County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Q.  I saw in the NGN that you are lowering taxes.  Isn’t this just a political ploy because next year is an election year?
A.  I might agree with that statement except for two points.  First, I will have to set a tax rate next year prior to the election, so it would not be smart to cut myself short this year and end up having to raise taxes next year just before the election.  Secondly, because of the very slow economy, I felt the county had to take the lead in making every effort to make Union County a very attractive county in which to live. A low tax rate and quality government services is certainly one way to help accomplish that.  In addition, because of the slow economy, it is going to be more difficult than ever for people to pay their property taxes this year.  So I felt it was necessary for the county to do what we could to assist with lowering taxes.  I am also pleased that the school board agreed to hold their taxes the same as last year without an increase.  I doubt that very many counties, if any, in the state will be able to keep from raising taxes at all as your school and county have done this year. 

Q.  You need to stop forcing more regulations down our throats.  Are all these regulations really necessary?
A.  No one dreads amending or adding to our current regulations more than I do. I believe in private property rights as much as anyone; however, I have also found out that there are two sides to that issue.  You have heard the old phrase, “Not in my back yard.”  Well, that seems to be a lot of what we see.   Someone will say we should not regulate old trailers, but let someone pull one in front of their house and they will be the first in my office to holler.  It also pertains to junk cars.  We have had an ordinance regarding junk cars for over a year.  Personally, if you have property with junk cars on it and it does not bother anyone else or it is not visible, then I do not see that as a problem.

Q. What happens when a neighbor does not seem to care how what they do impacts their neighbor?
A.  When we see people blatantly place junk right up against their neighbor’s property with total disregard as to how that is impacting the neighbor’s property values, or mental or physical well being, then it is time for reconsideration of the property rights issue.   Here again, common sense should play a role. If people want to have junk on their property they should be thoughtful enough of their neighbors to put up some type of fence barrier to hide the junk from the view of the neighbor. But when that does not happen, then regulations are required.

It is a similar situation when people build their driveway entrance to a county road and do not seem to care if their mud and gravel washes out on the county road. When enough of that abuse happens, then regulations are required.  Nobody in their right mind would go around adding regulations just to make people mad.  If people would simply treat their neighbor right, whether it is a family or the county, then everything certainly would run smoother.

Q.  Would zoning be the answer to correcting these land use problems?
A.  It is one method that many counties use.  However, typical zoning does not solve all the problems. First, the legal expense and staff required goes up significantly with zoning.  The developer with the most money usually has the best chance of getting zoning changes approved.  Zoning also takes practically all the property right decisions away from people who have lived here all their life, farmed their land and cared for their property.  Instead, with zoning, a small handful of people decide who can do what with their property.

It would be a safe statement to make that probably most of the people moving to Union County had zoning in the counties they came from.  If zoning worked so well, then why did they leave? Look at the metro area and Gwinnett, Cobb, Cherokee, and most of the large counties in Florida, etc. and see why zoning has not worked to keep those counties under control.  It is simply a vast expansion of government control without solving many of the problems which it claims to address. While we have occasional abuses, they are few and far between and certainly nowhere near the point of requiring the Z word.

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