On Nov. 8, there will be a special election in Gwinnett County. On the ballot will be two questions. One regards extension of the 1-cent SPLOST for schools, which the Peachtree Corners Ballot Committee supports because it adds value to our community. The other regards the incorporation of Peachtree Corners, which we do not support because it subtracts value from our community.
The second ballot question will actually read: “Shall the Act incorporating the City of Peachtree Corners in Gwinnett County according to the charter contained in the Act be approved?” The “act” in question is Georgia House Bill 396, a compilation of nearly 35 pages of legalese otherwise known as “the charter.”
What this really means is that you aren’t just voting on the innocuous-sounding idea of a “limited-services” city; you are voting on the charter, a document which lays the groundwork for the formation of a full-fledged taxing, spending and regulating city.
The charter would grant sweeping powers to the initial “city” under the auspices of planning and zoning, and code enforcement.
These powers include, but are not limited to, constructing municipal buildings, funding retirement plans for city employees, providing vehicles, issuing bonds and incurring debt, levying property and ad valorem taxes, and collecting franchise utility fees.
There will be new codes and new employees to enforce those codes. The charter will even make us responsible for sidewalk repair in front of our homes; we could be fined if they are not maintained. Codes to transform the area and zoning will be used to keep out the undesirable.
In our generally fiscally conservative area, it is hard to imagine we are considering government taxes and regulations as solutions. Strip centers should be filled by the private sector, not government. Why have all those businesses asked and been accepted for annexation to surrounding cities? Would this have happened if this bill had not passed?
Our ballot committee has done a great deal of listening to voters. We hear the pro-city leaders are selling fear. Many voters feel the pro-city leaders are pushing so hard it makes them question their motivation.
Remember no one asked any of us if we wanted a city before the bill was passed. In 2005, we voted down a ballot question on the idea.
Read the charter. Understand it. Talk to your neighbors. Then vote “no city” on Nov. 8.
Byron Gilbert is president of the Peachtree Corners Ballot Committee.
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