As we are on the verge of possibly the largest tax increase in Fayette County history, everyone knows it’s your money except for the government. Government has no money.
Most taxpaying citizens realize the basic functions of government and services are worth funding. If only the government would have the same appreciation of the taxpayers.
Our single-family residential market has been as hot as a volcano. With those highly profitable sales come increased home values and higher taxes for all of us.
Large Tax Increase Plus Significant Inflation
The downside of the dramatic increase in home values for those of us not planning on moving anytime soon is a painful increase in our local taxes. Even worse, we also find ourselves in the midst of a perfect-storm consumer crisis with 1970s style inflation (Bidenflation), hiking prices on everyday items like food and fuel.
Our local governments have decided to cash in on the windfall with a whopper of a tax increase while residents are battening down the hatches as the tech sector and others are hoisting red flags over the economy.
Time For Citizens to Act
Even if our local governments vote for a “rollback” of the millage rate, they will still bring in more revenue than the previous year.
This is the critical moment when elected officials have an opportunity to demonstrate their management skills, financial prowess, and empathy for their constituents. Will the politicians look the other way or will they realign their position to reflect the current state of the taxpayers, especially our senior citizens and others trying to make ends meet?
Let the people you elected to represent you know how you feel as soon as possible this week before they vote.
Fayette County Board of Commissioners – boardofcommissioners@fayettecountyga.gov
Peachtree City – council@peachtree-city.org
Fayetteville – ejohnson@fayetteville-ga.gov
Board of Education – berrydreisbach.melinda@fcboe.org
Tyrone – edial@tyrone.org
Brooks – dclangfordjr1989@gmail.com
Speaking of Politicians Wanting Your Money
Recent Peachtree City mayoral candidate Nick Ferrante is soliciting local cash through his “Red, White and Blue Labor Day Spectacular” family event at Drake Field. He is raising money through event sponsorships for We Push Progress.
So, what exactly is We Push Progress? On Facebook, Ferrante lists the web address for the organization as www.wepushprogress.com. The website is certainly political and expresses the organization’s intent on promoting “progressive” candidates and causes.
The site reads, “We are at a crossroads as a country when it’s clear the interest of many elected officials don’t match the interest of the American people.” Further down it reads, “Sign up right now to do your part to protect the rights of everyone,” providing boxes for all your personal information.
I would dare say that Ferrante’s version of equity and justice does not necessarily align with most Fayette County residents. So, what is described as “the city’s largest and most exciting family-focused event ever” is really a fundraiser aimed at promoting political-left candidates and their campaigns in future elections.
Why would Ferrante, an avid supporter of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, not just promote the event as a politically motivated fundraiser for left-of-center candidates and far-left political causes?
Imagine the disappointment and frustration of local families believing they are attending a simple family fun day at the city park only to find out later they were patronizing a political action committee fundraiser supporting progressive policies and leftist political candidates.
As of the writing of this column, We Push Progress is not listed with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office as a corporation nor a political action committee. Has the Peachtree City government verified Ferrante’s organization as a legitimate entity and is this event legal?
Local business sponsors should be able to know precisely what is going on behind the curtain at We Push Progress and what political causes are being supported. Would it not be unscrupulous to pitch patriotic emblems (red, white, and blue) and family fun to local business sponsors and possibly have their name later connected to some form of political activism they do not want to be attributed to the business?
The greatest weapon we own to create an honest and effective government is our public participation. Do your homework, vote and express your views or suffer the consequences of your inactivity. We all must hold the government accountable and do our research to avoid false promises and corruption.
[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.]
The problem is that the government(s) are trying to maintain their (spending) lifestyle, just like the taxpayers that must be taxed to support it. The difference is, the governments aren’t willing to cut out the frivolous spending to make ends meet. For the most part, they try to justify every penny they spend as a necessity, because if they make cuts, they have to admit that they didn’t really NEED all of the taxpayer money in the first place. That would affect re-election chances, which is too often priority one.
Thanks, Steve, for the words of wisdom. I just wish the city council would listen to the people of the Peachtree City. Your 10 demands for the city council in your last column were so correct and well stated. Our council needs to understand that they speak for us.
As far as the “woke”, “socialist”, and “communist” event planned on Labor day, it should not be allowed to be on our city property for a fund raiser for a Progressive group. It is being sold as a fun day for the kids, but all they want is your money and your information. Check out Runforsomething.com and read their goals for 2022. They want to take over all local elections and school boards.
All the confusion about the cart paths and the speed bumps have been a smoke screen to allow this type of activity which is being pushed by a group that want to change our city. We stopped The Great Wolf Lodge! We can stop this liberal group that want to ruin our quiet villages community.
Ya’ll nuts.
It certainly isn’t nuts to be concerned about the direction that the hard left, Marxist, Progressives (used to be liberals but are now quite illiberal) culminating in the Biden admin disaster is taking us nationally or locally.
But, yes, it isn’t wrong to authorize use of this space for such activity. It just needs to be open and honest about the objective.
Seems someone whishes he was still mayor. Would you feel better if Ferrante called it a rally? Is he doing anything wrong? It’s not like he got on the City Commission and then tried to close a cart path near his house. Politicians (Rep and Dem) do this stuff all the time. Go if you want, don’t if you don’t.
Thank you for the alert! Mr. Ferrante seems to want to obscure his agenda generally but he is aggressively obnoxious in his personal appearances when challenged on his leftist agenda, as are the groupies who follow him around.
The Republicans have made it clear that they’ve lost their soul. Keep defending Trump. I’ve never seen a group of Republicans with less backbone to stand up for what is right. God bless Liz Cheney.
Agreed (Rebut5), in 2015 the GOP as many knew it turned cowardice and later got high jacked when bone-spurs Donnie referred to John McCain as being “not being a war hero – he’s a hero because he was captured – and only losers get captured.” Party leaders and republican supporters stood by in relative silence but then soon rallied and continued to support by even waving the red, white, and blue. It was a real wtf moment. The party’s soul then continued to erode the next five years (and more) with the typical diatribe, along with losing its way on party principles and core values.
Even on the local level, they too view fiscal conservatism in a different light, if they even know the definition. Yet Steve Brown’s article does seem to want to try and rein some of this in, but then quickly gets back on the Trump-bus again by peddling more fear into his article. So, is that far-left as in … anything left of Trumpism and extremism, like party idealism of Liz Cheney and members of the Lincoln Project? This is what the party is quite good at lately – promulgating fear. They have little else to offer up except speed bumps. That’s why many are taking a different route these days.
Thanks for being vigilant, Steve, by bringing this to our attention.
Hopefully, our city and county elected officials will make sure Ferrante’s organization is verified as a legitimate entity and this event is legal?
Thanks for the notice Steve. I certainly won’t attend much less support an event whose goal is to push Left wing, progressive politics and candidates. It also seems inappropriate for the Drake and I wonder if the Council and Mayor agree.
How is it inappropriate? Can the NAACP come out and do an event? How about the Pride groups? Are they “inappropriate for the Drake”?
Yes, anything political is in appropriate IMHO. YMMV.
Quite the opposite, publicly owned space is the most important place for political activity to take place.
Can you imagine what would happen if the British in 1775 told the the citizens of Boston that they couldn’t assemble on the commons to protest tax policy of the crown?
Appreciate the sarcasm; by 1775 town meetings in Boston were restricted to only one per year, in accordance with the Massachusetts Government Act which was part of the British “Intolerable Acts” of 1774 set forth a year earlier. Any additional meetings required the governor’s approval. Not sure how long the local taxpayers were granted speaking time at these annual meetings though.
How many Constitutional rights and conventions are you Trumpites willing to ignore? Drake Field is government owned. The First Amendment to the Constitution clearly gives citizens the right to assemble free from government censure. Unless there are laws that the assemblers are breaking (e.g., January 6, 2021 rioters), the government CANNOT hinder the rights of citizens to assemble peaceably.
Political speech and assembly are among the MOST protected freedoms in our country.
This is Civics 101 folks.
Not sure why you’re singling out “Trumpites.” It was the Democrat party that invented the idea that only certain spaces were suitable for political speech. They invented “Free Speech Zones” at the 1988 Democratic Convention just up the road in Atlanta. The Bush Administration used it very effectively to hide dissent, but the Obama Administration turned it up to 11 when they actually used armed federal agents (effectively paramilitary, lets be honest) to forcibly herd protestors into free speech zones at certain high profile events during his administration, and arrest anyone who attempted to leave.
D – You are quite accurate that both parties will gladly restrict free assemblage of opposing views when they can. The commenters on this site and to this particular Steve Brown column are decidedly Trumpites, and thus the reference.
Thank you for offering accurate historical facts in your posts.
I see the logo even contains 2021 parade float “Lefty the sea monster” that adorned a local driveway for a year.
Maybe it should be renamed “We Push Woke”.
I now see why Steve Brown is no longer mayor. His bias is constant every time he writes an article. Let’s all work together to make this town better. If he really cared about our future he would be working hard with whoever is in office to get things done, it seems all he does is make trouble and complain…..so tired of this!!!!
You nailed it! It is refreshing to see such words directed at Steve. I hope he’ll take it to heart.
Exactly my opinion susanw. I remember when Lenox was mayor and holding a council meeting. Steve was passing out literature, talking and generally being a nuisance during the meeting. Now he has latched onto the Trump agenda and has become more obnoxious. What happened to his fellow Trumper, Imker.