Courtesy Large4Milton, Inc.
Dear Friends,
We're closing in on a historic opportunity to make Milton the city we envisioned. With the upcoming election we have the chance to take several steps forward, but that requires an honest assessment of where we are. This is at the heart of where my opponent and I disagree.
I ask you one question: Is this the Milton you envisioned, with neighborhood parks that are adaptive, bike and walking paths, a vibrant economy and safe roads?
Let me ask you one other question: Is Fulton County our standard?
My campaign is about ensuring we have the revenues to protect our rural look and feel. Even other candidates acknowledge that investing in our existing commercial zones can generate additional revenue without increasing our tax burden. My opponent isn't being honest with us.
Let's have an honest discussion about the future. Below are just a few thoughts I would like to share:
Experts from Urban Collage reiterated at the last LCI (Livable Centers Initiative) meeting on Hwy 9 that a 14% business tax base is not sustainable if you want the level of services typically desired for a city by its residents.
In the study done by the Carl Vincent Institute prior to incorporation, they looked only at whether we could provide the same level of services you had been receiving prior to incorporation. This was an extremely low level of service with very little in the way of parks, recreation, road and intersection improvements. The citizens of Milton want and desire a much higher level of service than what they were receiving as part of unincorporated Fulton County.
The City Manager and staff have worked hard to ensure that every tax dollar has been spent wisely but, most citizens had hoped that we would have the funds to develop the land at Birmingham Park within the first five years after incorporation.
We do provide services above the level provided by Fulton County, especially when it pertains to public safety. But, our residents want and desire a higher level of other services.
Page 9 of the city budget reflects "While preparing the CIP (Capital Improvement Program) it became apparent that the capital improvement needs of the City exceed available funding in FY 12." We are proposing for the first time that we should use these reserves to fund a few of the capital projects this year.
The City budget does not have a capital improvement plan included in the annual budget. It does have a "Capital Requests" Schedule. Capital Requests are requests only and have not been funded. Our future requests are not and cannot be funded until a budget is approved for that particular year. The requests are just that - requests, and the revenue of the city would need to increase by almost $5.5 million in order to afford next year's capital requests of $7,995,760. This amount greatly exceeds even the best case scenarios for an increase in sales tax revenue.
Only the $77,500 needed for the initial study of the Hopewell Road/Birmingham Road intersection is included in the FY 2012. The remaining $750,000 needed to construct the project is included in the Capital Requests for FY 2013, which has not yet been funded.
Our Comprehensive Plan, approved by the City Council in 2011, does include the statement that projects "a potential shortfall in revenue versus expenses as early as 2013”.
I believe we deserve better. I believe we deserve safer roads. I believe all of our children deserve places to play across the city. I believe we need less regulation, reasonable taxes and do everything possible to protect our property values.
I need your vote and your support. Please contribute and help lift us to VICTORY.
VOTE LARGE for MILTON!
Lance Large
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Large4Milton, Inc. | 13800 Highway 9 North, Suite D-154, Milton, GA 30004
23 comments:
Geez, really? People, before you believe a thing this man says, call and ask the city manager if we are financially sustainable. He will say absolutely. We have virtually no debt (none when the last payment is made in Jan) with a $7.8MM fund balance. Intersections and road improvements are funded. Ask the city manager if he believes pg 17 of the comp plan still applies. He will say no. Ask him is we have a capital improvement plan. He will say yes. You did nothing for our city before and now that you have moved here by accident you want to overdevelopment our city. Go away. Shoo.
Lance, you have my vote! Seriously! I can't wait until Tuesday!
Pathetic. Last desperate attempts - really! really! we aren't sustainable! I promise. Just call Chris Lagerbloom or look at the financials if you understand them.
A vote for Alan and Milton here.
Lance, you have my vote too! I share your vision and am ready for a change.
Lance's vision is Alpharetta, which is where he thought he was moving to. If he can't even buy a house in the city that he wanted, how can he do anything that he intends to do?
Voting for Alan.
Does Large have the same paid consultant as Matt Kunz? His stuff sure reads like it. He should get his money back.
Same company - HEG. These guys are sitting around all day crafting responses. Really puzzling how they have so much money to spend trying to get elected. Its almost as if they have something to gain financially.
Maybe HEG should write something for the Mayor explaining why he has allowed Milton to get in such dire financial straits. If indeed this is true. How about Karen Thurman, isn't she a CPA? Did she steer us wrong?
No, it was Julie Bailey that did all this to us.
This guy is a JOKE! Alan, you have my vote!
Got the mailer from AT and LL today. 6:26, I could not agree more. There could not be a wider disparity between these two candidates. Tart, you have earned my respect on multiple levels. Thank you for your sacrifices for your neighborhood and our community. You have my vote on Tuesday. Godspeed to you sir.
Folks - it is really a shame when Politicians have to lie to get reelected. All for a $12,000 per year job? What gives?
I have been through 5 years of elections and have yet to meet one politician who supports ruining Milton’s Character. Not one!
I voted for Alan and Julie last time but after watching them at Council for the last 4 years I regret those votes.
They talk to hear themselves talk and they stand in the way of and/or delay anything and everything.
Milton has more than half as many people as Alpharetta and less than a third of the Tax revenue. IS MILTON sustainable? – Sure, if you don't build any parks, bike trails or make real road improvements. The key word above is Sustainable and for how long.
The best Milton can do is patch roads not fully pave them. Milton has more miles of roads than Alpharetta yet only has a 1.5 Million road budget in 2012. Yet Alpharetta will spend 6.7 Million. Why would a city with ½ our land area less roads be spending more than 4 times what we are? Alpharetta spends another 6.7 Million a year on Parks and Milton has a 300,000 Park Budget. With more than ½ the population of Alpharetta should we not be spending at least 3.5 Million a year on Parks?
In five years have we improved from Fulton County days? A little, but not very much! We have lots and lots of Police and Fire stuff but that is it.
We need to make Milton Business friendly in the very few acres of Commercial area we have. That means be pro-business in the business areas. It doesn't mean tear down the horse farms to build factories. But Julie and Alan need to lie about good people like Ron Wallace and Adam Orkin. Two men who invested Millions of their own money in beautiful developments and homes that only improve Milton. Why would they or anyone else want to destroy it?
To provide the same level of services as Alpharetta does - with quality/safe roads, parks, bike trails, etc our Annual Revenue needs to be 10 - 15 Million higher per year. That cannot be disputed.
Our Parks budget should be 3 Million a year more, our roads budget should be 5 million a year more plus we should have a capital projects budget of at least another 7 million a year. Just to be on par with a slightly less affluent city like Alpharetta.
That is $15,000,000 more than we are currently spending and almost twice what we have in revenue. Where is that money going to come from?
The City Manager and the rest of Council need to wake up to that reality as well – not just Julie and Alan.
Julie and Alan are only two votes so for years that couldn't stop anything anyway but they have delayed and delayed quality projects and are simply more embarrassment that the City no longer needs.
Don’t believe me – look at the budgets yourself – it is all online. Or better yet – talk to any business owner about what it is like to do Business in Milton. I bet you will get an earful!
We need to improve Milton’s Business image and environment. It is time for some new blood.
Yes this can all be done without tearing down one precious horse farm and without building one apartment building on Brittle road. :)
If you like Alpharetta so much and want to compare each and everything in Milton to them including the toilet paper used in city hall, then why don't you move there? Yea, don't talk to our city staff or council members about our financial condition, talk to Adam Orkin who owns almost all the land in the Hwy 9 area and Crabapple or Ron Wallace who owns what land in Crabapple Adam Orkin doesn't own. Really? No one is saying they are bad people. In fact, they are just a squirrel trying to get a nut. But it takes honest people on our council to shed light on these things and keep our city balanced. Otherwise, we end up like every city USA. That's not what I moved here for.
HEG is the same political consultant that Alan and Julie used in 2007... Alan even thanked that guy in his speech at Milton's.... Julie and Alan didn't seem to have a problem with them then....
They certainly were not running any campaigns. Notice the HEG logo on all Large and Kunz mailers - did you see them on previous elections? No. They are running their campaigns, deciding the messaging, and executing. Maybe they should be running for office.
Joe is sitting back letting HEG run roughshod over Milton. Too bad. I liked Joe once.
People are really holding Alpharetta up as a city to emulate? Wow. Commercialism and density run amok for my tastes hence why I choose to live in Milton. Please go elsewhere if you don't like it and not change us into your personal vision of "paradise".
Man…. You JZB zealots are a one trick pony. It is all about evil developers who are going to destroy Milton. What is your angle going to be next election when Matt and Lance win this time and there are then 7 evil pro developer nuts on council for two more years and NO destruction of Milton has occurred?
This argument worked the first election and then the second just one year later but now it has been 5 years and most citizens realize what a sham that argument is.
Milton is anti-business and that hurts everyone. There is a place for quality business in Milton in the already defined areas - Period. If anyone on Council ever tried to change that they would be crucified.
Maybe this will mean the crazies will even stay out of any Council races in two years – one can only dream!
11:39
How do you maintain 200 miles of roads, build parks and a city hall, etc. etc. on $18,000,000 a year?
You don't!
Take a look at averages for money spent nationwide on Public Works and Park systems per capita. We are small fraction of where we need to be financially. The only reason we have 7 MM in the bank is because we started off with 5 MM from Fulton County 5 years ago. That was supposed to go to road repairs but instead they saved it.
Our roads are falling apart. The City Managers letter claiming we have sustained also states "you will be faced with some tough choices in the near future"
What exactly do you think he means by that?
Wake Up!
It is not about being Alpharetta - it is about being a functioning City - use Anywhere USA as an example!
Find one other US City that has 32,000 mildly affluent people and 200 miles of roads and only spends anywhere close to 1.8 Million a year on Public Works and their Parks Department(next year’s Milton budget for both)
Maybe we can crush the roads and the 6% of us that ride horses will be Ok and the rest of us can just stay home - it is much cheaper to maintain dirt horse trails. But what do we then do with all the Forsyth and Cherokee Traffic that has to pass thru every day? I know - as Julie says we direct the traffic around the perimeter of Milton. Where exactly is that?
These roads are the most dangerous roads I have ever seen in any city in America for the amount of traffic they carry.
Go to Birmingham Crossroads and ask any business there what they think about being in Milton before you say another word. Although - maybe you want them to continue to fail??
One more stat for you oh clueless one - the average acres of parkland per capita in the US is around 19 acres per 1000 residents. That means we need 700 acres and we have about 10 developed with 4 - yes count them on one hand 4 ball fields!
Parkland is very big metric for quality of life statistics.
I guess all of us that don't like that should just move away vs. try to fix stupid political lies and games and promote quality business growth.
Again - talk to anyone who has tried to run a business here and you will learn a great deal. You don't survive without them - like it or not!
Lance "Not so Large" is a cross dresser and his wife is a lesbian.......vote them into milton for a more balanced approach to development! what a joke people, if you vote for Miss Large your a fool, just saying......
thats true, i met large on manline......go figure.....what a liar.....and i know his wife knows,cuz he told me they had an open relationship.......welcome to the 21st century ppl. and i am younger than his kids by far...
yep, seen him too on Manline! why is this just now coming out that he likes girl clothes and men?
Julie and Alan must be so proud of supporters like you
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