Higher taxes and fewer services.
Lynn Everitt
Oakwood