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Weekend Edition-November 4-5,2022
ForsythNews.com | FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS | 5A
ELECTION PREVIEWS
Incumbent Jones vs. Meyer for State House District 25
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
Republican candidate and
incumbent Todd Jones and
Democrat Craig Meyer are run
ning against each other for the
State House District 25 seat in
the 2022 General Election on
Tuesday, Nov. 8.
District 25 covers portions of
south Forsyth and Fulton coun
ties.
Meet the candidates:
Todd Jones (incumbent)
■ Party: Republican
■ Residence: South Forsyth
County
■ Occupation:Technology
Executive
■ Political experience:
Serving the citizens of House
District 25 for six years
■ Family: Married toTracey
for 30 years and four chil
dren ages 25, 23, 21 and 18.
Craig Meyer
■ Party: Democrat
■ Residence: South Forsyth
County
■ Occupation: KW
Commercial Real Estate
■ Political Experience:
Political science degree;
Model United Nations.
Member of Atlanta Council
on International Relations.
■ Family: Wife and three
children
Jones Meyer
If elected, what legislation
would you like to take on in
2023?
Jones: The first question I
ask about any legislation is, “is
it necessary?” Every piece of
legislation, no matter how
well-intended, still grows gov
ernment ever so slightly. That
stated, our annual constituent
survey year-after-year tells us
that the economy, education,
transportation and health care
(the “Top Four”) are the top
priorities for the district.
Hence, if re-elected, my prima
ry focus will be on the Top
Four with an emphasis on
maintaining Georgia’s econom
ic growth while also addressing
multi-modalities within educa
tion, 4th generation transporta
tion solutions and addressing
healthcare access.
Meyer: While canvassing
the neighborhoods of [District]
25.... an issue that kept com
ing up was can the state get
involved to limit the number of
rental homes? One-third of
home sales in Georgia are
being bought by Wall Street-
funded corporations. We may
need to find some compromise
here because some people like
to rent versus ownership. On
the other hand, it has been my
experience that renters are less
likely to be concerned with
home maintenance issues.
Many are not caring about
CCR issues. This draws home
ownership into bigger issues.
Most of those homes have
mortgages on them. Renters
have a direct impact on valua
tion issues. Valuation issues
will affect residential financing
and appraisals. I would like to
address this at the State level.
It is an issue that is affecting
HD 25.
Education legislation
including how schools can
teach divisive concepts
(House Bill 1084) and the
Parents’ Bill of Rights
(House Bill 1178) were big
topics this year. What are
your thoughts on those pieces
of legislation?
Jones: Unfortunately, a lot
of misinformation was spread
about both bills via the media.
Contrary to several articles,
House Bill 1084 did not
change academic standards.
Further, 1084 prevents the use
of curricula or programs that
espouse “divisive concepts”
like one race is inherently
superior, the United States is
fundamentally racist or an indi
vidual, by virtue of their race,
is inherently racist or oppres
sive. Finally, and important to
me since my daughter was a
two-time 7A state champion,
1084 permitted a vote by the
GHSAA to ensure high school
sports were segmented by sex
designated at birth. HB 1178
can be summed up in one sen
tence: Parents, not the govern
ment, should make key deci
sions about their children.
Meyer: Georgia House Bill
1084 passed 92-63 in a party
line vote. I always look for
ways to cut deals and compro
mise. I had a lot of political
philosophy courses in college,
so I always look for the foun
dation in any issue. The vote
here was a 60 percent to 40
percent vote. This bill will
most likely drive more students
to be homeschooled. The bill’s
language is very vague and
divisive. For the voters of HD
25,1 call this bill out for anoth
er review. Fet’s find a better
compromise and not exclude
40 percent of Georgia voters.
HD 25 deserves better repre
sentation than they got on this
bill.
House Bill 1178 passed by
31-22 on party lines.
According to the United States
Department of Education,
about 130 million adults have
the proficiency level of a sixth-
grade education. Half of that
number is the adult US popu
lation. Fet’s do our best to
keep parents out of our chil
dren’s classrooms. We have
some of the best and brightest
educated teachers. Once again,
this bill needs to be brought
back out and worked to find a
compromise. The voters of HD
25 deserve much better repre
sentation than they got on this
bill.
Transportation is common
ly one of the biggest issues
for local voters. If elected,
what steps will you take to
improve transportation?
Jones: The state delegation,
during my time serving
Georgia, has placed an empha
sis on local transportation.
Transportation, by its nature, is
a cross-section of local, state
and federal priorities. There
will be approximately $1B of
state money injected into local
transportation over the next ten
years. These projects include
SR 369, 306, 9 and 371. In
addition, the construction of
the McGinnis Ferry inter
change on GA 400 along with
the widening of the road; the
latter funded by the state,
Forsyth County, and three cit
ies. Finally, I co-authored the
autonomous vehicle legislation
and now focused on position
ing Georgia to lead in AV and
forging ahead with local air
transportation to lift traffic off
our congested roads.
Meyer: I think HD 25 is in
good hands here; the
[Transportation Special
Purpose Focal Operation Sales
Tax] will provide sufficient
funds for our transportation
issues. I voted YES for the
TSPFOST.
Dolezal looks to fend off Binion for state Senate District 27
Dolezal Binion
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
Republican candidate
and incumbent Greg
Dolezal and Democrat
Brent Binion are running
against each other for the
State Senate District 27
seat in the 2022 General
Election on Tuesday,
Nov. 8.
District 27 represents
the majority of Forsyth
County and nowhere else.
Meet the candidates:
Greg Dolezal
(incumbent)
■ Party: Republican
■ Residence: Forsyth
County since 2006
■ Occupation: Small
business owner (soft
ware)
■ Political experi
ence: First elected to
the state Senate in
2018, seeking third two-
year term.
■ Family: Wife,
Natalie, and four chil
dren, 10, 8, 5 and 4
years old.
Brent Binion
■ Party: Democrat
■ Residence:
Cumming
■ Occupation: Fellow
Learning Architect
■ Political experi
ence: None
■ Family: Married with
two children
If elected, what legis
lation would you like to
take on in 2023?
Dolezal: I support
Governor Kemp’s initia
tive for both an income
tax refund and property
tax break to help Forsyth
County residents and
homeowners offset finan
cial challenges they have
faced from both inflation
and rising home values/
property taxes. I am also
working with our delega
tion and Board of
Education on a floating
homestead exemption for
our local school property
taxes to ensure home-
owners do not receive
dramatic year-over-year
increases in their proper
ty taxes. On the statewide
level, we need to ensure
Georgia remains a top
state for economic devel
opment and job growth
by continuing to lower
our income tax rate
which puts us at a com
petitive disadvantage
with our neighboring
states, preparing our stu
dents for next generation
jobs and passing
“right to start” legis
lation to spur entre
preneurship.
Binion: If elected,
I would advocate for
a Georgia Voter’s
Bill of Rights includ
ing an amendment to
the Georgia
Constitution supporting
free and equal elec
tions. Currently gerry
mandering is effectively
robbing Georgians from
fair representation, which
not only dismantles
democracy, but gives rise
to autocracy and extrem
ism.
With fair representa
tion Georgia can become
a place where policies
actually represent the
will of the people. This
is especially important
now that we are seeing
people’s rights, especial
ly women and minorities,
threatened and in some
cases eliminated. Voices
are being silenced. The
United States should be a
country of the people, by
the people, for the peo
ple.
Education legislation
including how schools
can teach divisive con
cepts (House Bill 1084)
and the Parents’ Bill of
Rights (House Bill
1178) were big topics
this year. What are your
thoughts on those pieces
of legislation?
Edwardjones
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Dolezal: I was a sup
porter of both of these
pieces of legislation and
voted for each on the
Senate floor. K-12 educa
tion represents about
40% of our state budget
and both of these bills
took steps to ensure we
are funding a system
where children are learn
ing skills they will need
as they enter the work
force and adulthood,
while keeping divisive
political ideas out of the
classroom and providing
parents protected means
to remain an integral part
of the education process.
Binion: These two bills
were based on effective
propaganda from outsid
ers, designed to outrage
parents, demonize our
schools, and divide our
community. This buried
the more important issue
of two decades of inade
quate funding for public
education in Georgia.
We have a top-rated
school district, but there
are many real issues that
need to be addressed to
support growth and
opportunities for academ
ic excellence for our chil
dren.
Proper funding is a key
to many of these issues
including staff pay, stu
dent transportation, and
improving educational
facilities. This must be an
investment that is part of
a sustainable strategy to
benefit our children’s
future and the future of
Georgia.
Transportation is
commonly one of the
biggest issues for local
voters. If elected, what
steps will you take to
improve transporta
tion?
Dolezal: Primarily, we
need to ensure Forsyth
County continues to
receive investment from
GDOT. The County has
done a good job working
with the delegation,
Governor Kemp, and Ft.
Gov Duncan to commu
nicate our needs to
GDOT, and we have seen
fruit of that labor in
investments in major
thoroughfares in the
County. Specifically,
McGinnis Ferry,
Highway 9, 369 and GA
400, Highway 20, and
Post Road have all
received funding or com
mitments to funds over
the past few years. As
growth comes to the
north end of the County,
we need to quickly
address 306 and some of
our other congested areas
in the north. I support
increasing GDOT’s fund
ing with some of our
budget surplus to acceler
ate these projects.
Binion: As a state sen
ator, I would help to
ensure that $1.5 billion
dollars for funding trans
portation in Georgia from
the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act
was appropriately allo
cated to serve Forsyth
County, supplementing
TSPFOST. This was
championed by our
Georgia senators and our
current Congresswoman,
Carolyn Bourdeaux (and
opposed by all
Republican members of
the United States House
of Representatives from
Georgia).
To quote Rep. Carolyn
Bourdeaux who said it
best: “Everyone who has
to sit on 400 or 1-85
knows we need to invest
in how we move people
around our communities.
This money will help
Georgia modernize our
transportation infrastruc
ture and invest in public
transportation, giving
people legitimate alterna
tives to their cars and
freeing up our roads for
others.”
A MESSAGE FROM MATTHEW LEDBETTER FORSYTH
COUNTY TAX COMMISSIONER
2022 Property Tax Bills due November 15 th , 2022
In an effort to avoid longer wait times and to help process payments more
efficiently, citizens are encouraged to remit their payment by mail to our
Tribble Gap Road location, by personal online banking, or online via credit card
or e-check at www.forsvthcountvpav.com Doing so helps to minimize
operational costs and to lower taxes associated with collections.
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (excluding holidays)
Locations: Main Office (mailing address) Sharon Springs Branch
1092 Tribble Gap Rd 1950 Sharon Rd
Cumming GA 30040 Cumming GA 30041
Mailed payments with a United States Postal Service Postmark of November 15 th
or prior will be processed as timely once received.
As always, if you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way please
contact our office at 770-781-2110, or email tax(a)forsvthco.com
Thank you,
Matthew C. Ledbetter
Forsyth County Tax Commissioner