Tag Archives: tax

$3 million T-SPLOST to widen Val Del Road

In the Lowndes County T-SPLOST boondoggle of the day, the county wants $3 million to widen Val Del Road: all of it that’s in the county, plus adding paved shoulders, and at some intersections turn lanes, plus fiddling with drainage. Nothing in the writeup about promoting new development, although we saw in the proposal for Old US 41 N that that’s exactly what road widening projects are for.

Here’s what Lowndes County submitted for T-SPLOST funding, extracted from the 171 page PDF.

Project Sheet

Continue reading →

Trend towards drug legalization

Has anyone else noticed that even sitting big name politicians are saying things only one step short of just legalize it?

The most famous politician in the world said a few months ago: ‘Drug legalization is an “entirely legitimate topic for debate,”‘ which is a big change from 2009 when Obama laughed off the question.

Newly elected GA gov. Nathan Deal said we can’t afford to lock up non-violent drug offenders. In April Gov. Deal signed a bill to create a panel to overhaul sentencing laws.

Public opinion is almost to the majority nationwide for legalization, according to the Pew Research Center.

Private prisons have no business plan, because the majority of their “customers” are in danger of not getting locked up. We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend that tax money on rehabilitation and education instead.

-jsq

Protests about “trillion dollar incarceration machine” crash White House web site

W.E. Messamore wrote for caivn.org 18 June 2011, Internet activists crash White House phone lines calling for an end to the War on Drugs:
On Friday June 17th, exactly 40 years after President Richard Nixon declared a “War on Drugs,” Internet activists organizing from the social news and activism website, Reddit.com, called the White House en masse to demand an end to the War on Drugs, calling it a “trillion dollar incarceration machine” with a measurable failure to reduce drug use, or harm from drug use.
The original post included this:
This is also the last vestige of Nixon’s fight against the civil rights and anti-war movements: And if you look at US incarceration rates, it’s been incredibly effective. . .
  • 4,919 Black males per 100,000 population
  • 1,717 Latino males per 100,000 of population
  • 717 White males per 100,000 of population.
  • South Africa under Apartheid (1993) – 851 Black males per 100,000
That’s right, almost six times as many black males per capita get locked up in the U.S. than in South Africa under apartheid. The numbers are even worse for young people and especially young black males, leading to this summary:
This isn’t a War on Drugs: It’s a Race War; It’s a War on the youth, likely to protest controversial policies (a war that conveniently takes away those groups voting rights). It’s a war on the American People, paid for by the American people, for the American people’s own good.
Yep. Except a majority of the American people don’t want the “war on drugs” any more. It’s time for the laws to change.

Back to the main article: Continue reading →

$10 million T-SPLOST to widen New Bethel Road for Lanier County sprawl?

Lowndes County wants $10 million dollars in T-SPLOST funds to widen New Bethel Road from 2 to 5 lanes, even though Bemiss Road (GA-125) is right next to it and also connects to GA 122.

That $10 million might save Lanier County residents about one minute getting to Lowndes County to spend their money, while promoting more sprawl of developments into Lanier County.

It would cost a lot less to put a four-way stop or a light at Walker’s Crossing where GA-122 and GA-125 meet.

The details of this $10 million boondoggle are appended below, extracted from this 171 page PDF.

-jsq

Project Sheet

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“I do not know of any local elected officials that support the T-SPLOST in its’ current form.” —Tim Carroll

This comment from Tim Carroll came in Saturday on Ashley Paulk, Corey Hull, and Norman Bennett on T-SPLOST -jsq
For whatever it is worth, I do not know of any local elected officials that support the T-SPLOST in its’ current form. Chairman Paulk is right on target with his comments.

Ashley Paulk, Corey Hull, and Norman Bennett on T-SPLOST

Jane Osborn pointed us at a detailed list of T-SPLOST projects.

T-SPLOST regional executive committee chairman Ashley Paulk gave his opinion on T-SPLOST at a Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting a few months ago: He’s against it because he doesn’t like a law with a stick in it.

At the same LCDP meeting, Corey Hull of VLMPO explained T-SPLOST, which LAKE videoed in six parts,

  1. T-SPLOST Explained
  2. T-SPLOST Business plan
  3. T-SPLOST Project Lists
  4. T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG
  5. T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT
  6. T-SPLOST referendum in 2012

Before that, Corey Hull explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA, and got a very interesting question about penalties from Norman Bennett.

VLMPO held an extended public participation period for T-SPLOST in May. Maybe some of you who went can report back on that.

-jsq

Valdosta budget hearing: no citizens spoke

Valdosta city officials advertised a budget hearing and no citizens spoke.

David Rodock wrote today in the VDT, Valdosta’s 2012 budget reviewed by citizens and public officials

City officials and staff gathered Wednesday night to discuss and review the fiscal year 2012 budget. Public participation was advertised, but no citizens presented any concern at the meeting. This is the first budget hearing, with the final adoption of the budget taking place at the upcoming regular City Council meeting on June 23 at 5:30 p.m.
No citizens. I don’t live in Valdosta, so I didn’t go. Apparently no Valdosta residents who have any economic concerns went, either.

That’s too bad, because among the items discussed was this:

  • Energy and fuel prices are a threat, since the private sector controls the costs. Public Works, the Valdosta Fire Department and the Valdosta Police Department use significant amounts of fuel.
And I bet the city spends significant funds air conditioning its buildings. Costs that could be offset by investment in solar panels for those same buildings. Solar panels that would limit ongoing electrical expenditures, and would also be a visible sign to residents and potential investors that Valdosta means renewable and sustainable energy business.
According to Hanson, for every dollar spent by residents, $1.17 is spent by non-residents.
And many of those non-residents would see those solar panels, which would spread the green reputation of Valdosta back to whereever they came from.

If Valdosta wants to be forward-looking, Continue reading →

Why all those VLCIA special meetings?

Here’s the VlCIA board approving minutes for some of those recent meetings, although you can’t tell what they were for, since they were listed on the agenda like this:
Minutes
  • Special Called Meeting, May 17, 2011
  • Executive Session, May 17, 2011
  • Regular Meeting, May 17, 2011
  • Special Called Meeting, May 20, 2011
  • Executive Session, May 20, 2011
  • Special Called Meeting, May 21, 2011
  • Executive Session, May 21, 2011
  • Special Called Meeting, June 7, 2011
  • Executive Session, June 7, 2011
That’s right: no indication of what the meetings were for.

I was told outside afterwards by one board member that the special meetings were for Continue reading →

Lowndes County has to pay Industrial Authority’s bond debts

According to the Intergovernmental Contract between VLCIA and Lowndes County:
WHEREAS, the Authority and the County propose to enter into this Contract, pursuant to which the Authority will agree, among other things, to issue the Bonds, and the County will agree, among other things, to pay to the Authority amounts sufficient to pay the debt service on the Bonds.
So it seems the Lowndes County Commission committed the county, that is, we the taxpayers, to pay the debt service on $15,000,000 in bonds issued by VLCIA.

Still, what did VLCIA want $15 million in bonds for when it already gets $3 million a year in its own tax millage?

WHEREAS, the Authority proposes to acquire and develop one or more parcels of land located in the County for potential economic development purposes (the “Project”);
To buy land to trade to new industries as they come in. A variation on what Brad Lofton got fired for doing in Effingham County. Continue reading →