I was very impressed by the number of people who thought enough of Fayette County to show up for the political forum on a Monday night.
Steve Brown had the quote of the evening when he said, “Our county doesn’t have a funding problem; it has a spending problem.” I totally agreed with that thought.
It’s really shocking to see how elected officials are spending our hard-earned tax dollars at the county level.
I used the example of the Board of Education wasting our tax dollars on empty and half-empty schools. I asked where the accountability in the excess spending was.
My opponent tried to spin the topic by saying it sounded like I was trying to run for the school board. My comments on the unnecessary school spending were simply to demonstrate how outrageous things have gotten over that last few years.
I think the nearly empty Rivers Elementary School, the failed SPLOST, and roads to nowhere show us that we have a problem with unresponsive leaders in Fayette County who simply are not listening or caring about the taxpayers, whether it’s the School Board or the County Commission.
In these troubling times, we see large expenditures of money that make no sense at all. We have the County Commission proposing SPLOST options with projects so far out of step that three-fourths of the voters rejected it. We have the bypass to nowhere and it all adds up to arrogance in our leaders.
I just see some very important mistakes in spending judgment that if continued will endanger our great lifestyle in Fayette County.
I cannot sit by and watch our Fayette County Commission toss one unreasonable spending proposal after another at us.
I know a lot of you are feeling the effects of the recession and I share that with you all.
I’m in favor of terminating the West Fayetteville Bypass because it makes no sense financially, or as a road project. In addition, I am totally opposed to mass transit in Fayette County. I’m not content on sitting on my hands while a mass transit plan gets approved that would cost us hundreds of millions of dollars.
I will work to get us out the regional plans instead of just talking about it.
One more thing and I’ll let you get on to reading the rest of the newspaper.
I would appreciate your vote on July 20. Rest assured I will be your full-time county commissioner and serve you, the citizens of Fayette County.
Allen McCarty
Candidate, County Commission Post 5
