By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

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.