The only restriction on the blog is no profanity. Other than that,there will be no deletions of any topic that users wish to discuss. UNLIKE some blog forums, I will not censor or be bias regarding your opinions and concerns,this is a true open forum. Even though I moderate this blog the only reason I would need to delete or change your comment would be due to profanity in the comment.

That is the one and only reason that your comments are moderated. I hope you will enjoy your participation on this blog and feel you can finally be heard regarding issues that concern you in your county.


Have post topic suggestions or questions, email me at:


united4change@charter.net




Tuesday, May 18, 2010

House Representative Steve Davis District 109 Henry County Georgia......THANK YOU SIR

I want to send a big thank you to Steve Davis for standing up and voting NO to the Redevelopment Powers Bill that our board of commissioners pushed so very hard to get passed and place upon the November voter ballot this year. It sure looks like Steve Davis stood alone by his NO vote; he did however show to me and many other citizen voters where his heart and concern for the citizens of Henry County really is. In my opinion he believes in doing the right thing.


No one citizen in this county of ours should vote in favor of this on the November ballot this year. Many citizens have already been adversely affected. There are already several examples of the poorly thought out voting practices that many neighbors in areas such as Winslow at Eagles Landing, the Industrial Warehouse surrounding an entire neighborhood which will store Clorox products and no telling what other chemicals.


Then there is also a subdivision just off Jodeco road that by a 5 to 0 vote by the current board of commissioners, excluding Mr. Roark of course, which has allowed 7 days per week from day light until dark regulation sized league soccer and football fields, in addition to using the 12 acres for recreational recess for a church and school. This property is jammed up against 13 homes, just 20 foot from homeowners property lines.


If you vote in the up coming November election, all I ask is that you keep this in mind. Do you want to give the board of commissioners of this county even more power? Especially redevelopment powers! I ask that you please educate yourselves as to all that will include, do your research. Ask questions. Larry Stanley is very well versed on this issue. The way you vote on this issue will affect you and your family’s way of life if you intend to remain here in Henry County. With that said, the vote of YES or NO is in your hands.


It could be your neighborhood's next that become unbearable places to live, that were once peaceful. It can change in an instant and be turned into an industrial nightmare. Those that voted in favor of these issues turning quiet neighborhoods into now unwanted properties to buyers do not have to live there, otherwise they would not have voted on these matters as they did!


I will vote NO on the ballot on this issue, how will you vote?
THIS IS THE ISSUE, READ THE BILL:
House Bill 1347 authorizes Henry County to exercise all redevelopment and other powers under the state Redevelopment Powers Law, and to provide for a referendum on the issues. It also allows the county to undertake community redevelopment projects, create tax allocation districts, and issue tax allocation bonds.

Monday, May 3, 2010

This is total BULL CRAP from the Henry Herald regarding the Henry County budget for 2011

I took these paragraphs below from the ridiculous article that Mike Bush and the county manager Butch Sanders are talking about. Double talk that is all it boils down to. They not only want to take the SPLOST tax money that is supposed to be spent solely for SPLOST projects but also want the millage rate to go up by 11.75!!!!!!!!!  If this county had managed the tax payers money in a manner that it should have been managed in the first place, then the budget for 2011 would not be such a dramatic affair with taxes being increased because of the current BOC'S management practices.

Read our lips,NO more tax, NO millage rate increase! Have the employee's take furloughs, have the BOC take a pay cut, decrease your retirement accounts, do something good for the citizens for a change. Any way you look at it, your plan is to take the SPLOST money to pay for other things and or raise the citizens taxes one way or another. Why not SELL the 166 plus acres the county purchased from the Abernathy's, Where did the county get FOUR MILLION DOLLARS to pay for that???????? we never needed it, we do not need it now. Where are the BOC'S priorities?

By the way does this millage rate increase include the millage that Big 5 Enterprises was asking for? has that been decided yet? no one has heard any more about that lately.


FROM THE HENRY HERALD:

Fiscal year 2011 begins July 1. The county expects to adopt next year’s budget during its second meeting in June, according to Henry County Manager James “Butch” Sanders.


Under one scenario, the county would raise the millage rate to 11.24 mills, said Mike Bush, county Finance Director. Under the second scenario, the millage rate would be hiked to 11.5 mills, and under the third scenario, the millage rate would be increased to 11.75 mills, Bush said. The current millage rate is 10.969 mills.

Bush said the first two scenarios would require the county to make withdrawals from its fund balance (or reserves), but the third scenario would allow the county to add to it. He said he supports the third alternative. “Any time I can build the fund balance, it adds to the financial health of Henry County,” said Bush.

Also, County Department of Transportation salaries, and expenditures on county-wide paving projects, would be removed from the 2011 budget, and replaced with dollar-savings realized from previous Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) projects, which cost less than anticipated, said Sanders. The total amount of those two items removed from next year’s budget would amount to a $4,463,553 reduction in expenditures, he said.


Other measures under consideration include: A 15-percent reduction in payments to Helping In His Name Ministries Food Pantry, A Friend’s House, Hands of Hope Clinic, Community Gardens, the Flint Circuit Council on Family Violence, and Prevent Child Abuse, said Sanders. The county may decide to eliminate funding for the Southern Crescent Sexual Assault program, he said.