Tyrone

Councilman Ronnie Cannon is costing his own

constituents money by holding impact fees hostage

for county concessions on tax equity, County

Commission Chairman Harold Bost said Tuesday.

"It's

unfortunate that [Tyrone Town Council members]

were even talking about the two different issues

in the same breath," Bost said.

Cannon

last week led the charge as the Town Council

delayed action on impact fees for a new county

jail and fire services, saying he wants the town

to halt action on the impact fees until an

agreement is reached on tax equity.

Cannon

opened the tax equity can of worms last year,

claiming that Tyrone residents pay more in taxes

than they receive in services from the county.

Peachtree City and Fayetteville later agreed with

Cannon, and an independent study released last

month supports the cities' contention.

Negotiations

are ongoing, but Cannon charges they're not

ongoing fast enough.

But

if Tyrone delays action on the impact fees, Bost

said, "They're only hurting their own

residents.

"I

don't understand why he's thinking that it's a

special favor to the commission for them to

approve [impact fees]," Bost said. "All

he's doing is hurting the taxpayers of the

county, and he'll have to carry that

responsibility," he said.

Impact

fees for the jail and fire services would offset

property taxes that current residents of Tyrone

and the rest of the county will have to pay for

the same services, Bost said. Every day that the

impact fees are delayed, he said, costs property

taxpayers an additional $6,000, $4,000 for the

jail and $2,000 for fire services.

"This

takes a full joint effort and not politics, and

not throwing up road blocks on issues that have

absolutely nothing to do with impact fees on the

jail and fire services," Bost said.

<!--

-----------