ATLANTA -- Two Brunswick legislators introduced bills in the House and Senate Thursday that would require local governments to run newspaper ads disclosing leftover money after sales-tax-funded projects are completed.
Rep. Alex Atwood and Sen. William Ligon, both Republicans, sponsored companion bills because of similar circumstances in their part of the state.“We had some areas where that hadn’t been done,” Atwood said without giving any specifics other than saying there was no wrongdoing and the commissioners are no longer in office.
Atwood said his goal is to provide more transparency.
“People have a right to know what’s going on with their dollars,” he said.
Current law requires ads to show estimated costs, the amount spent each year and how they vary from the original estimates.
The proposed law adds leftover funds to that list. It also gives taxpayers and the attorney general the ability to file a lawsuit to force a city or county to publish the details.
“It puts a little bit of teeth in the law,” Atwood said.
If it's available to the general public, by that I mean the folks paying the taxes to it, then publishing in the media is a service. I can't see where people have a "right" to a service. Yes, they have a right to see it, but NO it is not the duty of the government to "deliver" information to your front door. VOTE it DOWN and stop wasting time and effort.
On the same note, if that is not the case and the information is not already available for public review by going to the CIty Hall and requesting the documents, then there is a problem.
Better than disclosing left over SPLOST money would be actually returning it to citizens in the form of property tax credits.
Well, it would be difficult to give it back in the form of sales tax credits. I suppose it could be done, but you would still have to give the sales tax credit slips only to residents of the county where the left-over SPLOST money was accumulating.
I guess soon I can expect someone from the tax office to sit down in my rumpus room and read the breakdown of appropriations aloud and then clarify each point that I feel lacks comprehension to my satisfaction? Please.
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