NO to Target as the new Sandy Springs City Hall

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The City Council is preparing to purchase the soon to be vacated Target retail location for $8,000,000 in the heart of Sandy Springs on Mt. Vernon and convert it to City Hall.

Why?

I've heard we must have a place to house our police department. Does that include our own detention center? What better place than in the heart of the city?

We certainly must have a new building that befits the new image the City Council has imagined. Construction may not start today, but certainly tomorrow. How could we even consider staying in rented offices that support an existing tax paying property owner? We should have our own property, with fine architecture, properly styled interior, and the grounds must be beautiful and immaculate. It will need to emulate the finest Sandy Springs' residence, maybe even something in Rome . . . Italy, not Georgia. We wouldn't want the City of Atlanta or maybe the new City of Dunwoody to have a prettier building than we do. Let's make sure we budget enough to lead the way in style. Let's make sure we are all proud to call this building "Ours."

What hogwash!

Fulton County Government is shrinking, thank goodness. As taxpayers we have already paid for the Fulton County Annex on Roswell Road. Why not work hard (or harder as the case may be) to share this taxpayer owned property with county government? If we must have our own building to house this new and, unfortunately, growing city government, let us spend our money to create more space at this existing site (if needed), not on acquiring new property. Keep government small.

If we let these City Council members create more space for city government they will fill it . . . and then want more.

Don't do it. Stop it before it starts. Encourage new business use of the Target property, not government use. Put a new tax paying business entity on this real estate, not something that will be a reason to increase taxes further.

That's my opinion!

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Really Simple Syllabus - Sandy Springs' Tax Policy 101

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The comments below are intended as a simple outline to encourage discussion regarding Sandy Springs City Council's "tax and spend / tax some more" policy. This council is very young. Our city is brand new and already it seems to be adopting old style tax/spend habits. There even seems to be a "misunderstanding" among these folks about what constitutes an official tax increase. In my opinion this is not exactly what we voted for when we voted to get relief from Fulton County government's "tax Sandy Springs / spend the money elsewhere / don't listen to their needs" policy. Our new city officials seem to feel their constituents are demanding higher taxes and more spending. Is that a correct assessment on their part?

Here are some thoughts on what a "tax class" for new City Council members might discuss.

Really Simple Syllabus
Responsible City of Sandy Springs' Tax Policy - 101


1) Setting a policy

• Define the responsibilities of City Government and stay within those boundaries. Make this definition as narrow as possible not as wide as possible. Wide is the easy way out and eliminates accountability to the taxpayers. Always be accountable to the taxpayers.
  
• Remember always that the money you are spending isn't "Your Money." (I mean by this that you should be much more conservative, frugal, and purposeful than when actually spending your own money. This rule should be applied even if you personally are the most conservative, frugal, and purposeful spender.)
  
• Always, always, always seek permission to spend. Never over spend. You can't spend what you don't have permission to spend.
  
• Any money collected over the budgeted amount is to be refunded to the taxpayers - without delay.
• Any additional expenditures need to be part of next year's budget, not added to or carried over from the current year's budget/collections.
• Always keep in mind that low tax rates make the city business "friendly" and helps keep real estate prices higher and sales vibrant.
• Less government spending is healthy. More government spending requires even more spending the next year and the next year and the next year.
• Ask the voters' permission for special assessments (in a special election) and collect the assessments only until the needed project is completed and then stop funding it. Most governments keep collecting money after the initial need is satisfied and then apply these funds to another new-found project. Don't do it!
• Remember that apartment dwellers and retail/office tenants are taxpayers, too, even though they aren't shown individually on the tax rolls.
  

2) Determining, Prioritizing, and Quantifying Needs

• Refer to #1 above. Keep it simple and narrow.
• Promote public private partnerships in everything the city does . . . Rent, don't own. Outsource, don't employ. Partner with responsible organizations.
• Don't provide services that a private organization could provide.
• Don't build and manage a gym - Partner with the YMCA
• Don't build a jail - outsource it
• Look for every opportunity
• Always ask, "Do we "really" need to supply this as a city service? Does this fit the narrow definition of what the city government must provide [emphasis on "must"]?
  

3) Determining Available Funds

• Current budget needs?
• Current millage rate?
• Current tax digest?
• Recent (10 year) history of tax collector's rate of collection vs assessments?
• Hold the tax collector to a high standard. Higher collection percentages mean lower taxes.
  

4) Setting the Budget

• Budget expenses for the defined "needs" only plus a reasonable reserve for unexpected expenses.
• "Unexpected Expenses" must be from the "needs" category, not an end of the year, we have to spend it because it's there type of spending. The "unexpected expenses" are to be carried over, not spent . . . just held. This practice keeps ensuing years' taxes lower since that line item will already be funded.
• Budget income/receipts on expected tax collector performance, not some artificially low percentage that builds in an "over collection." Budgeting the income percentage lower than anticipated collections is a tax increase unless this over collection amount is refunded to the taxpayers.
  

5) Collections and Refunds

• If collections exceed the budgeted expenses, the over collection amount is to be refunded to the taxpayers immediately.

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Tax Education Needed? - Sandy Springs City Council Missed an Opportunity

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My rant posted previously about the Sandy Springs City Council making, in my opinion, a bad decision to raise our taxes was fueled by my visit to a Council meeting. There I discovered some of our Council members were in denial that their actions were even deemed a tax increase. Even though our state government required them to advertise their actions as a tax increase at least one Council member made statements of denial in the official Council meeting and another communicated after voting "For" the tax increase saying ". . . we didn't increase your taxes. The tax rate stayed the same . . ."

Wow! Now that's pretty bold . . . or naive. I am beginning to think it may actually be more naive . . . uneducated . . . being influenced by a select few . . . etcetera. Our City Council seems to have convinced themselves that they must increase taxes as opposed to taking the bold stand of refunding over-collections and seeking voter validation that taxes should be increased. Now that would be a BOLD DECISION on the part of our City Council. Just imagine what type of City of Sandy Springs we would have if these tax increase decisions were actually put to a vote. I'm not suggesting tax increases are never valid to fund specific projects, but in today's environment . . . once general taxes are increased, they continue to increase, and are virtually never reduced or refunded. The appetite for more money and more things is insatiable.

This feeling that the decisions were naive came like a lightning bolt during a conversation with a long time friend who has owned a home and paid taxes in Cobb county for many years. When I was describing the actions of our new Sandy Springs City Council he asked, "What's a millage rate?"

I paused. Then said,"That was a brilliant question. I'm surprised by the question, but it is very telling since you are a very smart person."

Now, I don't pay much attention to what goes on in Cobb County, but I have heard they have worked hard at keeping their taxes lower than in other counties. I've also heard that they have paid particularly good attention to the quality of education available and continue to receive kudos regionally and nationally for their great schools. Lower taxes and good schools definitely attract home buyers . . . and businesses. Probably keeps most taxpayers happy, too.

If the above is true, then it's no wonder my friend hasn't paid much attention to things like "millage rates," "city/county budget practices," "under/over budgeting tax collection rates," "slush funds," etc. My thoughts went to how easy it must be for a naive group of City Council Members, coupled with an electorate that doesn't know what a millage rate is or how it relates to the tax assessor's job versus the tax collectors job to inadvertently confuse the hell out of each other. They seem to start out confused, take guidance from folks who are confused, and end up making poor decisions. Even though the poor decisions may be cloaked with good intentions.

Sooooooo . . . Job One is to educate our City Council on what a tax increase is and how to recognize it, so they can make better decisions. Part of Job One is to help the City Council understand fully the consequences their "tax and spend" decisions have on business and residential growth. It seems like we need to help these public servants understand the basics so they can better fulfill the obligations of their elected office

Job Two is to assist the voting taxpayers in learning the basics of how their taxes are calculated, what is and isn't a tax increase, and what type of constraints should be placed on their elected officials. The electorate needs to know what input and/or control they have or don't have on how much money is being budgeted, collected, and spent as well as on what services are needed and which ones are unnecessary luxuries. Encouraging alternative funding methods through public/private partnerships seems to me to be a reasonable alternative to pursue.

These topics probably make most folk's eyes glaze over. You can tell when they either start dozing or looking at their watches. I think this probably takes place within about 120 seconds. It's hard to hold someone's attention - especially when the taxpayers are sucked in initially with little increases for the residents (aka voters) and big increases for businesses (aka non-voters). This puts a lot of responsibility on those folks who may not know what a millage rate is or how it is applied to their taxes, or what the overall consequences may be.

Is there hope for the City of Sandy Springs to set a new course for City Government? Can what started out as a mandate for more responsive and more responsible local government actually be fulfilled? Can the promise once offered by this city's early public/private partnerships be embraced or will they be discarded? Are the citizens of the City of Sandy Springs going to be led down this emerging path of old time local government and old time "tax - spend - collect - spend - tax more" cycles that will ultimately crash and burn?

I have great hope for this experiment we started called the City of Sandy Springs. There is great promise. Let's not let it slip through our fingers. Call your Councilperson, email them, go to a City Council meeting. No need to rant like I did in my post below or even how I delivered my message at the City Council meeting. Just educate them constantly. Help them make good decisions. Let them know how a responsible government must keep taxes low to encourage business, increase home values, look for new ways to finance improvements without raising taxes. You are the most important part of this equation. If you don't know what a millage rate is or what a tax increase is or what decisions you want brought to the voters, then make it a priority to find out. I'll be happy to give you my opinions . . . just stay tuned. It's probably more important to start with Job Two (above) instead of Job One.

Above all . . . communicate your opinions and well thought out views to the Mayor and City Council. Here's the link to a page that sends all of them your thoughts with one "click."

Link me to www.SandySpringsAdvocate.com

so I can email the Sandy Springs City Council