Reposted from the Dacula website from the link below:
http://www.daculaga.gov/forum_topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=137&FORUM_ID=5&CAT_ID=2&Topic_Title=Zoning+101+for+the+Gwinnett+Homeowner&Forum_Title=General+Topics
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The first ''event'' for the Gwinnett Council of PTAs Legislation & Advocacy team will be a combined workshop and forum on two topics. Please save the date and plan to attend.
Monday, October 29
7pm - 9pm
Gwinnett Justice & Administration Center
75 Langley Street, Lawrenceville
The main topic will be ''Zoning 101 for the Gwinnett Homeowner'' where we will learn about the zoning process in Gwinnett County and how it intersects with school planning and overcrowding. Our expert guests will be Gwinnett County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau, Gwinnett County Planning Commissioner (and Dacula HS PTSA co-prez!) Teresa Cantrell, and Gwinnett County Public Schools Board of Education member Dr. Robert McClure (not confirmed). The workshop is designed to help PTA members and their neighbors understand the ins and outs of how rezonings happen, their impact on schools, and how you can most effectively get involved in the process to achieve or maintain the kind of neighborhood you want. Its purpose is to shed light on an issue that typically generates a lot of heat.
The other topic for discussion is a proposal to eliminate local property tax in favor of expanding the 4% sales tax to all goods and services in Georgia. Right now, our county, cities and school boards raise the vast majority of the money they use to meet local needs with a tax based on the assessed value of your property (real estate and anything with a license tag). That money is raised locally and spent locally by people we elect locally.
The new proposal would alter our State Constitution to impose a state tax on all goods (including groceries and prescription medicines, among other items currently exempt from state sales tax) and services (everything from lawn care, haircuts and dry cleaning to doctor/dentist/vet visits and procedures, legal and financial services and child care) and forbid local governments and school systems from collecting property taxes. Thus, money would be raised from Atlanta and distributed from Atlanta by people elected throughout the state whose election we can?’t change. And as we?’ve seen, income/sales tax revenue fluctuates with the economy, unlike property tax revenue.
This might sound either too dull or too complicated for you to spend time and energy on, but folks, it can have a very profound impact on the quality of education in Gwinnett County -- not to mention county parks, roads, public safety and fire protection, among other things. This is urgent. Please use all your persuasive power to have representatives from your PTA and your community be there to begin this important dialogue.
To help you out, I?’m composing a flyer that you will be able to distribute electronically to your local unit board and members. It will be ready and I?’ll send it to you as soon as we finalize our speaker list.
And I?’m asking my Council L&A team to do one further favor. We also have the breezeway reserved starting at 6:30 for signing in the participants. Will you please reach back into your PTA skills and bring some finger food to share so we can welcome our guests with light refreshments? I also plan to invite our entire Gwinnett delegation, and it would be wonderful to set a hospitable atmosphere for our legislators to get to know our members. Thanks in advance.
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For contact information please visit the link above.
By Michele K.
http://www.daculaga.gov/forum_topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=137&FORUM_ID=5&CAT_ID=2&Topic_Title=Zoning+101+for+the+Gwinnett+Homeowner&Forum_Title=General+Topics
********************
The first ''event'' for the Gwinnett Council of PTAs Legislation & Advocacy team will be a combined workshop and forum on two topics. Please save the date and plan to attend.
Monday, October 29
7pm - 9pm
Gwinnett Justice & Administration Center
75 Langley Street, Lawrenceville
The main topic will be ''Zoning 101 for the Gwinnett Homeowner'' where we will learn about the zoning process in Gwinnett County and how it intersects with school planning and overcrowding. Our expert guests will be Gwinnett County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau, Gwinnett County Planning Commissioner (and Dacula HS PTSA co-prez!) Teresa Cantrell, and Gwinnett County Public Schools Board of Education member Dr. Robert McClure (not confirmed). The workshop is designed to help PTA members and their neighbors understand the ins and outs of how rezonings happen, their impact on schools, and how you can most effectively get involved in the process to achieve or maintain the kind of neighborhood you want. Its purpose is to shed light on an issue that typically generates a lot of heat.
The other topic for discussion is a proposal to eliminate local property tax in favor of expanding the 4% sales tax to all goods and services in Georgia. Right now, our county, cities and school boards raise the vast majority of the money they use to meet local needs with a tax based on the assessed value of your property (real estate and anything with a license tag). That money is raised locally and spent locally by people we elect locally.
The new proposal would alter our State Constitution to impose a state tax on all goods (including groceries and prescription medicines, among other items currently exempt from state sales tax) and services (everything from lawn care, haircuts and dry cleaning to doctor/dentist/vet visits and procedures, legal and financial services and child care) and forbid local governments and school systems from collecting property taxes. Thus, money would be raised from Atlanta and distributed from Atlanta by people elected throughout the state whose election we can?’t change. And as we?’ve seen, income/sales tax revenue fluctuates with the economy, unlike property tax revenue.
This might sound either too dull or too complicated for you to spend time and energy on, but folks, it can have a very profound impact on the quality of education in Gwinnett County -- not to mention county parks, roads, public safety and fire protection, among other things. This is urgent. Please use all your persuasive power to have representatives from your PTA and your community be there to begin this important dialogue.
To help you out, I?’m composing a flyer that you will be able to distribute electronically to your local unit board and members. It will be ready and I?’ll send it to you as soon as we finalize our speaker list.
And I?’m asking my Council L&A team to do one further favor. We also have the breezeway reserved starting at 6:30 for signing in the participants. Will you please reach back into your PTA skills and bring some finger food to share so we can welcome our guests with light refreshments? I also plan to invite our entire Gwinnett delegation, and it would be wonderful to set a hospitable atmosphere for our legislators to get to know our members. Thanks in advance.
********************
For contact information please visit the link above.
By Michele K.
