Posted on 03/02/2006 8:19:04 PM PST by Lorianne
Bad ideas often travel in pairs, and two bills that were moving swiftly through the state Legislature this week are no exception.
Under the guise of boosting development in rural Georgia, Senate Bill 414 and House Bill 1323 would grant private developers some of the same broad powers as publicly elected governments, but without all of the corresponding checks and balances needed to prevent fraud and abuse. Both bills would pave the way for residential community improvement districts, essentially supersized subdivisions owned and operated by the developer.
Once the district is approved by a host city or county government, developers could pay for infrastructure improvements within it by selling tax-free municipal bonds. In addition to paying their local property taxes, homeowners in the district would also pay off those bonds through annual assessments levied by the developer.
The stated reason for the bill sounds tempting; promoting housing and economic development in parts of the state where the local tax base is too small to undertake large-scale infrastructure projects has obvious appeal.
Granted, the Senate bill stipulates that the district's activities would be subject to the state's Open Records Act and the local government entity would appoint a member to the district board.
Beyond that, however, homeowners in the district would have precious little input over a developer's decisions and little recourse to redress their grievances. Worse still, the bill ditches the democratic principle of "one person, one vote." Instead, larger landowners would have more votes than their neighbors who own smaller tracts.
Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), who is sponsoring the Senate measure, points to Florida, which passed similar legislation in 1980, as proof that the districts would be successful here. That state now has about 300 such districts, with roughly 20 to 30 new ones established by developers each year.
But a grass-roots campaign to reform the law is brewing in Florida, stirred up by a coalition of homeowners who live in those districts. They complain that they are often socked with high assessments, have no control over how money is spent and are subject to dictatorial rules imposed by developers who retain ownership, often for as long as a decade.
As in Florida, there's a good chance that Georgia developers would stack the district board with handpicked business associates, friends and relatives. Critics also point out that many of the districts built so far aren't in rural areas, but in heavily populated cities such as Tampa and Orlando. Although Staton's bill targets rural areas, there's nothing to stop developers in metro Atlanta — where sprawl is already a major problem — from taking advantage of the same benefits.
If it passes both houses, the measure would require a change in the state constitution, then have to be ratified by a two-thirds vote and approved by referendum. Lawmakers who believe in open, accountable and transparent government should vote resoundingly against it. This is not an idea Georgia needs to copy.
Here's an idea...don't buy homes there.
When they've bought up all of the land for miles around, where else are you going to live? They'll still find enough people to fill these abominations, and then we'll all be stuck with them.
"Worse still, the bill ditches the democratic principle of "one person, one vote." Instead, larger landowners would have more votes than their neighbors who own smaller tracts. "
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.