Tuesday
Jul212009
« Citizens oppose spending cuts »
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 12:05AM
As the Gwinnett County Commission prepares to "vote on $225 million in proposed cuts to the operating budget through 2014," some county residents are opposing proposed law enforcement funding cuts. I would ask them, what else is the commission supposed to do? While I have been very critical of this board, they did the right thing by refusing to raise property taxes. Given that a nontrivial reason we are in this fiscal mess is that monument to government mismanagement, Gwinnett (Taxpayers) Stadium, I absolutely oppose a tax increase. Had our commissioners kept Gwinnett County focused on the core, limited responsibilities of government, I would be more open to recognizing the need for, and possibly supporting, a tax increase. However, the commissioners made some very poor decisions in building that unneeded baseball stadium and now they should have to make the hard decisions of finding places to cut spending.
While I do not want to see police funding cut in general, I would be more concerned about these cuts if I did not see police officers parked alongside Gwinnett roads running radar/laser speed detection equipment. I understand the need for traffic enforcement, but why not redeploy these officers to fighting real crime and let them do traffic stops while engaged in their normal patrols? I would note that if the cuts are used on Gwinnett's so-called "Quality of Life" unit, then the negative impact to enforcing important laws is lessened. The Quality of Life unit spends a lot of taxpayer dollars fighting property rights rather than the crime that is all too common in Gwinnett.
Thus, while we may feel some pain in the cuts that are eventually made, they are much easier to swallow than a tax increase in the aftermath of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on the Government-funded Gwinnett Braves new baseball stadium.
While I do not want to see police funding cut in general, I would be more concerned about these cuts if I did not see police officers parked alongside Gwinnett roads running radar/laser speed detection equipment. I understand the need for traffic enforcement, but why not redeploy these officers to fighting real crime and let them do traffic stops while engaged in their normal patrols? I would note that if the cuts are used on Gwinnett's so-called "Quality of Life" unit, then the negative impact to enforcing important laws is lessened. The Quality of Life unit spends a lot of taxpayer dollars fighting property rights rather than the crime that is all too common in Gwinnett.
Thus, while we may feel some pain in the cuts that are eventually made, they are much easier to swallow than a tax increase in the aftermath of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on the Government-funded Gwinnett Braves new baseball stadium.
Reader Comments (2)
I agree with GwinnettBuzz. But the BOC could be a little thoughtful. I know there are many other things that could be cut other than police and fire.
Has anyone thought who might be the larger property owner in the County? My guess is... the County. Why not sell off some assets?
If I were have problems paying my bills I think I would sell my boat, my seadoo and maybe my lake house. Unload some assets for cash.
How many parks has Gwinnett bought in the last 5 years? Why can't we sell off these parks that often have few people using them. I will even suggest a buyer who could afford to buy large land tracts. All those developers who sold land to the County at the bubble prices of 2-3 years ago. The developers should be flush with cash. Our cash.
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