DEAR EDITOR:

Cherokee County can have the lowest property taxes in Georgia. It’s your choice.

Even without a HOST or LOST like virtually all other Georgia counties have to reduce their property taxes, our rates are still lower than 80 percent of theirs.

Without HOST, there’s just no more room to cut the 5.825-mill county M&O rate and still maintain the level of public safety, roads, parks, and other services the people of the county expect and deserve.

But with HOST, the M&O rate would drop to zero for homeowners and to about 2.8 mills for other real property. That would be the lowest in Georgia, by far.

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a group in Cherokee County who’s opposed to virtually everything, including the HOST.

It was many of those folks who complained that our property taxes still weren’t low enough, and asked us to shift toward consumption-based taxes. We agreed, as did Sen. Rogers and the rest of our state legislative delegation, so we’ve offered that option.

Now those same folks are campaigning against it, and using some misleading information to do so.

The Board of Commissioners would be proud to have the lowest property taxes in Georgia.

But beyond that, we’re not pushing the HOST. It won’t increase county revenues at all. Every dollar it brings in from day one will be used to directly offset property taxes.

Yes, it will increase the cost of most products you buy (except cars) by 1 percent, just like in most other counties. The trade-off is the lowest property taxes in Georgia, with net savings for almost all homeowners.

If that’s a bad trade-off for you, vote “no”. If you want the lower property taxes, vote “yes”.

It’s a simple choice. And it’s your choice.

Harry Johnston
Cherokee County Commission Post 1