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PAGE 4A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010
Named the best weekly editorial page in the nation for 2007, 2008
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher -
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
our views
Citizens want
less spending,
not more
T HE PROPOSAL by
Jefferson officials to
increase speeding
fines in the town has raised
more than a few eyebrows.
The question is, Why?
It’s clear that the bottom
line in this is, well, the bottom
line — money. Local govern
ments have come to view
their police departments as
sources of revenue as much
as a source of public safe
ty. That’s why several local
departments are aggressive
in traffic stops along 4-lane
roads and 1-85.
One of the issues to come
out of this attitude has been
fines that have come to
exceed the offense. Speeding
is not a capital offense, yet
some departments treat it that
way. Excessive fines are as
bad as excessive speeding.
But this effort to hike fines
in Jefferson comes at a bad
time. The Jefferson Police
Department has come under
fire recently for several vehi
cle break-ins and a car theft
in usually quiet in-town neigh
borhoods. Critics suggest that
instead of chasing speeders
along the bypass or 1-85, JPD
should be doing more neigh
borhood patrolling.
In addition, citizens cur
rently have a mistrust of the
city government in general.
Plans to consider building a
new $5 million library have
come under fire as being
excessive for the economic
climate. That discussion has
now led to comments that
a new police department is
also needed.
But most citizens don’t want
local governments to start
any new projects now. Nor
do they support raising traffic
fines as a back door way to
raise city income.
What most citizens want is
for local governments to get
their spending under control,
not find ways to spend more
money.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875 • The Official Legal
Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher &
Advertising Manager
News Department
Angela Gary Associate Editor
Jana Adams Mitcham Features Editor
Brandon Reed Sports Editor
Kerri Testement Reporter
Sharon Hogan Reporter
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"Hey, we've all got to make some sacrifices!"
“No matter how you dress it up, it still looks like a pig to me!"
There are more urgent needs than stadiums
WE HAVE a government in Georgia that quite lit
erally is on the verge of collapse because of gaping
deficits in the budgets for this year and next.
It is highly likely that you will see layoffs of thou
sands of state employees.
We don’t have the money
to do anything about our
congested highways. Low-
income families are going
to be dropped from the
Medicaid rolls because of
revenue shortfalls.
That being the case, you
may want to ask why leg
islators are voting for tax
payers to finance a new
domed stadium for the
Atlanta Falcons. You may
also want to ask why Gov.
Sonny Perdue wants to put
$10 million in the state budget to pay for building
the College Football Hall of Fame, which is relocat
ing to Atlanta.
Let me make the necessary disclaimers up front.
There are few things I enjoy more than watching
a good football game. I can’t count the number of
times I’ve sat in Bobby Dodd Stadium or Sanford
Stadium on a fall afternoon for a college game, and
I’ll cheer as loudly as anyone if the Falcons make
the playoffs.
On the other hand, there are millions of Georgians
who don’t much care for football. Why should they
be forced to pay taxes to subsidize what is, at bot
tom, a very successful private enterprise?
The existing Georgia Dome is a $214 million
facility that was financed through the issuance of
bonds originally to have been paid off by 2020. It
now looks as if the bonds will be retired by 2015 or
2017, which is a positive development.
The General Assembly is in the process of pass
ing legislation, HB 903, that will impose a 7 percent
hotel-motel tax in Atlanta for a 30-year period start
ing in 2021. The tax revenues would finance the
construction of a new domed stadium.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Burkhalter, claims
it is urgent that we replace the current facility with
a new stadium to make sure the Atlanta Falcons
don’t move to another city.
While legislators line up to see how quickly they
can vote for this stadium tax, let me raise a few
awkward questions.
The current Georgia Dome opened less than
18 years ago. It is one of the best sports venues
in the country - good enough to have attracted
several Super Bowls and Final Four basketball
tournaments. We haven’t even finished paying for
it yet. Why the msh to replace what is still a top-
quality facility?
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, along with
Bernie Marcus, built a successful retail business
called Home Depot that enabled Blank to become
a very wealthy man. Why should Georgia’s taxpay
ers foot the bill to provide a new domed stadium
for Arthur Blank? If he feels that a new stadium is
necessary to the Falcons’ continued success, why
can’t he just pull out his checkbook and pay to have
one built?
These same questions would apply to the College
Football Hall of Fame. I am sure that thousands of
fans like me will want to visit the facility when it
opens in Atlanta in 2012. If enough people feel the
way I do, it will be a financial success. If it turns out
that there aren’t enough football fans to patronize
it, it will fail.
Either way, why should Georgia taxpayers shell
out $10 million to help build the Hall of Fame, as is
proposed by Perdue in the state budget? The state
has already squandered millions on other halls of
fame in Macon and Augusta that did not succeed.
Why take a chance on making that same mistake
again?
I don’t intend for this column to be a diatribe
against Arthur Blank. I’ve never had the pleasure
of meeting him, but I’m sure he’s a good man
and he’s done a commendable job as the Falcons
owner. I just don’t see why Georgia’s taxpayers
should foot the bill to constmct a new domed
stadium for him.
We are in a very difficult time when state workers
will probably be laid off, when state troopers and
GBI agents are being furloughed, when crime labs
are being closed due to budget constraints. Is it
really the best use of our scarce tax funds to pay for
domed stadiums and football museums?
I would think we’ve got more important priorities
right now.
Tom Crawford is the editor of The Georgia Report. He
can be reached at tcrawford@caDitolimDact. net.
School system
priorities bassackward
J UST when I thought I couldn’t be
shocked any more by government offi
cials, I am.
Last week, Jackson County School
Superintendent Shannon Adams said this at
a public meeting: “They (school PTAsJ might
want to consider instead of making improve
ments to playgrounds, buying boxes of paper
for school supplies. ”
Aughh!
Paper is a basic commodity used in class
room operations.
It’s not an extra; it’s
not an option; it’s
not a nicety; it’s a
necessity.
So why is it
when schools
have to cut spend
ing, the first thing
they cut are basic
school supplies?
It’s always been
a pet peeve when
I see teachers hav
ing to spend sev
eral hundred dol
lars of their own
money to buy paper
and other basic classroom supplies. Taxpayers
pay a hell’va lot of dollars into public educa
tion; schools should at least be able to buy
basic stuff like paper.
And this is especially irritating when you
consider just how much of those tax dollars
are going to prop up overpaid educrats. The
Jackson County School System has 15 people
making $100,000 or more; but the system can’t
afford paper for students?
Something is terribly wrong with that picture;
system priorities are really bassackwards.
Of course, the JCSS isn’t the only system
playing games with supplies. Jefferson City
Schools sent out a “wish list” this week for
items that included basic supplies.
This is part of a larger trend that has over
taken schools in the last two decades. More
and more, kids are extolled to sell products for
school fundraisers. Back when all that started,
it was mostly for school extras, equipment or
other needs designed to enhance school offer
ings. It was never intended for basic supplies.
But now, much of those funds are going
to things that should be paid for with our tax
dollars, the basic kind of supplies that every
school must have to operate.
And parents are going along with it. Instead
of pushing back and demanding that their
child’s school get its priorities in order, too
many parents are meekly giving in to pressure
from school leaders to “help” with additional
donations. Once that happens, school officials
become dependent forever on such outside
support, removing even more supply funds
from budgets.
There’s no doubt that schools have to make
some steep cutbacks; revenues are way down
and the only choice is to cut spending in local
schools. Nobody would argue with that.
But to suggest PTAs should become a fund
ing arm for basic education supplies is crazy,
especially in light of the exorbitant salaries
being paid in public schools today. Around 80
percent of a school’s cost is payroll; the only
way to make a real dent in spending is to cut
payroll costs, not copy paper.
Maybe all of this wouldn’t be so bad if citi
zens were under-taxed. But I don’t know of
very many people who think they’re paying too
little in education taxes. From property taxes
to sales taxes to state income taxes, citizens’
wallets are being hammered to pay for public
education in Georgia.
In fact, the real problem in school funding
today isn’t a decline in revenues, it’s the fact
that the entire education system has built a
high-cost infrastructure over the last decade.
It’s committed to too much debt for too many
schools and too high of a pay scale for too
many employees. Spending is the real prob
lem, not revenues.
Now with schools asking parents and PTAs
to shell out more money for copy paper so
that administrators can keep their high pay
untouched, maybe it’s time for taxpayers to
push back. Demand more accountability
of local school systems in how they spend
tax dollars; demand more reasonable pay at
both the state and local levels; and demand
that before teachers and parents are asked to
finance schools through the back door with
fundraisers and donations, cut the bloated pay
roll that is so pervasive in public education.
The Jackson County School System can’t
afford copy paper, but its superintendent
makes more money than the governor?
That’s a darn bad commentary on the state
of education in this community.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson
Herald. He can be reached at mike@main-
streetnews.com.
mike
buffington