If you are still undecided about your position on the March 21 SPLOST referendum, please consider three big P’s before you vote: Namely Pavilion, Piedmont and Pinewood.
Regardless of how you feel about the Pavilion and whether you personally shop there, if you drive through any time of day you will notice a large percentage of cars from counties other than Fayette there.
In addition to being affiliated with MD Anderson Cancer Center, Piedmont Fayette Hospital was just recently named one of the top 50 hospitals in the entire USA. With the recent expansion it will be hosting even more out-of-county patients and medical tourism.
As of January 2017, Pinewood Atlanta Studios became the largest film production facility in the country outside of Hollywood and is currently hosting the biggest budget movie ever, at $1 billion.
Each of these entities account for millions and millions of dollars spent in our county by people who do not live in our county. Although I haven’t taken the time to research the numbers, it is a safe bet that each of the aforementioned P’s bring multiple millions of dollars ever year into our county. In the case of Pinewood, it is more like hundreds of millions.
Granted, nobody likes paying higher taxes, but infrastructure repairs and improvements are necessary and will be paid for by some form of taxation. In my view, we would be foolish to not let the business generated by the three P’s help pay for the infrastructure needed to support those entities that bring so many people here from outside our borders.
My 4th and final P: Please vote Yes on SPLOST.
Greg Clifton
Former mayor
Fayetteville, Ga.
