Sixty million dollars for a jail complex. Over $36 million for a bypass road. Untold millions for road widening projects, new fire stations, and sewage treatment facilities. All told, county taxpayers could be facing hundreds of millions of dollars in new debt in the next few years, according to information in The Citizen Feb. 9. Whether this new debt means higher property taxes or a higher sales tax, or more likely some of each, county residents better be ready to open up their wallets.

The chickens are coming home to roost, and unfortunately it is the county taxpayer who will be the one getting barbecued. Thanks to the action (or in some cases inaction) of our elected officials in the county and our cities, runaway growth will end up costing us all.

I won't debate the merits of a new jail complex as I believe the vast majority of county residents oppose this project, though it appears our county commissioners will force this upon us, like it or not. With several financing options available to them that don't require a vote of the taxpayers, they can force this through and obligate the taxpayers to foot the bill. Taxpayers may not have much of a voice in this project, but they will be the ones on the hook for millions in debt.

Proposals for the Fayetteville bypass road, and the road widening needed for Ga. highways 54 and 74 are needed mainly because of unrestrained growth, both residential and commercial. Elected officials love to tout any new business they bring to the county, but they often fail to mention the cost.

Sure, new businesses bring new jobs, but how many of those jobs are filled by our county residents? Instead, the workforce these businesses need often commutes from other counties, helping to tie up our roads and the end result is that we need more and wider roads to meet the demands these new commuters bring. When we end up spending millions to do roadwork, I would guess that any additional tax revenues these businesses bring is lost.

Peachtree City residents are the lucky owners of a sewer system that seems to have continual problems keeping the sewerage and waste out of our drinking water supply. How many more millions will be spent on this white elephant to make it work properly, or will we continue to face the risk of contaminated drinking water? Now we hear that we may be forced to treat storm water runoff as sewage, and build facilities to treat it as such. I shudder to think what that will cost us.

When will government, be it county or city, learn to live within their means? When will they stop allowing unrestrained growth without worrying about who is going to pay for the costs of additional infrastructure? With several means of financing which bypass a vote by the taxpayers, it appears we better all plan on working harder to help foot their bills.

Steve Fodor
Peachtree City

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