We all know that we have significant

challenges to overcome to improve our quality of life. We also know we

have great talent in Fayette County on which we can draw to address these

challenges. Bringing that talent together on behalf of everyone in Fayette

County is what Mike Wheat intends to do. Way to go, Steve!

Our issue of the week is controlling

our escalating county property taxes and the cost of government. When

Mike Wheat took office as mayor of Fayetteville, city property taxes were

$5.30 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. When he left office,

the tax rate was $3.22, a 39 percent reduction.

In addition, during Mayor Wheat's

tenure, the city lowered water rates by roughly 25 percent. Mike has shown

he is a "hawk" when it comes to controlling costs and will use

his experience to do the same as your county commissioner. Three ways

to reduce high property taxes are:

· Capping county budget

requests based on population growth.

· Negotiating impact fees

to be paid by developers for new growth in the county. These fees from

future growth can be used to pay for much of the new jail and court offices.

· Eliminating overlapping

government services through cooperative efforts among the county government

and city governments.

As a quick comparison, since

Mike's opponent took office in 1999 on the county commission, he has taken

no action to try to lower water rates and he has voted to raise the county

property tax rate from $9.21 per thousand to $10.42 in 2002. This is an

increase of 13 percent and this is in addition to the increased assessments

many of us have received.

Regarding the new jail and

court office funding, Mike's opponent approved without a voter referendum

a $60 million financing package to be paid by our county property taxes.

Meredith Wynn

Communications Director

Mike Wheat Campaign Committee