GwinnettViews
What are your feelings Gwinnett?
Watch your water bill!!!
Aug 11th
We posted several months ago about the increase in water bills that was coming: Watching-the-rain-fall-and-our-water-bills-rise. That was just on small increases to the monthly fees and not how bad it really is.
GDP Article by Jamie Ward: Water bills rise with new plan
Tiered pricing policies upset residents
The tiered pricing structure, which customers see on their bill as “Summer Surcharge Tier 1″ or “Summer Surcharge Tier 2,” has one goal in mind, Gwinnett Water Resources Department spokeswoman Lynn Smarr said: conservation.
“The goal of conservation pricing is to reduce excess discretionary water use, such as outdoor irrigation, by making water use increasingly more expensive,” Smarr said. “Conservation pricing encourages smart water use and helps protect our natural resources, all the time and not just during drought conditions.”
Confused? Following that? Us either. It wasn’t enough that during the drought that the residents of the county cut their consumption by almost 20% all on their own but now with the drought over the Water Lords feel they need to charge us into smarter ways?
Smarr said for summer surcharges to appear on a customer’s bill, the user must exceed two boundaries. First, for tier 1, they must exceed 10,000 gallons in the billing period and must have exceeded their winter average use by 125 percent.Smarr said typical residential usage is about 6,000 to 7,000 gallons per month.
Once summer usage exceeds 200 percent of the winter average, the price structure advances to tier 2.
The rate applied to each tier to calculate the additional summer surcharge gradually increases, too. In tier 1, 97 cents is the rate used. In tier 2, the rate jumps to $3.86.
Effective Jan. 1, a three-tiered approach will also be implemented in addition to the increase for the “volumetric charge” for each 1,000 gallons of water that passes through a water meter. The current charge is $3.86. On Jan. 1 the increase rises to $4.11. Then to compute the third tier of pricing for usage that will exceed 12,000 gallons per month, the rate used will be equal to twice that of the volumetric rate – $8.22.
That is just astronomical jumps in prices. People will be hurt by this financially and most don’t even understand it is going on. People be careful. Know that this can affect you. The need for revenue by these entities will make them think any plan is a good one.
“Our approach to managing revenues and our water resources is a tiered rate structure that will encourage conservation during peak months and during the highest demand period,” she said. “As a public utility, we are required to generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining, which means we have to generate enough revenue to maintain our infrastructure and to provide a level of service that optimizes value and cost.”
What’s next for your trash?
Aug 11th
So all the meetings are done. Same dog and pony show for each one. Did they really listen? I don’t think they did. Will the county get their money’s worth out of the consultants? Probably not.
Has anyone been contacted via phone in the polling that was supposed to happen?
Contact your Commissioner today. With everything that is going wrong with this Board this would probably be something they will try to sneak through the back door. We do not need to let this happen.
Open letter from Chairman Bannister
Jul 15th
A Letter From Chairman Bannister: Proposed service cuts to be considered on July 21
This just speaks for itself.
I am well aware of the public response generated by the proposed tax increase. I continue to believe it is necessary to meet the public needs of our county. That having been said, the challenge now is to make deep cuts in county operations and service delivery to balance lost revenues.
Glad to see politics as usual is not just on the national level. We have it right here as well. Our Chairman is leading by fear tactics. What great leadership that is. While the residents are taking hits with pay cuts and job losses in every sector he wants us to feel guilty because he can’t run the county effectively and with any fiscal responsibility in the past several years and now the past is coming back to haunt us all. Remember the baseball stadium, the trash mess, and the questionable land deals and now he is looking to each of us for his bailout.
Hey Gwinnett!!! Its not the BOC faults its ours just ask the Chairman!!
Jul 14th
Budget cuts: BOC to review proposal Suggestions include staffing reductions: By Heather Darenberg
WSB News:Gwinnett Cuts Proposed
Bannister said “unless the taxpayers wish to change their minds and replenish some of the lost funding we have encountered, the only option is to reduce spending, and that’s the direction we’re going.”
This is just ridiculous that this county as gotten to this point. That Bannister would now try to say that the woes of the county are because we the taxpayers are the issue and not the BOC. What about stupid land purchases? What about losing our collective shirts in a stupid stadium deal? What about losing money on a failed trash plan? What about paying consultants for work others already did?
Wake up Gwinnett its only going to get worse under the leadership we have.
Special Trash Consultant to hold 8 public hearings.
Jun 22nd
Take a look at Mack Perry’s blog, he attended the meeting this past weekend.
GDP Article by Jamie Ward: Residents offer input on trash
The eight public hearings to gather public input on residential trash pickup kicked off this week with two, 90-minute sessions.
At the Saturday morning session at Lenora Park’s Activity Room, Deputy Director of Financial Services Chuck Huckleberry and Senior Director Abby Goldsmith of R.W. Beck explained to about 30 onlookers what the county was hoping to obtain as a result of the public forums.
OK all together now!!! Same song second verse same as the first!!!
So the new $131,000 consultants are doing the same thing the MBSCT did earlier this year. They are holding 8 public hearings (Did everyone get their invite?) over the next however many months. Then once they are done with their internet surveys, phone calls, benchmark surveys, and public hearing they are going to present their recommendations to the BOC. Now everyone realizes that the MBSCT was just ordinary citizens but didn’t they pretty much do the same thing? Maybe they should have gone high tech and done some internet surveys. Would that have gotten them listened to? Or anyone else for that matter? There was all kinds of issues with the MBSCT but at least it wasn’t costing the county (county as the citizens of the county) $131,000.
R.W. Beck is the consulting firm hired by the county at a cost of approximately $131,000 to lead these sessions. In the fall, it will issue a report to the Board of Commissioners stating its recommendations. It’s also conducting 2,000 Internet surveys, 300 telephone surveys and will be performing a benchmark analysis to compare Gwinnett with other, similar places.
She said those issues included whether the county should require mandatory collection of trash, what types of service levels should be offered, should the county be divided into collection districts, should the billing appear on property tax bills and what the management structure should be.
Here is list of places and times for the remainder meetings as we know them to be:
- June 25 6:30pm – 8:00pm GJAC Auditorium – Lawrenceville
- July 9 6:30pm – 8:00pm George Pierce Park – Suwanee
- July 11 10:00am – 11:30am Pickneyville Park – Norcross
- July 15 6:30pm – 8:00pm Dacula Park Activity Building- Dacula
- July 18 10:00am – 11:30 am GJAC Auditorium – Lawrenceville
- July 25 10:00am – 11:30 am George Pierce Park – Suwanee
Open hearings on the Property Tax Increase at GJAC today at 4:30 and 6:15 and June 2.
May 26th
Commissioners hold millage rate public hearings
OPEN LETTER TO GWINNETT TAXPAYERS MAY 22, 2009
As mayor of Suwanee, I can attest firsthand that local governments are profoundly affected by these challenging economic times. I can also promise that the Suwanee City Council is doing everything in its power to hold the line on taxes.
People are hurting. Many have lost jobs or taken pay cuts. Businesses are facing unprecedented challenges. Nonprofits are trying to survive. Everyone seems to be doing whatever they can keep costs down. Well, not everyone.
Earlier this week, our Gwinnett County Commissioners announced their plan to raise your property taxes by more than 25 percent – 30 percent if you live in a city – so they can expand their 2009 budget by about 10 percent over their 2008 budget. We don’t have the exact figures because they still won’t publish the budget they adopted March 3.
You see, even though we’re nearly halfway into the fiscal year, without their budget document, the public is being kept in the dark. Our commissioners are ballooning county government in the worst economy anyone can remember.
Forty-three million of this enormous $87 million property tax increase isn’t even planned to be spent in 2009 – they’re socking it away in something called “working capital reserve.” Our commissioners have decided it’s better to overtax you and hoard those dollars than for you to pay your mortgage, health care or for your kids’ education.
Under the guise of public safety, our commissioners have hatched a curious plan to hire 170 more officers to start patrolling inside cities that are already policed effectively by the cities. This wasteful and dangerous duplication will require another $17 to 20 million of your money in new taxes – can’t know for certain without the budget. Sheriff Butch Conway calls their scheme a “terrible mistake.”
Growing the size of government in these economic times is exactly the wrong thing for any elected body. It’s quite obvious that our commissioners are oblivious to the reality that the rest of us face. We’re cutting back, yet they’re expanding their county largesse and sending us the bill. And it’s going to be a whopper.
State law requires our commissioners hold three public hearings at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center before they set these new tax rates. Two are scheduled for Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day. The third is June 2, after which the county will vote on the new tax rate.
I plan to attend all of them, and hope you will, too.
Have we learned anything from the county’s recent “trash plan” episode? This time, will we make our voices heard to our elected commissioners before they take action on this outrageous tax hike?
If not, brace yourself for a doozie of a county tax bill.
Dave Williams, Mayor
City of Suwanee, GA
Gwinnett County (BOC) cuts ties with Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. Really!?!?
May 6th
GDP Article by Camie Young: County cuts ties with Clean and Beautiful
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful staffers have moved out of the county annex building in Lawrenceville and are operating out of the Recycling Bank of Gwinnett, where the nonprofit has a lease until 2020, Wiggins said.“It does not impact our mission or the board we have in place,” she said, acknowledging that all phone calls on graffiti eradication by inmates, garbage hauler complaints, roadside clean-up or illegal dumping are all being referred to the county.
Anyone want to know who owns the property the GCB leases? Yep you got it the County (BOC). So did you really cut ties?
Advanced Disposal Services sues Gwinnett County and GCB for $40 million in Federal Court.
May 5th
This will be interesting to see played out over the next months and months. This one will drag on forever. The BOC tried to wash its hands of GCB because they knew this would never end pretty.
On Nov. 7, 2008, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful awarded contracts to Advanced Disposal and Waste Pro, two Florida-based firms that submitted low bids for residential trash pickup. Six other haulers that were serving Gwinnett residents were to lose their service areas beginning Jan.1 when the new plan was to take effect.On Dec. 18, 2008, Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Michael Clark granted a temporary preliminary injunction, ensuring that for now the county’s garbage service for unincorporated residents will remain as-is.
Now the BOC has hired a consulting firm to start all over. As bad as the OLD-NEW plan was it amazes me how the BOC thought the people the GCB/BOC signed a contract with would just go away quietly.
Advanced Disposal alleges that the county has taken no action to mitigate the damages caused by its actions or those of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful or to amend the county’s solid waste ordinance to allow the new plan to be implemented as per the contract…
Christian Mills, general counsel for Advanced Disposal, said the company believes filing suit is the “most direct and just means” of getting relief.“While we find it unfortunate to have to resolve this issue in court when administrative processes are readily available to resolve the matter, we cannot allow the county and (Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful) to ignore their fiduciary obligations to the citizens of the county and their contractual obligations with Advanced Disposal,” Mills said.
Seattle, WA Consulting Firm to get $131,000 to study trash in Gwinnett
Apr 21st
AJC Article by Patrick Fox: Gwinnett plans solid waste study
Gwinnett County commissioners approved a $131,000 study to redraw the county’s failed solid waste ordinance — a measure that generated a firestorm of protests and a rash of lawsuits last year.The action follows a series of meetings held by a citizens panel to collect public input and make a proposal that would increase residential collection, encourage recycling and possibly reduce truck traffic in neighborhoods…
R.W. Beck is expected to make its recommendations based on a set of tasks:
• Review past, current and enjoined ordinances.
• Establish criteria based on counties with comparable populations and demographics.
• Conduct a series of public forums and surveys to gauge community priorities.
Gwinnett Commission Chairman Charles Bannister said the commission has not discussed the issue in detail, but he expects the board to focus on state mandates and the judge’s objections when a new ordinance is crafted.
Good thing they haven’t discussed it in detail especially since they think they need to spend 131k to make a plan. Does that money come from the rainy day fund or petty cash? Goes to show the MBSCT was nothing more than a pretty show.
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