Summary of 2017 Pickens County Delegation Meeting ...

The delegation meeting on Monday evening was a blessing to me . I was so proud of the speakers who represented the Conservatives of the Upstate. You were all knowledgeable and stuck to the facts. I do hope that the delegation will take seriously our comments. 

As for me, my talk was this: I have told the delegation about the over collecting by the School Board and County Council. In 2006, I presented a total picture that had been shown to Governor Stanford. The delegation has not acted on this information for ten years. I recounted the procedure that the local politicians are using to over collect millions of dollars; simply by using improper % of collectability. The school board gains $1.5 million a year and the County Council $1.0 million just by saying they will collect 95% of taxed, when they actually get at least 100%. If they don't collect, they sell your property. They also charge the people that don't pay on time a fee which may bring the total to 103%. It is as simple as that and the delegation has known about this for ten years.

I also spoke about the millions that they had gained by making the millage rates too high after reassessment. I read them the reason for roll back millage and I read them the County Council Audit Report for 2008 that stated that the County had gained over $8 million dollars the year after the reassessment. I said that this was one place that the County had gained the $23 million that was being used for the County Jail, when it should have been refunded to the people. There has been at least $45 million total that the county has over collected and $100 million the School Board. I told them that the $897 thousand that the Board was using for the reopening of AR lewis was over collected money.

I also told them that the Conservatives of the Upstate membership of 350 members objected to the 7th Board member.