Comments on: Eye on the Sleet

By: steve

steve — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:27:19 +0000

me, too. and it didn’t need to be cleared by Decatur, DeKalb County or the City of Pittsburgh!

By: SAHM

SAHM — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:18:17 +0000

FYI I am a stay at home mom not stay home at mom! Lol

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:46:25 +0000

SHAM is correct!

By: karass

karass — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:22:58 +0000

Don’t know about relative contribution to taxes, but snow management has to have a substantial cost. My memory of living in places where snow on the ground is the norm, not the exception, for 6 months a year, is that one routinely wakes up in the wee hours to hear the sand trucks methodically covering all the roads–all of them, not just the state highways. And for a big accumulation of snow, the plows go out too. Even apart from the initial investment of trucks and equipment, the manpower, maintenance, and materials have to be a constant substantial cost. And snow management isn’t a nicety or emergency response activity, but a constant requirement to keep routine business and daily life going. From a homeowner’s point of view, there’s costs too. Many folks, especially the elderly or those with 80 hour work weeks, hire a snowplow service to come plow their driveway, just like some folks here have a yard service. Income levels and taxes probably affect snow management. I’m sure that Greenwich, Connecticut clears its roads quickly and deals with accumulations so everything looks white and pretty and Winslow Homerish. Meanwhile, I’ve seen old snow in Spanish Harlem that had been there so long that it was literally black and toxic-looking.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:28:06 +0000

Well said Token. Does that mean that snow management is a major contributing factor to higher taxes in Northern municipalities? It sorta sounds like a dumb question, but I may have just put two and two together.

By: Decatur's Token Republican

Decatur's Token Republican — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 03:09:22 +0000

“What does the county do with all of its reserve money?”

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What reserve money? Last I checked, there weren’t too many counties anywhere in the nation with reserve money. The sudden and dramatic decrease in home values, coupled with buisiness closings and high unemployment, have reduced tax revenues to the point that there is no reserve money.

It is probably common in Pittsburgh to spend county tax revenues on snow/ice management. That makes sense, as the weather there warrants those expenditures. North Georgia, on the other hand, sees this weather only occasionally, and chooses to spend its money on things that affect us more often (e.g. drought, water management).

I’m not saying the county doesn’t waste money…I’m pretty confident it does. But to expect there to be reserves set aside for once-in-a-decade events is unreasonable.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 05:05:17 +0000

I’m with the outside the courthouse group on this one.

By: SAHM

SAHM — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:08:20 +0000

Marker given to city by DHS during the bicentennial located at the courthouse