Forsyth County Commission's Irresponsible Taxing and Spending Cannot Continue

The Long Black Train Heading to Unending Local Government Growth Must Halt-Vote NO on SPLOST

You will recall my revealing Substack from late July, entitled, “How Three County Commissioners Screwed Over the City of Cumming-Vote NO on SPLOST.” That article was the 5th Chapter of my series, "War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County." In that chapter, I chronicled the bad faith bargaining of Forsyth County’s three “Club member” Commissioners, Laura Semanson, Kerry Hill and Chairman Alfred John, with respect to the final division of potential SPLOST revenues between Forsyth County and City of Cumming, should the proposed Special Local Option Sales Tax referendum pass in November. Rather than rehashing all that here, I will let you refresh your memories by reading that article.

Then, in August, you will recall my article entitled, “Forsyth ‘Club Member’ Commissioners Double Size of Local Government, Do Nothing for the People,” an article which became Chapter 6 of that same series. In it I discussed the tactics of the same three Club members, together comprising a majority of the Forsyth County Commission, regarding the details of the lead-up and final decision to build the new Forsyth County Administration Building presently under construction on Freedom Parkway. Just know that, among other strongly supported conclusions, in that article I showed you that the trio of commissioners in control of final decision-making on the Forsyth County Commission, they being Semanson, Hill and Chairman John, ignored every inherent democratic consideration of conservative local government, strategically over-taxing the people of Forsyth County for several years, resulting in an accumulation of cash reserves under their direct control, such that when they ultimately took up the matter of building the new admin building, they did it as a matter under their own discretion, without need of a public referendum, in other words, without consulting the will of the people. Unlike the circumstances surrounding the decision to build the present administration building in 1996, those commissioners at the time appropriately calling a referendum to make that decision. This time, however, the people of Forsyth County had no voice in the question whether to spend what will likely become $150 million, or more, on the administration complex many now refer as the “Forsyth County Taj Mahal.”

Because the Forsyth County Commission has not spent your money wisely in the past, Forsyth County should not give them even more money to fritter away, a practice that has become a veritable custom.

Hard Facts

Below I want to show you just how reckless the Forsyth County Commission has been with YOUR MONEY. Yes, it is YOUR MONEY, not theirs. Take a look at the following graph, which aptly illustrates how they raised the money for the new admin complex WITHOUT a referendum.

Sources Include: World Population Review, GA DOR County Digest and Published Forsyth County Data

As you can see, over the last decade ending in 2023, residential property assessments in Forsyth County have increased a whopping 86%! Virtually half of that increase occurred during the last two years of the period. Now, while, admittedly, the “Big 3” commissioners had no control over the amount of the assessed values of homes around the county, they had 100% control over the millage rate, which is the percentage of the assessed value the county applies to compute the tax for your property. Had these individuals been truly conservative commissioners, they would have lowered the millage rate, allowing property owners to keep more of their money. Doing so would have prevented the accumulation of such large sums, and required the commissioners to take the question of a mammoth administration building project to the voters, had they thought the admin complex to be a wise investment for the people to make at this time.

Now, what I just described is the revenue (tax) side of the Forsyth County budget. So, next let’s look at spending. And alongside county government spending let’s look at the growth of Forsyth County’s population.

These figures show that, since 2016 Forsyth County’s spending budget has increased by 98%, practically a factor of two, all the while the county population has only increased by 29%, not even one-third. Furthermore, over that period, while the size and scope of Forsyth County Government has doubled in cost, at least part of that cost can be attributed to government employment increasing by a whopping 42%. And none of these figures count the cost of the new administration building.

And now Commissioners Semanson, Hill and Chairman John want to tax and spend even more of your money. To help them with that goal, they are advertising SPLOST on billboards, such as this one located on Hwy 306 between GA 400 and Browns Bridge Road. The ad seen on the billboard pictured below is not purely informational, as is required of government publications. It is political, and persuasive of public support, messaging that it only take “Pennies” in exchange for Forsyth County to experience “Progress.”

Exchanging “Pennies for Progress” is the Slogan the Big 3 County Commissioners are Using to Convince You to Give Them Even More of Your Money

From what I understand, the county retained the right to a “1/9th flip” of this board as part of a settlement agreement with the billboard company, the agreement arising from a suit the company pursued against the county. So, should you ask who is paying for the sign, you can anticipate a response that the ad is not costing taxpayers any money. That answer is insufficient to explain the persuasive character of the ad, which is a conflict-of-interest on the part of the county, and the fact that the county had to pay their attorney with taxpayer funds to secure the agreement.

Unavoidable Principles of Government Growth

It seems strange to be true, but higher education in Georgia was much more affordable BEFORE the lottery and before the Hope Scholarship. The reason is that when the lottery began funneling so much money into what used to be community colleges, colleges and universities, those institutions took the money and invested in facilities, many or most of these institutions eventually becoming universities. All of those facilities must be staffed. They must be maintained. Land had to be purchased. That meant that the cost of education would have to rise, eventually sky-rocketing. Now that Georgia has the Hope Scholarship, it is not uncommon for students to graduate owing six figures in college loans. That never happened before. When that much money is poured into government, the government will grow, the cost of government will grow, and the need to keep raising taxes to support spending never relents. That is the phenomenon developing in Forsyth County Georgia today. The only way to stop it is to restrict the growth of county government revenues.

And as the size and scope of government grows, liberal-spending government officials such as Semanson, Hill and John apparently become intoxicated with the notion of creating new policies, procedures and systems to control public activities. Don’t be fooled, controlling what you are trying to accomplish down to the very last eyelash is what government officials term, “providing government services.” But, in many cases, those “government services” are only “services” in the same way a bull might “service” a cow, if you know what I mean. To house the administration of those “services,” your county commission ruling junta, Laura Semanson, Kerry Hill and Alfred John, justified their decision to forego asking the judgment of the people they represent, deciding to spend all those surplus funds collected over the past few years to build the new administration complex on their own authority as elected officials. You should also know that the buildings presently under construction on Freedom Parkway are designed to allow the county to immediately DOUBLE its administrative staff once the building is complete, and, of course, once the plaque commemorating the roles Semanson, Hill and John played in taking your money, is prominently affixed to its facade. County Manager David McKee speaks below of doubling the size of county government in this marketing video which can be found on the Forsyth County website.

As I reported in my previous Substack, the new administration building is so ill-conceived that its location outside of the Cumming city limit will apparently prohibit the county commission from lawfully enacting official business from within its confines. Thus, apparently, any official business the commission considers will have to be voted on back at the existing Administration Building in downtown Cumming. There is a Georgia law and county ordinance in place stating as much. Below County Manager McKee seems to stumble through dealing with that issue as the question arises during the video.

Vote ‘NO’ on SPLOST

Make no mistake, your Forsyth County Commission is rampantly SPENDING YOUR MONEY. They are taxing and spending county tax dollars without reasoned oversight. That practice must stop. Voters in November must send a message to their commission that THEY, the VOTERS, will take over the necessary oversight function if the commission will not, and that taxpayers will no longer provide SURPLUS FUNDS simply for county government to decide how to spend them. A lean government is an efficient government. This county commission has proven it is not capable of using appropriate discretion when it comes to taxing and spending the hard-earned dollars of county taxpayers. For that reason, it is my hope county taxpayers will heed this advice and VOTE NO ON SPLOST in November. Doing so is the only way to truly send a message to your county commission.