Local Election Lessons

Candidates for City Council, Mayor, County Commission, County Commission Chairman and School Board Reps need to answer questions related to where tax dollars go. 

The most expensive assets these elected officials are responsible for include the expansion, inspection and maintenance of highways, roads bridges and storm sewers.   If these structures are not properly maintained, restoration becomes very expensive.  For asphalt roads, restoring 1 mile of two-lane road can cost between $150,000 and $300,000 depending on how much of the road-bed needs to be replaced.  Asphalt roads rot completely after 50 years.  Elected officials who ignore the cost of road maintenance are spending twice what they should. 

School Boards spend most of their tax revenues on construction, but they use Bond Sales to fund the construction.  A 30 year Bond paying 5% interest will cost double just like a home mortgage.  School Boards who approve Bond sales are spending double.  This is unnecessary cost.

Storm sewers that are being replaced today were likely made of corrugated steel and they begin to rot after 25 years.  Poly replacements will last 100 years, but they cost $300.000 per section to replace.  Cities and Counties use mobile cameras to inspect these storm sewer lines.

Voters should know how many miles of roads and storm sewers they need to maintain, so they can add up the cost.  A two-lane road 10 miles long costs $3 million to replace and 100 miles costs $30 million to replace.  

Large cities and counties will have additional structures like water treatment plants and water distribution systems.

There are lots of other folks who are carping at these elected officials to spend tax money on a myriad of causes and projects.  It’s critical for these elected bodies to establish priorities in favor of critical infrastructure first.

There are emotional appeals for everything else.

Elected Officials in cities and counties work closely with city and county staff and begin to see themselves as members of that group.  Staff and Consultants can think of millions of things to spend money on.    

Most of these candidates will be schooled by their handlers to give “softball” answers to questions posed by voters in meetings.  Open questions allow for this to happen.

Candidates who don’t cite road and water infrastructure as priorities should be rejected.  The dumb answer to the priority question is a lame emotional answer like citizen safety.  These candidates would cite police, fire and ems as their priority and that makes no sense.  Citizens are actually responsible for their own safety, not the government.  Police, fire and ems can save lives, but they usually get there too late.

Citizens must prevent crimes from happening to them by keeping doors locked and being alert to potentially dangerous situations.  Citizens must prevent fires and must be able to escape or prevent lightening strikes.  Relatives must start CPR immediately if a loved one has stopped breathing.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader