Backroom Report For Monday 10-27-08
Advanced Voting gets underway this morning… you’ll be able to vote today thru Friday from 8 AM thru 5 PM at the Bartow County Voter Registrars Office and also at the Cartersville Civic Center.
While you may have decided on your pick of candidates, many voters have yet to study the three amendments to the state constitution you’ll find when you cast your ballot… so let’s do a quick run-thru…
The first question asks whether large tracts of forestland should be taxed based upon a special assessment instead of upon fair market value of the property so as to encourage owners to maintain their property as forests … When you have commercial, industrial or residential development next to or near a large tract of natural land… The tax assessment of that raw land can skyrocket based upon what the highest use of that land could be… instead of what it currently is…
By voting yes on amendment one, you’ll encourage owners of large tracts of property to keep their land natural instead of selling to developers because they can no longer afford the escalating property taxes.
Amendment two came to be because of a recent lawsuit… many cities and counties in Georgia provide property tax breaks or abatements to developers who agree to redevelop existing blighted areas. The reasoning is that by giving up immediate tax dollars, the city or county will receive a higher level of taxes a few years down the road from the increased value of the newly redeveloped property. Some school systems were also waiving collection of school taxes on these redeveloped blighted properties until a lawsuit ruled the practice unconstitutional…
Approval of amendment two would once again allow school systems to participate in these tax abatement deals. The argument against amendment two is that since the school system would be losing revenue for several years when it grants a tax break to a developer… then existing property owners would have to make up the difference… in essence, home and property owners would be subsidizing the developers.
Amendment three is a little complicated, but here it goes… if approved this amendment would allow developers to build new projects and issue bonds to cover the costs of providing roads, sewer, water, and some amenities… the new residents of these projects would then pay a special tax to the developer for a certain number of years in order to pay off the bonds… there are still some unanswered questions as to oversight of the collected funds and some see approval as a taxation without representation issue.
Several other states allow developers to utilize this type of system… if you’ve seen or heard the ads for the retirement community The Villages in Florida, that is an example of a community built under this method.
In addition to the above three constitutional amendments… City of Cartersville residents will also be voting on a referendum to allow Sunday sales of alcohol by the drink. Regardless of whether or not you personally drink alcoholic beverages or even condone use of alcohol, this is really an issue of freedom and personal liberty.
It’s already legal to sell alcoholic beverages Monday thru Saturday… so why should Sunday be off limits? To those who say that Sunday is the Sabbath and should be set aside, we must remember that Jews and some Christian denominations consider Saturday to be the Sabbath, and some religions celebrate Friday as their holy day.
Why should they be denied the ability to order a glass of wine with a meal on Sunday, which is just another day to them? I know this runs against the moral foundation of some, but again it’s a matter of personal liberty.
Election officials continue to project very long lines at the polls next Tuesday with waits of several hours possible… so if you can, please try to take advantage of Advanced Voting today thru Friday 8 AM to 5 PM at the Bartow County Voter Registrars Office and also at the Cartersville Civic Center.
Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next Monday… for a complete transcript of this morning’s comments, go to NewsTalk1270.com (End of complete transcript of commentary that aired on NewsTalk AM 1270 – WYXC at 7:35 AM Monday October 27, 2008)
While you may have decided on your pick of candidates, many voters have yet to study the three amendments to the state constitution you’ll find when you cast your ballot… so let’s do a quick run-thru…
The first question asks whether large tracts of forestland should be taxed based upon a special assessment instead of upon fair market value of the property so as to encourage owners to maintain their property as forests … When you have commercial, industrial or residential development next to or near a large tract of natural land… The tax assessment of that raw land can skyrocket based upon what the highest use of that land could be… instead of what it currently is…
By voting yes on amendment one, you’ll encourage owners of large tracts of property to keep their land natural instead of selling to developers because they can no longer afford the escalating property taxes.
Amendment two came to be because of a recent lawsuit… many cities and counties in Georgia provide property tax breaks or abatements to developers who agree to redevelop existing blighted areas. The reasoning is that by giving up immediate tax dollars, the city or county will receive a higher level of taxes a few years down the road from the increased value of the newly redeveloped property. Some school systems were also waiving collection of school taxes on these redeveloped blighted properties until a lawsuit ruled the practice unconstitutional…
Approval of amendment two would once again allow school systems to participate in these tax abatement deals. The argument against amendment two is that since the school system would be losing revenue for several years when it grants a tax break to a developer… then existing property owners would have to make up the difference… in essence, home and property owners would be subsidizing the developers.
Amendment three is a little complicated, but here it goes… if approved this amendment would allow developers to build new projects and issue bonds to cover the costs of providing roads, sewer, water, and some amenities… the new residents of these projects would then pay a special tax to the developer for a certain number of years in order to pay off the bonds… there are still some unanswered questions as to oversight of the collected funds and some see approval as a taxation without representation issue.
Several other states allow developers to utilize this type of system… if you’ve seen or heard the ads for the retirement community The Villages in Florida, that is an example of a community built under this method.
In addition to the above three constitutional amendments… City of Cartersville residents will also be voting on a referendum to allow Sunday sales of alcohol by the drink. Regardless of whether or not you personally drink alcoholic beverages or even condone use of alcohol, this is really an issue of freedom and personal liberty.
It’s already legal to sell alcoholic beverages Monday thru Saturday… so why should Sunday be off limits? To those who say that Sunday is the Sabbath and should be set aside, we must remember that Jews and some Christian denominations consider Saturday to be the Sabbath, and some religions celebrate Friday as their holy day.
Why should they be denied the ability to order a glass of wine with a meal on Sunday, which is just another day to them? I know this runs against the moral foundation of some, but again it’s a matter of personal liberty.
Election officials continue to project very long lines at the polls next Tuesday with waits of several hours possible… so if you can, please try to take advantage of Advanced Voting today thru Friday 8 AM to 5 PM at the Bartow County Voter Registrars Office and also at the Cartersville Civic Center.
Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next Monday… for a complete transcript of this morning’s comments, go to NewsTalk1270.com (End of complete transcript of commentary that aired on NewsTalk AM 1270 – WYXC at 7:35 AM Monday October 27, 2008)
posted by Chuck Shiflett @ 11:18 PM
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