First of all, here is a listing

of the millage rates imposed by council for each of the 10 budget years

I served as your mayor: 1993, '94 and '95: 4.31; 1996: 4.18; 1997: 4.06;

1998, '99 and 2000: 4.06; 2001: 3.84; 2002: 4.35.

For 10 years your city tax

rate was maintained at a consistent and reasonable level. During this

time the city delivered first class services. We also built most of the

facilities and infrastructure that we all now take for granted and that

make our city such a great place to live. I guess Mr. Brown thinks we

were just lucky.

What is happening now? Based

on newspaper reports, comments by Mr. Brown and analysis of the budget

it looks like this for millage rates: 2003: 4.70; 2004: 5.70 proposed;

2005: 6.00+ estimated.

Mr. Brown seems to think this

dismal performance is just bad luck. It's not. Most of the problem is

due to his own inexperience and incompetence. Mr. Brown has been unemployed

during most of his term as mayor and has no prior job history with any

significant or relevant managerial or financial experience. This is the

result.

Did you know that before he

even took office Mr. Brown ordered that several thousand dollars be spent

to remodel the mayor's office? That was just the beginning. In the 19

months he has been in office Mr. Brown has squandered about $1.3 million

for the following ill-conceived or just plain worthless and unnecessary

reasons:

· His office remodeling.

· The infamous development

moratorium.

· Traffic calming devices.

· The Development Authority

special counsel report.

· His running endless

feud with the Development Authority.

· Unnecessarily expensive

severance packages.

· Various ethics hearings

to prove the obvious.

· Worthless land on Ga.

Highway 54 at Wynnmeade for golf cart bridge we cannot afford, do not

need and do not want.

· Money to build the aforementioned

bridge including a "blank check" for any cost overruns or problems.

· Unnecessary expenditures

for legal and consulting fees to study the obvious.

Please keep in mind also that

when Mr. Brown complains about declining sales tax revenue that it was

he alone who negotiated the new sales tax split with the county. I don't

believe anyone could have made a poorer deal for the city. Unfortunately,

it is we citizens who are going to be paying the bill for Mr. Brown's

inexperience and incompetence for years to come.

Bob Lenox

Peachtree City, Ga.

[Bob Lenox is the former

mayor of Peachtree City.]