What is the largest problem for residents of your district?
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Bobby Cheeks: Continuing growth in taxes. We need to find a way to alleviate that off of some of the tax-holders in our district. They seem to think they've got the highest property in the county, and I believe we should do something to spread the tax base.
Don Grantham: District 10 is very large. It encompasses four districts, but I think of District 7 and District 3, where there are flooding problems, particularly up around the Chelsea Drive area and in the west Augusta side. I see that that problem can be solved but not remedied immediately. The 1-cent sales tax program has been working on that for at least 10 years and should continue to work to make those neighborhoods better for the flooding problems that they have.
Sonny Pittman: The need for more infrastructure improvements, better public services. I think I could make a difference in ascertaining those needs community by community and having the ability to push for those issues as a commissioner. I'm just a firm believer in hearing from the public and taking what the public says to the commission table.
What is the largest problem in city government?
Mr. Cheeks: Accountability. They do not have accountability.
Mr. Grantham: The majority rule vote with the commissioners. I have made that part of my platform, and I will continue to stress that issue every opportunity I have. When we appoint committees and boards, we give them the opportunity to have a majority vote with a quorum present. And that needs to be spelled out.
Mr. Pittman: The fact we have a dysfunctional, do-nothing Augusta Commission that can't make the simplest of decisions on behalf of the people.
Under what circumstances would you vote to approve a property tax increase?
Mr. Cheeks: A property tax increase should only come if there's no other way. I am, No. 1, for sales tax increase rather than property tax increase because everybody pays a sales tax where everybody don't pay a property tax.
Mr. Grantham: The only way I'd vote for a property tax increase is to be assured that our tax appraisers department has done everything in their responsibility to make sure that our property taxes are in line with the state's requirements.
Mr. Pittman: I am opposed to tax increases of any kind, property or millage rates and would remain opposed to them until I felt that we've made consolidation work and we have, in fact, lowered total operating costs and improved the operating efficiency of our government.
How do you propose to expand Augusta's tax base and keep people from leaving for neighboring suburbs?
Mr. Cheeks: Augusta should use all avenues to get new businesses into Augusta to get new jobs that will raise the tax base. We should have got that air base they was wanting to put in Burke County. Also that Chrysler place down in Chatham, but they went to sleep on the job here. I think we should do everything to get new businesses coming to Augusta.
Mr. Grantham: We're going to have to seek corporate office levels to come to Augusta. And that doesn't necessarily mean big business. I think even small businesses are important to a community such as ours. We have seen too many corporate headquarters leave Augusta and not be replaced by any level of corporate structure.
Mr. Pittman: The best way is to encourage economic development efforts that will increase our tax base and bring more jobs to Augusta.
The Augusta Video X-Mart has been open for nearly one year. Should the city continue to battle its presence in court and pay ongoing legal fees? Or should it simply let the suit drop?
Mr. Cheeks: I don't know what the fees are, who the lawyer is, unless he's drawing exorbitant fees just because it's the county, like everybody else wants to charge the county exorbitant fees. But I am totally 100 percent against porno. I would never, ever vote for one.
Mr. Grantham: I'm not in favor of the video store. But I would have to refer to legal counsel to get information regarding to where we are in the case, how much we've spent and what the outcome might be before I can give a good judgment on that.
Mr. Pittman: I definitely feel city leadership should continue to oppose that shop. I believe it has a detrimental impact on our community, and it certainly has a detrimental influence on our young people. There's no place for it in a progressive city like Augusta. It can be looked at as a business issue as far as the expenses of fighting it, but more importantly it's a moral issue.
Should a sales tax issue be extended to longer than five years?
Mr. Cheeks: Yes, if the need calls for it. If you've got a need, keep it going because everybody pays, not just 50 percent of the people. You get sales tax from South Carolina, from people out of town. I think it's the most fair tax there is.
Mr. Grantham: Based on the projects that are in front of the community, yes. I feel we can extend beyond five years in order to do some of the major projects that are much needed, such as the courthouse, jail pods, library and cultural facilities. My only concern is extending beyond five years - I would have to have somewhat of assurance within the next two to three years that Fort Gordon is going to be a continued part of our community.
Mr. Pittman: The SPLOST sales tax committee is looking at proposing that the Phase V SPLOST be run for a longer term than five years. ... The bottom line is if we did it for five years, at the present rate we're only collecting $32 million a year. If we did it for five years, we'd be able to cover some of the needed infrastructure improvements, roads and drainage, but it would leave us absolutely no money to cover things like building jail pods or the judicial center.
Should the city raise property taxes to spend exclusively toward fixing flooding problems?
Mr. Cheeks: There are grants for (things) such as that. I would look at grants first for flood zones before I'd raise any property taxes. Then I'd look at maybe a half a cent or cent sales taxes because propertied people are just taxed to death.
Mr. Grantham: No, but I think certain circumstances do present reason for the city to assist certain areas of flooding. And I think we should look at the areas in which the city has given permission for development, and the people developing as well as those buying in those areas should be notified and made aware of flooding problems in the past as well as the future.
Mr. Pittman: No. The current Phase V SPLOST proposal has ample money projected in it to repair a large number of District 10's flooding problems. I'd be in favor of approving SPLOST and opposing any type of special tax to accommodate that need. Right now, the homeowners in Richmond County are bearing the burden of all our taxes.
