Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2021
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 9A
My Dearest Fellow Citizens of Winder,
It is my greatest pleasure to fight for bringing more power to the People through sponsoring the
petitions currently being circulated. I appreciate the mayor’s attention to these important issues,
and I am happy to have the opportunity to correct Mayor Maynard and ease his concerns, as a lot
of these concerns are based either on a misunderstanding of the petitions and their effects, or
may be intentionally misleading to dissuade citizens from signing. I cannot, however, speak with
certainty which one of these scenarios would apply.
Property Taxes
It is important to first note that this is how we got here. In a controversial move, the City Council
voted to increase our city millage rate by 108.7% this year in order to pay for next year’s city
budget. This approval was despite citizen outcry where multiple taxpayers informed the Council
that they would either lose their properties because of overtaxation, or would be forced to evict
current tenants from their homes because they are unable to keep up with the overhead. It is my
goal to keep citizens from losing their properties that they work so hard for due to overtaxation.
Here are important things to note regarding this petition:
• We are currently operating on a millage rate of 3 mills, which this petition would make
the maximum amount that could be taxed on our properties. We still have a fully funded
police department and fire department.
• Funding for our police department is also subject to the new legislation that was signed
by Gov. Kemp this legislative session. Effective July 1, 2021, municipalities are
prohibited from defunding their police departments more than 5% or the overall decrease
in revenue generated by a municipality in a given fiscal year. By maintaining a millage
rate of 3 mills, the law would not permit much of a budget decrease for police funding.
• The way in which the city charter defines a millage rate allows the City to over tax.
Currently, the City defines a millage rate at taxing $3 per every $100. The petition
corrects this definition to allow taxation only $3 per every $1,000. While the City is not
currently taxing based on every $100, the charter permits them to do so and this legal
misdefinition needs to be corrected.
• Finally, the millage rate cap would force the City into living within its means. We cannot
continue to function on a budget where we continuously grant departments everything on
their budget lists that are not necessary items, or avoiding enforcement of our purchasing
policy requiring the City to bid out certain services for over $25,000. Holly Sheats and
Yvonne Greenway have been speaking on these issues, and it is time to hold the City
accountable for its mismanagement of our tax dollars.
Citizens’ Veto
This is essentially a petition process by which citizens may overrule the Council when the
Council acts in such a way that is contrary to the will of the People. This gives you more power
over your city government. It is, however, a process, and nothing in the petition would allow
mob rule via social media. Here are a few important points to note:
• This provision adds to the charter a petition process that would require gathering a
required amount of signatures within a specified amount of time to bring the issue up for
a vote. Upon meeting the required signatures within the required time frame, the City
would have to bring the issue before the People on a ballot. The People would vote on
whether or not to adopt the action.
• This does not give any citizen rights over your property. This only applies to actions that
are taken by the City Council. This means any acts, resolutions or ordinances passed by
the City Council can be amended or repealed. The irony, however, is that the mayor is
trying to scare citizens from signing this petition by making them fear their property
rights are being jeopardized, when the entire reason we are circulating these petitions to
begin with is because the City Council under the mayor’s leadership is threatening our
property rights. I would ask the mayor to avoid projecting his behavior and instead stick
to the facts at hand.
• This would not interfere with jobs, businesses or the City’s ability to contract with
companies. Contract law is widely governed through common law (the court system), and
modifications to the common law are codified in our state statutes. Cities have no
authority to override state law. Citizens would have to abide by the law and not interfere
with contract rights between the City and another party unless that contract is, for
whatever reason, subject to being invalidated under current law.
• This cannot get you out of tickets, unfortunately. This is to overturn actions taken by the
City Council when they refuse to bend to the will of the People. You also can be
prosecuted for violations of laws in effect at the time of the violation, unless the law was
deemed unconstitutional.
• Finally, the mayor wants you to believe this will cost the City more money to fund the
election process of these petitions. I would ask the mayor to please get the yearly budget
under control before lecturing us about not wanting to pay for our right to petition the
City for a redress of grievances. If the City truly listened to the concerns of the People to
begin with, we would not be where we are right now with these petitions.
Term Limits
As observed through elected officials at all levels of government, the longer an individual serves
in an elected seat, the longer he or she becomes corruptible and less relatable to the People. Here
are some interesting things to note:
• The latest Gallup poll shows that Congress has almost a 70% disapproval rating.
However, Congress saw about a 98% re-election rate. 2010 saw an abnormally low re-
election rate, yet still that rate of re-election was nearly 90%. Why the disconnect?
• Incumbents have significant advantage over other candidates during elections, especially
in regards to funding by lobbyists. In local elections, however, this is likely more due to
what is referred to as “the good ole boy” system. People rely on names and connections
in keeping with the local politics, yet the People remain largely apathetic to the local
elections. In the last general municipal election, for example, Winder saw a 7.7% voter
turnout. In fact, only 836 citizens voted in that election. Term limits would reduce the
power of the old system and create a less corrupt system of government that is subject to
the will of the People and not a select few.
• Elections are not term limits. I know that sounds obvious, but Mayor Maynard seems to
want to conflate the two concepts.
• We have term limits for other elected seats such as the governorship and presidency. Are
we deprived of our ability to vote on our choice because of these term limits? Or are
these term limits necessary in ensuring a free society where we cease being ruled by a
select few?
• 24 other Georgia cities have term limits. Of these, 7 of them impose term limits on both
the mayor and city council members. We should make Winder number 25.
I hope I have clarified some of the confusion and misinformation, as well as eased some of
Mayor Maynard’s concerns. I would love to discuss these issues with Mayor Maynard in a public
debate, if he is willing to do so. Holly Sheats has also volunteered to publicly discuss the budget
issues, as she has seen first-hand the Council’s mismanagement of our tax dollars.
If you would like more information about these petitions, or would like to sign any of them,
please feel free to reach out. I can be contacted via email at jessica@justice.law, or by phone at
(404) 532-9505. We will also be set up on Saturdays at the Gazebo in Downtown Winder for the
remainder of the month until October 26, and we will be informally chatting with City Council
candidates at Jug Tavern on Saturday, October 16, 2021 from 9am until 12pm. We welcome the
mayor and sitting council members running for re-election to come join us!
**Paid for by Citizens of Winder for Government Transparency, Honesty and Accountability**