Dear Neighbor, I am a candidate for the Milton City Council in District 5. Between now and the election I will be providing a series of e-mails addressing what I believe are the most challenging issues ahead for all of us. This first e-mail is devoted to fiscal responsibility and the provision of services in the years ahead.
Milton's #1 Challenge
Simply put, the biggest challenge Milton faces is one of revenue. As a new city, Milton requires an increase in revenue if it is to execute on the projects and deliver the services required and expected by its citizens. Milton receives this revenue from the same sources as our surrounding neighbors Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Roswell. However, Milton does not generate the same level of revenue as these cities-a fact that will weigh heavy in the coming years. How we deal with this issue will determine our future as a city. I believe my financial background and expertise will help our city navigate the critical challenges that face us now and in the next several years.
Why This Is a Challenge
Milton can be compared to the surrounding cities in a number of ways. Geographically, Milton is one of the largest, with a total area of approximately 35 square miles. Yet our population is the smallest, with an estimated 30,000 residents. When compared with the long-established communities of Alpharetta and Roswell, our per capita revenue is more than 25% lower. Even more importantly, our per capita revenue from commercial taxes is more than 30% lower. This is a significantly disproportionate difference, and we do not want to raise taxes on our citizens in order to compensate for it. In addition, we want to maintain our unique rural character, something that I consider to be our greatest strength. So, we need to put our best minds to the task of assuring adequate revenues to avoid putting Milton in a deficit situation in the coming years.
Three years ago when Milton was a brand-new city, the city council-despite some early stumbles-made substantial progress in a number of areas. A key initial decision was to engage an outside consulting firm to manage nearly all of our city services. Recently the city council decided to terminate this consulting agreement in order to source more competitively priced services from multiple vendors-so-called "point solutions"-an area where I have had considerable experience. The Milton City Council will soon be responsible for managing a wide variety of functions and service providers.
How This Impacts Milton City Council
Why I'm Asking for Your Support
Throughout my professional career and civic involvement, I have worked for positive change in large and small organizations. My business expertise as a leader in the software industry and my experiences on school boards, on planning committees, and in the Boy Scouts of America have required strong leadership and partnership skills. I'm at my best when making difficult and complex decisions, gaining consensus, and communicating a strategic vision so others share in what can be accomplished. I believe that Milton's financial stewardship is our city council's most essential function and that my business and financial expertise will serve me well on the Milton City Council.If you would like to learn more about me or my positions, please feel free to contact me directly at: joe4milton@gmail.com or 770-634-0080.
I respectfully ask for your support and urge you to vote on Tuesday, November 3rd.
23 comments:
Let's see. He gave his vision, a somewhat idea of what he can do, but no phone number or email address. Hmmmmmmmmmm
Phone number and email is in his message, Hmmmmmmer!
It is weird how people cannot see the email and phone numbers. Do you think the Tina supporters have blinders on?
No, they probably just cannot be bothered to read a release scripted by Karen, Gordon and Bill.
This sounds like a script from the development community. My only comment is show me where in the Metro Atlanta area where they do have a large percentage of commercial and how that has helped their tax revenue. They might collect more money, but they pay more to provide services to those businesses especially retail. Rural, especially farms cost the city the least amount to provide services to. Developers don't want us to be educated to this fact.
Totally incorrect statements.
One of the huge expenses we have is being so spread out, for emergency services.
I haven't heard anyone suggesting we have a large percentage of commercial in Milton. It is true we are a little upside down, which does hurt revenue. Challenge is to get a desirable solution. Maybe CPAC can hurry up and get some things done for all of us.
The poster two above obviously has no experience or knowledge with tax revenues and the associated costs attached to each type of property. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) would be glad to share with you that Residential Properties are revenue negative (cost more in services than taxes paid) while commercial properties are revenue positive.
For there to be an honest debate over the resourses of our City government, then everyone needs to know the facts. The fact that commercial properties are revenue positive doesn't mean that there are Milton people who want to pave Milton under, because I do not know of anyone in Milton who wants to alter the rural lifestyle.
Everyone wants Milton to remain rural and equestrian, but for there to be an honest debate, everyone must have knowledge of where tax revenues come from, knowledge of the costs of services provided and be willing to take the blinders off to learn and debate the best path for our city. Shooting from the hip is not honest, informed debate.
You are right.
We are not rural anymore either. This is a mis conception that needs to be corrected. We have a slightly rural feel over other cities like Alpharetta, Roswell and the like.
Unless you go to Bernard's "family's" farm?
How can a poster claim that Milton is only a little bit more rural then Alpharetta, "we have a slightly more rural feel", "is a misconception", are you blind?? That sounds like an Obama statement. Let's just tell everyone Milton is not rural anymore, they'll start believing it.
Karen Thurman, you really need to get back to work and stop blogging, everyone knows you are on this blog. You'll have your chance to show who you are and what you know at the Forum. Good Luck with that.
Highway 9 doesn't look rural to me.
Haven't had a tractor pull out in front of me in quite some time now.
Didn't realize that you think HWY encompasses and reflects what Milton is. Try driving down any other road other then HWy 9. Notice any horses or horse farms, you must be driving in the wrong direction if you don't see them. But alas, you must think that unless one lives in a nicely packaged neighborhood, then you aren't important.
HWY 9 is where all those nasty sewer people live. JZB will kill them all one day!
I would LOVE someone to define for me what they think the term "equestrian" means. It gets thrown around with wild abandon in this crowd and I am positive that there is about 5% of the people that use it that have a clue what they are talking about. Means more than having a picture of a horse on the side of a police car folks.
Open road neigborhoods, equestrian estates, McMansion subdivisions, apartments, condos, Habitat and trailers...all of these are in Milton. A few horses dotted here and there...the non-riders outnumber the riders I would bet.
Love the pastures, sure, but need and want the shopping and schools close by too. It's great to be homogeneous!
Dont forget the sewer mongers like Alan Bailey who huddle in the plastic sewer huts and lay pipe all night long.
Let's break it down by acreage then. How much of Milton is owned by property owners on large acreage, how much acreage is subdivisions, and how much is commercial land, and lets not leave out the schools, how much acreage in Milton is owned by the FCBOE as well? That way you can stop guessing and making statements that there are just a few horse farms that dot the Milton landscape. Have that debate with the equestrian community and see what happens. Stop trying to convince what can not be convinced. Milton is mostly rural, under developed.
I liked it when the cows were here!
I don't claim to know the ratios of different land use in Milton, but there does seem to be a higher percentage of horses a$$e$ in this community.
X 2 That are Bloggers
X5 that are Zahner-flavored koolaid sippers
I wonder if all our "equestrians" would include my Crabapple ancestors who plowed these fields from dawn to dust looking at the backside of those mules? And yes, it was more than the proverbial forty acres.
Rest their souls, I bet they didn't scam like the koolaid crowd and wouldn't tolerate the lies for a second.
I am sure they were great folks and we owe much to their legacy.
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