Some folks who live in Monroe County like to tell folks in Bibb County how bad we’ve got it. But things aren’t exactly peachy in MoCo. This comes from an article published today in the online Monroe County Reporter:
The collective groan heard around Monroe County Saturday was the sound of taxpayers getting new tax assessment notices in the mail.
“A lot of old-timers are going to be hurting,” said Fletcher Anderson, a Hwy. 42 property owner who set up an appointment with the assessors to discuss his 30-percent increase in taxable value on Monday…
Seventy-six percent of Monroe County property owners had their property assessment increased, said (Chief Appraiser Alveno) Ross. Ross says of the 15,700 parcels in the county, over 12,000 of them show an increased value, resulting in a 31 percent increase the tax digest, up $347 million over last year.
But - ours is coming.
39 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // May 22, 2008 at 12:01 am
At least Mr Ross will be well versed in the script when the Monroe County Commission calls for all of the Tax Assesors to resign.
2 gonetomonroeco // May 22, 2008 at 12:18 am
And the rest of the story. The Commissioners voted at Tues meeting to roll back the millage so that out of pocket will be the same. Still glad I am in Monroe.
3 Ima Thinkin // May 22, 2008 at 6:34 am
Gonetomonroeco, we’re glad that you’re glad, but according to Chuck Thompson, writer for THE TELEGRAPH, in his report posted Monday, May 21st, 2008, your commissioners pledged a rollback; they didn’t vote on a rollback. There’s a big difference.
“The commissioners also pledged that they will roll back the county’s millage rate to offset any increase in the tax digest caused by the reassessment.”
http://www.macon.com/198/story/356916.html
You may want to check this out.
4 Ima Thinkin // May 22, 2008 at 6:55 am
CORRECTION: “…posted Wednesday,May 21st….”
5 MaconMike // May 22, 2008 at 11:24 am
Alvino Ross… there’s a name near and dear to the Ellis way of doing things. Glad they’ve got him, not us anymore, he was a walking talking Ellis rubber stamp.
6 augustus // May 22, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Note to Monroe Co officials. The news on TV, on the internet, in the papers, etc., shows a significant decline in real estate values pretty much nation wide. Yet in Monroe Co the values went up 10 to 20%?
He who is voted in to office can be voted out.
7 Cotton Avenue Solon // May 22, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Any way you cut it, property taxes will be increasing dramatically in Monroe County and the City of Forsyth.
The two local governments are planning a host of major infrastructure projects to satisfy the booming population growth, once of course the two governments are consolidated. Among them are:
1) new airport
2) city auditorium
3) performing arts center
4) new hospital (with Level 1 trauma)
5) minor league baseball stadium
6) new water & sewerage system
7) new L.E.C.
8) roads upgrade for the new mall
9) new L.G.C. (Local Government Center)
8 Cotton Avenue Solon // May 22, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Oops………..forgot to report to GoneToMonroeCo and all you happy campers up there in the “Monroe - Forsyth - Culloden - Juliette - Bolingbroke - Smarr” metro area that the cost for these projects is going to exceed $ One Billion Dollars.
9 alvin // May 22, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Since Cotton is our resident Man of the World, we might want to listen. Politicians have a way of functioning in the “Monkey See, Monkey Do” mode. When Funroe gets all this new stuff, you know what will happen in all adjacent counties….
10 augustus // May 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Cotton, wake up, you are dreaming.
11 Ima Thinkin // May 22, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Well, someone is definitely dreaming:
“Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units in 2000: $558″
http://www.city-data.com/county/Monroe_County-GA.html
12 Cotton Avenue Solon // May 23, 2008 at 12:02 am
Augustus, I’m not simply dreaming, I’m having nightmares. I just want to prove my point by being a little bit facetious, that’s all.
Don’t you anti-annexation and anti-consolidation isolationists understand that WITHOUT the urban core of Macon, there would be NO thriving Monroe, or Jones, or Peach, or Houston Counties?
Exurban residents can boast all they want about low taxes, quality of life issues, etc., but they CANNOT live where they do without the medical services, the retail hub, the cultural amenities, the business center, and the transportation services of Macon.
You may call it dreaming, but I call it hard reality.
13 augustus // May 23, 2008 at 11:11 am
Cotton, it is the other way around. Macon would be a ghost town without the people and entities of surrounding counties, including the Air Force base. Many of the doctors, lawyers and businessmen that run those services you are so proud of live in surrounding counties. And the “outsiders” pay more on average in Fed taxes, thus supplying Macon with all those grants and freebies. If one side is a leech, it is Macon.
14 Ima Thinkin // May 23, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Augustus, Cotton is right, but I don’t expect you to take his word for it nor mine. Instead, I would suggest that you use the internet. Google in “Bibb County, Georgia, Industries” and read the facts and figures for yourself. Your arguments aren’t substantiated.
15 alvin // May 24, 2008 at 10:21 am
Wait. How about a little logic for the second course at this dinner table. The outlying areas are in great need of services provided by the city. The city could not be were it not for the folks who keep it running ….but then run to the border every day at 5. It is what we like to call symbiosis in the Liberal Arts Department. Don’t use the bio definition. It most likely favors one–use the linguistic deal and you have some truth–everybody needs everybody. I hear Barbra Streisand singing “People” as I type.
16 Ima Thinkin // May 24, 2008 at 10:33 am
Barbara Streisand??!! “People”!!! (:-)
How about Ben Lee?
“We’re All In This Together”
Woke up this morning
I suddenly realized
We’re all in this together
I started smiling
Cos you were smiling
And were all in this together.
etc. etc. etc.
17 Ima Thinkin // May 24, 2008 at 10:42 am
…for those who aren’t familiar.
Ben Lee, “We’re All In This Together”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=geZehkuUvuk
18 alvin // May 24, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Ima, your taste in music is fine, and Ben Lee is pretty talented. But if we are going for pure power, we won’t be able to beat U2 “With or Without You…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEfSnjL0pd8
Streisand is the ancient standard and a bit of kitsch. U2 will never be equalled! Who would have known Bono would be the philanthropist he is now, thinking about the world in 1987…
19 Ima Thinkin // May 24, 2008 at 2:13 pm
How about this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GVE7lRZuFM
You’re turn!! Anyone else want to join in?
20 Ima Thinkin // May 24, 2008 at 2:17 pm
“You are turn!!” Wonderful, Ima!! Jeeeezz!!
21 augusta // May 24, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Ima, the Air Force base is the key economic engine of the Macon region. That is a well known, basic fact. And manufacturing is a far cry from what it was in 1960.
22 Ima Thinkin // May 25, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hi Augusta,
While I don’t quite grasp your point, I do agree with your understanding of the importance of Robins Air Force Base. Its impact, however, directly affects all of the Middle/Central Georgia area, not just “the Macon region” (which you define as what?). Bibb, Monroe, Houston, Twiggs, Crawford, Jones, Peach, Laurens and other counties have prospered because of Robins; there’s no disputing that! However, focusing on the idea that “Macon would be a ghost town if not for….” forces us to digress into philosophically arguing about an “if” situation which can’t be based on factual information because it never happened. The base is here, and no affected town has become a ghost town. Also, Robins Air Force Base is not included on the charts as an industry, a point you may want to argue with a demographer or the U.S.Census Bureau, but definitely not with me. :-)
I don’t know of many non-textile manufacturing companies operating in 1960 in Bibb County, but I do agree with your conclusion that the 2008 manufacturing of goods in Bibb County is NOT what it once was. This downturn, however, reflects the entire state of U.S. manufacturing, especially that of textiles, due to outsourcing, not because of Bibb County’s supposed failures.
It seems that the confusion comes in understanding the terminology: “manufacturing” and “industry” are not synonymous. Manufacturing is a division of industry. Bibb County’s top five employers (industries) are now Coliseum Medical Center LLC, GEICO, Mercer University, The Medical Center of Central Georgia, and Wal-Mart Assoc. The top ten in the Bibb area include those five plus Employ America, Inc. (Bibb); Blue Bird Body Company (Peach County), and Wal-Mart Assoc, Inc.; Perdue Farms, Inc.; and Houston County Hospital Authority (all three Houston Co.).
(http://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/mis/profiles/Counties/bibb.pdf
My point in all of this verbiage is to ask that we discuss the facts of a topic, not our unsubstantiated opinion, and to do so without resorting to emotional name calling. Augustus’ points, if he would look them up, are not substantiated, and I do not believe he really considers Macon to be a “leech”, but I do know that he was being mean-spirited.
Thanks, Augusta, for your input, but I’m moving on now.
23 Ima Thinkin // May 25, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I’m sorry, Augusta! I forgot my manners!! Please, join us on other threads; we would enjoy having you.
24 alvin // May 25, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Dear Ima:
Memory lane was a blast!!! It reminds me of my early childhood and the industries that have now dried up in those areas of my youth, (mostly but not exclusively in midwestern cities). Even in the United Kingdom, what was once industrial (mostly factories making a variety of goods) the jobs that exist come from what is service oriented, which I also consider an industry. The use of the term industry, to me, is based in what kind of business creates jobs. I consider the “service” industry to be an industry. This makes your definition, Ima, accurate from my standpoint. I had always thought you did mean something industrial in the broad definition of the term.
25 alvin // May 25, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Have no idea how this fits into the thread or Ima’s definition. But it is a listing of some industrial activities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQHet0zpIbQ
26 Cotton Avenue Solon // May 25, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Bravo, Ima Thinkin. That’s a job well done.
27 alvin // May 25, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I am so confused. Are Augusta and Augustus the same person?
28 alvin // May 25, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Yes, I did double check. There are separate posts from Augustus and Augusta.
29 augustus // May 25, 2008 at 9:10 pm
That was a little typo. I don’t have as much computer time for now, have to rush through things.
Ima, be big enough to admit you are wrong (once in a while). And when did I do any “name calling”? Reconsider the word “if” used above. Also, when have you substantiated your opinion? Many of those “industries” you cite are service providers that produce little or nothing.
30 Cotton Avenue Solon // May 25, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Hey, Augustus, “Downtown” with Petula Clark is where it’s at man!
Let’s join Ima Thinkin down on Cherry Street tomorrow night and rock the joint. How ’bout it?
31 Ima Thinkin // May 26, 2008 at 12:37 am
Yes, Augustus, it’s obvious that you don’t have a lot of computer time for I am confident you would not have asked questions to which you were already given the answers. Maybe you can re-read this thread when you do have the time to think and catch up with us later.
Until then, ponder this: There are five questions which define the term “industry”.
(Note: “sector” is defined as an economic subdivision of society.)
1) Does the service sector generate wealth?
2) Does the service sector employ workers?
3) Does the service sector contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?
4) Does the service sector contribute to the Gross National Product (GNP)?
5) Do the workers in the service sector earn money and pay taxes?
If the answer to all of these is “yes” then the service sector is an industry.
Augustus, because of our need to outsource, the United States is no longer a manufacturing country; it is a service providing country.(International economics)
Question: How does one log-in with a little typo? These things confuse me.
32 alvin // May 26, 2008 at 7:47 am
Ima:
You and I are on a microsoft-based program, and when we log in it has an auto function. Many people turn this off. Mine is automatic and takes 3 clicks to get rid of. I could change my moniker but I am too lazy to do the 3 clicks. Augustus most likely has his turned off permanently. This is one possibility.
33 augustus // May 26, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Ima, you seem easily confused. I don’t log into this site, just type a name in. I am sure glad I abandoned that BBQ joint idea, Ima would have driven all the customers off with her stubborn arguing.
34 Ima Thinkin // May 26, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Ha! Well at least you are right about that, Augustus; I can definitely be your worst nightmare!! lol
Seriously, tho, you make it very clear that you have no fondness for Macon, so why do you stick around? Why not go somewhere that you’d love to be — and be happy?
“Ima, you seem easily confused. I don’t log into this site, just type A NAME IN.”
Yes, it does confuse me when I hear your voice above your other aliases. It makes me not trust you or what you have to say. I think kidding around with the BBQ Hut was the most comfortable I’ve been with you. Thanks for letting me see that side…
but, then again, maybe that wasn’t real either.
35 Ima Thinkin // May 26, 2008 at 6:33 pm
This is offered to make you smile, Augustus.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BcV19rylSZc
36 Cotton Avenue Solon // May 27, 2008 at 12:20 am
Petula is still waiting for us downtown. What says you, Augustus?
37 alvin // May 27, 2008 at 5:53 am
Dear Ima:
I think maybe Augustus’s whole point is that he does not live in Macon. I might be wrong (?) but his posts indicate that he is a Monroe County guy. I think I live in Macon. Maps say that I do, but sometimes I get pretty confused until I get that bill in my mailbox.
38 augustus // May 27, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Cotton, Petula Clark was one of my favorites as a child, but I will just visit downtown as needed, call the rural route home.
39 Maconga // May 29, 2008 at 10:10 am
The money for the Bibb-Monroe county line survey has to come from somewhere….
Leave a Comment