Taxes are going to go up - no matter who is Mayor.

This one should make me the valedictorian or the class dunce - you take your pick.

I think it's time for everyone who is in this blogosphere to come to a realization, and in short order.

Taxes are going to increase.

For the uninitiated, the millage rate is the rate that each part of a jurisdiction assesses in order to raise the revenue they need to pave streets, keep fire engines running properly, pay employees, etc.

Let's say that the citizens say something like "The cart paths are in terrible shape. They need to be fixed." OK, to do that, they have to be repaved. To repave, you tear up the previous pavement, grind it up, and, if at all possible, use some of that in order to make the new path.

But let's say that the reason the paths are in such bad shape is that tree roots have grown up into them. Well, it costs money to either grind the roots or build the foundation of the path up enough to be able to pave on top of them and stave off the root growth for the next few decades.

OK, so we have to pay for dirt to build the foundation up. Dirt costs money. So does the truck that brings the dirt to the path, and the gas it takes to make the truck go, and the person who drives the truck.

Gas prices go up more than they did last year. So that means it costs MORE for the truck that brings dirt to the path, etc. I think you get the idea on this.

Let's say that the citizens say "I want to have my children play soccer on fields that don't have pesticides on them". OK, we pay a company an amount to spray pesticides. We then stop what we have been doing, spend staff time (which costs money - opportunity costs, ya know) researching alternatives.

Then we bring in consultants (because, believe it or not, government workers aren't omniscient) who present ideas that cost money. The consultants, if we're lucky, come in for free. The service, for the first few years if we're lucky, is free. Then, in year 3 or 4, the consultant is happy, they walk away, leaving the City to continue the process - buying whatever compounds are required, performing whatever labor is required.

It all costs money.

Let's say "we want more fire coverage for the City". To do this, we hire more firefighters. We buy more fire trucks. Well, the staff we had to work on fire trucks was designed for a set number - now we add two or three more, with their associated problems, and now the support staff we have is taking longer to fix the problems, change the tires, do the maintenance required, because there is MORE TO DO.

Let's say "the federal government says we have to have a certain standard of maintenance on our stormwater system". A lot of it might be very old. It might have been installed by the original developer (ooh! bad word) but never maintained. Well, it's storm sewer, why does it need to be maintained? It should just work and last forever, right? Well, no. The same trees that mess up the cart paths are probably growing into the drains that thirty years ago no one predicted they would. So now the drains don't work as they were designed, and they have to be replaced.

Let's say "we want a new, bigger library". The city council has it put to a vote of the citizens, and more people vote for it than against it. It costs more money to not only build it (and then pay off the cost of the building), but to staff it. Increased services, more things to do, more people needed to do them.

So....how does all this get paid for? Well, three ways: loans, bonds and taxes. Loans are just like how you and I get a loan. Bonds are a bit different, but they're still a loan, just they can be bought by the average joe - they have to have bits of the interest and principal paid to them regularly until the balance is paid off. To pay for these things as well as the other things that we aren't financing through loans and bonds, the citizens pay TAXES.

OK - so tell me what you do when gas prices go up, and you still have to go to work every day. You put it on your credit card, right? Or you skimp a little on a big dinner? Or, if it continues to be too much for you to pay over time, do you ask your boss for a raise? Well, that may work well in the micro, but does it relate to the macro? Sadly, I do not believe the first two options (skimp, borrow) do. Municipal governments, to the best of my knowledge, probably don't have near the pork that state and federal governments have. What governments sometimes MUST do is ask for a raise - more money to pay for the standard of living they have created for themselves.

Unless we can raise the tax base (have more people paying into the system), the amount we pay each year, if costs go up, and if additional services are demanded by the citizens, goes up.

How does the County do it? Well, your property values go up through the assessment process. Why, though, do your property values go up? Because there is excellent infrastructure, good schools, etc. How do we keep all this stuff up? Maintenance. ALL THESE THINGS COST MONEY, AND IN INCREASING AMOUNTS.

You would say to yourself, "Self, how did the City do all these things in the past that they seem to have so much trouble doing now?" The answer is pretty simple - GROWTH. From 1959 until just about this year, Peachtree City grew - look at the population figures. When new homes were being built and roads put in and associated infrastructure (the cart paths, the sewer system, etc.), it was all paid for, initially, by the developer! Yipee for the citizens! So, for the first 15-20 years, everything is okay. But now the developers are gone, and it's the responsibility of the jurisdiction (read - City) to keep these things up to a level of quality synonymous with the "high standards" set by our citizens. So costs that weren't in the budget before are now in the budget - why weren't they in the budget before? Well, do you believe that previous City Councils wanted tax increases? No way, that looks bad! So they did whatever they could do to ensure that didn't happen.

The sins of the father do fall upon the son. It doesn't matter who is elected, and what they promise, and what they say they can do, the freight train known as progress will run them all over.

NOW - FOR MY OPINION - That being said, I'd still prefer a new "chief" running the show. I think that the current mayor will continue his posturing and his meglomania at the expense of the citizens of this town. We'll all feel good about all the "corruption" we've uncovered, and then the bottom will fall out. Pathways/PCDC, as a residential developer, is gone. It's time for Peachtree City to start paying the bills. To do this, we need increased commercial development in the industrial park. We will need redevelopment in the extremely old residential areas. We will need someone who will let us build bridges with the County, with others.

Unfortunately, for his posturing, I don't see Steve Brown doing it. This is just my opinion. In a time when we should be coming together, we're trying to pull each other apart. It's about politics and personal agendas now - and I don't think that's the way that government on the municipal level should be run.

Wake up, Peachtree City. The days of wine and roses will fade quicker than the sunset over Lake Peachtree at twilight if we don't understand that cutting taxes is not going to solve the problem. "Relieving the tax burden", as Logsdon puts it, may not mean reducing the tax rate. It may mean putting more big businesses on Dividend Drive, businesses that drive TAX REVENUE. That might mean some ugly words (manufacturing plants), but that's what gets money.

An office complex only pays tax on its building and its employees. An industrial plant pays taxes on its building, its employees and ITS equipment. Bring in a Dell manufacturing plant here, and you've got some revenue.

We used to have two big manufacturers - all the videotapes you ever recorded TV shows with in the past 20 years might have been made on TDK Boulevard - they're gone now, moved to California. The circuit boards and chips used in the computer I'm typing this on, in years past, might have been made right on the corner of Kelly Green and Dividend Drive at Photocircuits. They're gone too, back to New York.

These "low paying" jobs didn't go overseas as the Mayor would have you believe, don't be fooled. They went to places where the area welcomed them in, gave them reasons to come here, and yes, even some tax breaks (but you still got significant taxes from them). You don't get big taxes on an empty building or an empty plot of land.

So, crucify me all you wish - this election and the next 20 years in Peachtree City are about one thing - SURVIVAL. The quality of life we have will quickly erode to that of "every other town" if we don't do what we can to get revenue in. And, of course, temper it with the unique qualities of Peachtree City - asthetic excellence and community pride.

Please go vote on December 6. It's time to get the "any press is good press" attitude out of office, and focus on getting the job done.