CAMDEN SPEAKS OUT!
Posted on October 28, 2005 | Email This!
Friday, September 16, 2005
Gull Weaver Announces Candidacy
I hope this e-mail finds everything going
well for you. I wanted you to be one of the
first to know that I will be qualifying today
to run for City Council of St. Marys. I am
running for this seat because I believe, as
I think you do, that St. Marys needs
quality leadership.
I appreciate your past support and look
forward to that continued support.
Thank you,
Sandy Reply:
Good Luck. We offer you and your
opponent this platform to share your
views on the future of St. Marys. Please
limit your comments to 500 words.
Thank you for offering to serve this
community.
John Cressman writes about Airport:
Mr. Feller: Concerning the airport, I
think the gentleman who wrote the article
may not have all the facts on the airport.
I do not know why Sea Island is giving the
land for the airport but would assume
they have other interests that would
benefit from Camden County having an
airport. The cost of the airport would be
funded from Airport and Airways Trust
Funds held by the FAA and used to
promote aviation, from GA DOT funds
available for GA airports, and from the
City of St. Marys. The City of St. Marys
is the owner of the current airport and
would use the funds derived from the
sale of the property where the current
airport is located to pay their port of
the cost of the new airport. Included
in the cost of the new airport are the
road, water and sewer costs associated
with the new airport. The infrastructure
costs would not result in additional taxes
on the residents of the county. Why do
we need an airport if there are so many
so close? That is like asking why we
needed to fund the space program. We
had some ideas but no hard facts at the
time the decision was made and which
resulted in technological advances that
we now take for granted. We have
citizens of our county that own or rent
aircraft and business owners in our
county that depend on the airport for
their livelihood. Should we tell them
to leave, don’t they have the same rights
that people who own cars or operate
service stations? Should we deny them
the basic rights others have? There is
also the question of development of the
county; I believe that the airport would
be an asset the future development of
the county. As for the airport generating
money, it does. The businesses that
operate at the airport pay taxes, rent
property from the city and the city derives
revenue from the sale of fuel at the airport.
The question as to where the FAA gets the
money for the Trust Fund was also
questioned. This money does not come
from a general tax but is a tax on the
people who use aviation facilities. If
you do not fly or use aviation facilities
you don’t pay this tax. However, a
provision of the new federal highway
spending bill is hurting the aviation
community. It now requires that aviation
operators pay taxes meant for truckers.
This is resulting in the diversion of tax
funds from the Airport and Aviation
Trust Fund to the Highway Trust Fund.
No one likes taxes but if we want the
government to provide facilities and
services for us we have to be willing to
pay for them. The taxes for the
aviation community are paid for by
that community as it should be. I wish
it was the same for other facilities and
services.
John H. P. Cressman, P.E.
Senior Associate
Robert and Company
Engineers-Architects-Planners
435 Clark Road, Suite 606
Jacksonville, FL 32218
(904) 924-0050
(904) 924-0051 Fax
j.cressman@robertco.com
Sandys reply:
Thank you for the heads-up.
W. writes about Ed Marx comments:
Sounds reasonable to me what you
are saying about the airport. Maybe
the payoff is the property in St Marys
that will be vacated.
What do I get out of this deal?
Sandys reply:
That is the $64,000.00 question…..
Les Dooley writes about School Taxes:
Sandy;
My parents had their meeting on Tuesday.
They said the appraiser was very
condescending to them. He kept telling
them that they could sell the house for
a lot of money over & over despite them
telling him that we did not want to sell
the house because we couldn’t replace it.
Despite that he said that we have people
moving in from up north who think our
taxes are a bargain and they are for
them but not for us.
The valuation board they said was
condescending toward our state
representative Jeff Chapman and
basically told him that he had no
influence in Camden County.
It is very frustrating to have people
like this in our county government.
They clearly don’t have the best interest
of the population in mind. Greed is bad
in any form, but in government it is
worse because the population has no
power to fight them other than at the
ballot box and the elections are only
every so many years and it’s not right
that they have to contend with these
kinds of issues.
They do have another avenue if this fails.
I will be contacting Jeff Chapmans office
and informing him of their meeting also.
It’s unfortunate that you are the only
commissioner who has the peoples and
the countys interest in mind. I don’t
know what the rest of the boards
philosophy is but I imagine it’s like
Steve Berrys, tax and spend. I will let
you know what continues to happen
with their case. Thanks for your help
and keep fighting the good fight for us.
Sandys reply:
I am sorry your parents had a hard time.
I think its time to start a little
organization that would attend BOE
meetings as advocates for the taxpayers.
I’ll share with you a personal story. I
called a member of the Board of Assessors
and told him a long time resident was
having trouble with the taxes. He said
“if he can’t pay the taxes let him get a
reverse mortgage.” So much for
compassion.
If you and some others want to start an
advocacy group. Let me know and I
will be there for you.
Mr. Tact informs our readers:
Dear Editor,
I’ve just read a new, best-seller which
I highly recommend to you and your
readers: The Fair Tax Book, subtitled
Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax
and the IRS.
The co-authors are “reformed lawyer”
and syndicated talk show host, Neal
Boortz, and Congressman John Linder,
(R) GA. Congressman Linder is also
the principal author / sponsor of The
Fair Tax Bill (H.R. 25), currently before
Congress.
In the interest of brevity (the book is
only 180 pages, by the way), I’ll quote
from the back of the dust jacket.
“What the Fair Tax will do for America:
eliminate the income tax and the
dreaded IRS; jump start the U.S.
economy; bring businesses and jobs
back to the United States; and recapture
billions of untaxed dollars currently
lost to criminal and offshore businesses.”
“What the Fair Tax will do for you:
allow you to keep 100% of your hard-
earned paycheck; let you choose to save
all the money you want …. and pay taxes
only when you spend it; eliminate
countless taxes you don’t even know
you’re paying; lower interest rates; and
make April 15th just another beautiful
spring day.”
The authors provide ample citations from
the works of various economic think-tanks
to back each of those assertions.
Succinctly, the Fair Tax would replace all
current, federal, income-based taxes with
one, universal, federal “consumption
tax,” on both goods and services, at the
retail level only. There would be no
exemptions whatsoever. The proposed,
“revenueinitialal,” intial tax rate would
be 23%. Predictions are that the resulting
economic boom would make it possible
to lower that rate in short order.
As described so far, the Fair Tax would
be so regressive as not to stand a
snowball’s-chance-in-Hell of passage.
Here’s the solution.
At the first of every month, every
head-of-household (including single /
no dependents), irrespective of
income / net worth, would receive a
federal “pre-bate” check equal to the
taxes due on his / her appropriate
“poverty level spending” for the
coming month. To quote the authors,
“Poverty level spending’ is, by definition,
that spending necessary for a household
of a given size to pay for its necessities.
It is adjusted every year by the
Department of Health and Human
Services.”
For example, if the Fair Tax were
currently in effect, every family of four
would receive a monthly pre-bate of
$491.82 to cover the 23% tax on their
first $2,138.22 spent – their “poverty
level spending.” All spending above that
level (that month) would have a net
federal tax cost of 23 cents-on-the-dollar –
be it for sneakers or a yacht.
While there would be a new, 23% federal
sales tax (collected by the states’ sales
tax offices, by the way), studies predict
initial the intial rate could be lowered in
short order. Moreover, don’t forget that
everyones’ “take-home-pay” would be
their full, gross earnings under The
Fair Tax.
It is a most interesting, concise, and
thought provoking read that can be
knocked out in two or three sittings.
Suggested full retail is $24.95. There is
at least one copy available at the Camden
County Public Library.
I hope that you and your readers will
both enjoy the book and come to support
the bill.
Sandys reply:
Thanks it was very informative
as usual.
Bob Griggs explains millage rates:
Commissioner,
I read your article at camdenganews
regarding the difficulties with the tax
digest. I want to raise an additional
concern. Does the Camden County
Commission set a mathematically-correct
millage rate? Over nine out of 10 taxing
authorities (by our researched estimation)
adopt arbitrary rates that have absolutely
no mathematical connection to their
budgets.
As a result, the taxpayers are either
OVER-taxed or UNDER-taxed; it has to
be one or the other.
I invite you to visit www.millagerate.com
for information on the millage rate– how
to calculate it correctly; jurisdictions that
are doing it wrong; and news about our
effort to enact a state law requiring taxing
and recommending authorities to adopt
mathematically correct millage rates.
You can also find an overview of the issue at
http://www.bloggwinnett.com/wpblog/bobg/?p=3 .
Sandys reply:
Thank you for the information. Hopefully
people will read it and learn the game.
Knowledge is a powerful weapon. Thanks.
D. writes about unhired fireman:
With regards to the fireman who did not
feel like he was given a fair shot at a new
position with the County Fire Department,
I want to make sure the people of the
community understand ALL the facts
before deciding who is at fault.
First, I cannot explain why the Human
Resources Dept did not at least call and
say, “Sorry, you don’t get an interview.”
That is not a hard thing to do and I do
think should have been done.
Second, I think it is up to the Fire Chief
who he wants working in his department.
I know that I was not hired by anyone
other than my boss and I don’t see who
else should have made the decision.
I must confess, I am a current firefighter
with Camden County Fire Rescue and
fully understand the reasoning behind
the hiring of the two who were hired to
fill the open positions.
THE BASIS FOR THE APPOINTMENT
WAS BECAUSE OF THE CREDENTIALS
OF THE TWO GENTLEMEN AND NOT
DUE TO ANY FRIENDSHIP-BASED
CHOICES. The chief needs people helping
him he can trust and when a trustworthy
friend also happens to be the most
qualified and most deserving, that only
makes the decision even better.
The last of my rants has to do with the
person who had written the first blog
complaining about not getting granted
an interview. This county is not large
by no means and therefore all firemen
know each other and know the past
records of each other also. I am not
saying that any charges were ever filed,
but if you were to look in that person’s
file from the county, you would see
reprimands and actions that I wouldn’t
want in my department either. I don’t
know if that was the basis for not being
granted an interview, but if I were chief,
the contents of a personnel file like that
would never warrant future employment
in any county position.
Sandys reply:
Once the Dept. of Labor declared the
firemen “Qualified,” he should have
been granted an interview. After the
interview Human Resources and the
Fire Chief should have made a decision
and advised who was hired and said
thank you to the rest and that would
have been the end of it. It was there
call and they botched it. The second
comment that I have on the matter.
How is it that you know the contents
of the “unhired fireman” personnel
files? Personnel files are confidential.
That is totally unsatisfactory. Instead
of closing the issue you have just
made it worst.
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