What is the largest problem for residents of your district?
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Freddie Lee Handy: I can't say a single problem because there's many problems. There are needs for sewerage in some areas. There are areas that do not have city sewers. There are needs for sidewalks, needs for drainage improvement, as well as there are needs for infrastructure.
Charlie Hannah: It would have to be juvenile crime and crime in general; the conditions of the inner-city neighborhood.
Marion Williams: Infrastructure and drainage are big problems for my district. But I've probably got two of them. Abandoned properties and overgrown situations are another one. Those are things I've been working on, and those are things I'm going to continue with.
What is the largest problem in city government?
Mr. Handy: Communication and progress. Being able to communicate with your fellow commissioners and deciding on a particular issue that will benefit everyone, versus arguing and bickering about what district will get one thing over another.
Mr. Hannah: Leadership. We have a lack of leadership all the way around. I'm not going to bash any individual commissioner, but somebody needs to step up to the plate on occasion and make it happen, in particular with the (special purpose) local option sales tax. I haven't seen a commissioner take the lead on that yet.
Mr. Williams: Accountability. Holding people accountable. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say. People will say something because it sounds good, but we don't have people following through on what they say. That's the biggest problem.
Under what circumstances would you vote to approve a property tax increase?
Mr. Handy: Only if Augusta is deemed broke by the state and the state was going to take it over is the only time I would vote for a property tax increase. To raise money to keep that from happening.
Mr. Hannah: It looks like we're going to have to deal with a property tax increase next year. I prefer not to raise property taxes, but based on the tax digest and the lack of planning in the past it looks like we're going to have to deal with one again. We can either streamline the government, find alternative funding, or, to be realistic, we may have to raise taxes.
Mr. Williams: I can't say I would never, but there's a lot of other things we need to try. It'd be way, way down on my list before I'd vote for that because there are some things the city's not doing to bring revenue into Augusta other than increasing property taxes.
How do you propose to expand Augusta's tax base and keep people from leaving for neighboring suburbs?
Mr. Handy: To have some business-friendly incentives. We are having car lots, dealerships moving to Columbia County. We are not offering anything to keep those businesses here.
Mr. Hannah: Augusta has to be marketed as a place that you want to stay and do business. But Augusta is not marketable yet until we clean it up. We have to become more business friendly for the small businesses and have a commission that's responsive to the average residents. We have to be proactive in all those areas.
Mr. Williams: I'm only one vote, but I would be an advocate of trying to be open-minded in this city and give people choices. A lot of people don't live in Augusta because we limit their choices on what we would like for them to do. We've got to do some different things. Some things we may not agree with but meet the guidelines of the law, we've got to let them come in. We need to try those things, and that's going to increase the tax base.
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. Handy: The city should not keep battling and paying astronomical amounts of money for legal fees. The business was zoned and approved according to what our laws were. We are fighting a losing battle. Just because the video mart is here in Augusta doesn't mean you have to attend or spend any money to go there.
Mr. Hannah: They need to leave it alone. The fact is, the Video X-Mart met all the guidelines of the state and the guidelines that we have laid down. You have to be fair in all your dealings, regardless. And as business operators in Augusta you're going to have some of these businesses. You just have to be fair. If it's on the books we need to follow the guidelines.
Mr. Williams: I think they should not continue to fight them. They've been here almost a year. If there have been any problems, I haven't heard of them. They meet the guidelines of the law. I don't necessarily agree with the store, but I think if they meet the guidelines of the law and the state of Georgia and they can be in any other city they can be in this city.
Should a sales tax issue be extended to longer than five years?
Mr. Handy: When I was a county commissioner earlier in my tenure, I was on the GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) board of directors. I chaired the municipal operation committee, and they always say from Atlanta that we should not extend the tax over five years. No, government should not be held over from one group of people to another. Because of the re-election we should (not) extend anything over five years.
Mr. Hannah: I've thought about it. Honestly, I'm comfortable, especially with the 10 years, but nobody's convinced the community that it should be that long. Until you start building to address the needs of the common folk, it's not going to pass.
Mr. Williams: No. We don't know what may come up. Once you designate the sales tax for "X" amount of years, that's where it's got to go. I don't think any city ought to go beyond five years.
Should the Bethlehem historic district be abolished to make room for mass demolitions?
Mr. Handy: I feel that the Bethlehem district has been neglected for a long time. They waited until it became a point of no return. ... If we are not going to bring it up to an area that's representing what the Bethlehem (district) is all about, then we should find a way to discontinue the Bethlehem area because I don't believe you can spend enough money to bring it back to where it needs to be because of the condition that it has been in for such a long time.
Mr. Hannah: I believe in history, and I want to save the Bethlehem community, but we also have to be realistic. The condition of the Bethlehem community is almost irreparable from a financial standpoint, and as long as it exists in the condition that it's in, we're going to be inundated with crime, and people don't want to get invested in the community. I want some of the history to stay in the Bethlehem community, but we can't save the entire area. From the financial perspective, we cannot afford to keep the historic designation.
Mr. Williams: If I said yes, I'd be wrong because there are some homes in there that's valuable, that ought to be restored, but there is so much other stuff in there that should be done away with, so that's a mixed question there. A lot of stuff in the Bethlehem area needs to be revived and needs to be uplifted. And a lot of it needs to be torn out and start over again, new life, new light to make it a great place for the citizens of Augusta.
