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Are you planning to vote for SPLOST on Tuesday? If yes, first you need to ride down to Buford and look at their school and sports facilities. I would say it is the best in our state and their teachers are paid more than Hall County teachers.
After you see all of this, just remember the Buford school system will receive $3.8 million of the SPLOST collected in Hall County. How does it feel to build schools in another county that your children cannot attend without being interviewed and accepted, and they pay a large fee if they are accepted. It seems to me you have already paid school tax for them, don't you think?
Have you wondered why we are having a special election in March that will cost Hall County taxpayers thousands of dollars when this could have been voted on last November with no extra costs to you?
It is because our gutless commissioners and other special-interest groups know that the majority of the voters will not come out to vote on a special election. The minority of SPLOST lovers will get what they want because the numbers will be low.
I can afford the 1-cent SPLOST if you can, but remember, all the other projects SPLOST has built and will build in the future have to be maintained. Who does that cost? You, the taxpayer, by raising property taxes.
When Georgia was a Democratic majority, all we heard from Republicans was "tax-and-spend Democrats." I am a Republican, but I have news for the Republicans: Our party has turned into a tax-and-spend Republican Party.
If you vote yes on SPLOST, just think: Next year you will get to vote for another 1-cent sales tax for transportation. The politicians will again be telling you how much you need this tax. When a politician tells you this is what you need, it is for their own special-interest groups or to benefit themselves in some way.
If you think that after all these schools, sports facilities and parks are built that your taxes will go down, look at the history. For years, SPLOST keeps getting voted in and yet my property taxes have doubled in the past five years, though property values have been going down on a regular basis.
In the past, a lot of people and companies relocated to Georgia and other Southern states because our taxes were lower, and they were getting away from high taxes. If our taxes continue to go up, companies and people will leave our state.
Vote no on SPLOST or on any other property tax increase. If your property tax goes up, maybe people will come out and vote in the next election and vote every commissioner, legislator and governor out of office.
Kenneth Dowdy
Flowery Branch