As we get ready for another session of the Georgia General Assembly next month, lawmakers should move Georgia away from this inequitable system of generating local government revenue. Our ancestors threw tea in the Boston Harbor for lesser concerns - would that we had a harbor into which property taxes could be tossed. Several months ago, I noticed some beautiful land on New Kings Bridge Road being cleared. I was sad to see this land opened up for road viewing, but reconciled myself to the fact that this is the price we must pay for progress. With the Bear Creek Reservoir plans progressing just down the road, Gwinnett County homeowners spreading toward Jackson County, we began looking forward to sharing the prosperity and increased tax base that other areas of the county have already experienced.
Prosperity breeds permanence.
Let us not accept this cycle of transience. A just-released 1999 report shows that Jackson County has become the second fastest growing county in our area, second only to Barrow County. Land developers and local rezoning should heed this growth call by not using more of our local lands for mobile home developments. Enough is enough. Two more were filed last week and no doubt others will come in the future.