Countys fire-services plan "is just another tax-and-power grab

Editor:

You wonder why no one attended the hearings on the fire tax? For the same reason no one attends any other hearings: In Columbia County, anyone conversant enough to understand the issues knows that hearings is a misnomer. Hearings implies someone is listening, and as we all know, the decisions are made by the plutocratic meat puppets - sometimes referred to as the Columbia County Commission - in secret, long before the public receives the ukase from on high.

This is just another tax-and-power grab disguised as compassion from our public officials. Baghdad Bob Szablewski and Joe Isuzu Cross have told us this isnt about consolidating power; they also tout this as a cost-saving measure for property owners, and as proof they tout their study, which says so. I use the word tout advisedly; a tout was a petty crook who scammed people into betting on losers at the racetrack, and thats whats going on here. Otherwise, Id have to believe this third-rate bureaucrat and cheap politician when they tell us, in essence, Were from the government, and were here to help you. ...

Examine what they claim. Theyre quick to claim a net tax savings because the tax would be deductible on tax returns, which is true, but only for the Brie and croissant crowd. Lower-income people, like me in the peanut butter and cracker class - and there are a lot of them still in Columbia County - use the standard deduction; all a higher tax means is they pay more.

//

These numbers are based on the lie that the rates will remain the same. This is Columbia County; every year, property tax values go up and so will the tax collection. ...

I cannot overstate how bad an idea it is to trust these clowns with anything as important as fire protection. Do we really want Larry, Moe, Curley, Shemp and Ron in charge of our safety? These are the same folks who ran the county water for a quarter of a century without expansion, then blamed the residents for using too much water. Doesnt anyone else remember seeing in your paper pictures of Jim Whiteheads vacuously smiling face at the groundbreaking of a new housing development, while on other pages the County Commission was discussing ever more Draconian water-rationing measures? Wasnt anyone else paying attention when the commissars had the following meeting (slightly paraphrased): Well, weve voted unanimously to approve the building permits for "Creekbed Estates and "Lakebottom Leisure Homes. Next item: Does anyone have a clue why we keep getting flooded? I guess well have to raise taxes. ...

No problem was ever solved by adding another layer of unaccountable bureaucrats. Remember when the state legislature had the vision to rein in the gas monopoly? My summer bill went from $7 a month to five times that. When the Veterans Administration became a Cabinet-level department, 8 percent of the budget went to building a little D.C. empire suitable for Cabinet offices. Something had to give, so the VA simply closed treatment facilities.

The same will happen here. When the fire chief establishes himself, he will require a few things to do his job, starting with a dozen tricked-out Hummers, with lights and sirens and enough radios to manage the Iraq campaign. Hell need these because later, hell need an assistant fire chief (to do nothing when hes gone), an equal opportunity person, a public relations person, a spokesperson, a community liaison well, you get the picture. One thing the study didnt mention were qualifications for the job, but we all know what that is: An abnormal appetite for the taste of politicians boot black and butt crack.

Grovetown, for all its other faults, already has a first-class fire department. This is because of decades of consistent improvement from taxes, government loans, matching funds and grants. Thats how its done. ...

Dave Stewart

Grovetown