The County Commission has been in a fight with all our departments for a long time. What is all the fuss about?

It’s about the money. Greg Dunn, Linda Wells, and Peter Pfeifer have been driving the money bus for far too long. In every campaign, candidates seeking election state that they will bring better communication between county and city governments. Is the job just about making a friend or is there something more?

When they were all reelected to a new term, they became the controlling force and had the power necessary to tighten the screws on every department in this county. The first bolts to turn: Sheriffs Office, Clerk of the Court, Tax Commissioner, and every city government just to name a few.

The control of the money became the diving force of their passion, who gets it and how much can the Commission take away. We as taxpayers turn all of our money over to them. We hope that they identify with our needs and see to it that they are met.

I have lived through our county’s changes, and now as a local community banker, I am learning more everyday about our county’s needs.

Kay Johnson and her daughter were over at my home speaking about being young and starting a new design business. We also spoke about all the pressures being brought on the Sheriff’s Office by our commissioners. She asked me to help her find someone to run for office against Peter. I told her if I couldn’t find any takers, I would run myself. Well, as you can see, it’s hard to find good people to run for office.

Peachtree City has had to force higher taxes to provide services to the entire county while the commission is cutting everything in sight.

Greg and Linda have been telling leaders in Peachtree City that they’ve been getting the “lion share” of the money for far too long. They used Steve Brown as their excuse for saying this statement, but they can’t use him anymore.

For years, Peachtree City has talked about their high cost of recreation placed on their city taxpayers, about $119 (last census) per citizen, while the county is only paying $19 per citizen. That’s more than five times as much.

Peachtree City is contemplating closing recreation services for Peachtree City residents only. The open door deal with the county commission is not working.

Peachtree City pays the county over $600,000 for recreation and this might be a low number. Peachtree City in return receives only $150,000. Brooks, Fayetteville and Tyrone get nothing. If your children or grandchildren have been to a county recreation facility and compared them to Peachtree City’s, it’s a night and day difference.

Property values countywide, outside Peachtree City, would be adversely affected if recreation went to a “county kid/city kid” system. The commission is building a park in North Fayette. Although this progress is good, and I wish it well, I think it is too little, too late.

Our commission should give more resources to enhance our quality of life attributes of our county. They should focus more on recreation, senior services, and the development of an indoor arts center. These investments will protect real estate values. Peachtree City’s government has shown that these investments will pay off, with property values rising at twice the rate as anywhere else in the county.

Should our cities just keep taking it on the chin as our commissioners keep glorifying themselves with tax cuts? Linda Wells and Gregg Dunn have stated that “all” counties our size spends more than twice the money to operate as we do. Are they being responsible or are they restricting resources?

In Fayette County you just get paved roads and a big lot. The city of Fayetteville, Brooks, and Woolsey do not have there own recreation departments. Tyrone has been begging for help, “money,” with their programs for years, but while Chairman Greg has been driving the money bus with his three votes, he’s been able to hold them off. The commissioners even had the audacity to ask the city to just give up and turn the property over to them.

Many volunteers, like you, are making it happen every day for Fayette County. I am for efficient, better low cost government, but it seems to me that they are cutting the money from our quality of life funds.

Almost 40 percent of the budget is spent on public safety. That’s great, for my wife and two-year-old daughter are safe in our community. Linda has only run from our public safety and acted with costly lawsuits when confronted.

Today, there are two commissioners up for reelection; they are neither from here, nor raising their children here in our schools. So why would they care about our schools, local recreation programs, senior services or the heritage of our great sheriff’s department? What is true is that they are changing the direction of Fayette County.

Emory Wilkerson was their newest candidate that they ran hoping to increase their club’s voting membership. Your message was clear, for he lost without a runoff.

Commissioner Horgan is an independent local family businessman that has always tried to help others. I hope voters see the fight for fair county government in our county is being won one commissioner at a time. I need your support and prayers. Please call to help: 770-692-0801.

Sam Chapman
Fayetteville, Ga.