WAB: Milky Way Tax Boondoggle

What could have caused all the buzz around Commissioner James Harwell’s house today? Surely it wasn’t Commissioners Reedy and Woodard trying to convince him to sign a request for an emergency meeting of the commissioners so they can vote on giving away the northern end of the county? Of course this could not be true since it would be a direct violation of the state open meetings law. But then why would they be concerned about that when they already had violated it in Mrs. Vanzants office earlier with the same proposal. I commend Mrs. Vanzant for refusing to go along with this expensive request and can only hope the rest of the commissioners are unwilling to have an emergency meeting at county expense and then vote to not put a county property tax on the development at Milky Way. There aren’t enough words in Dennis Miller’s vocabulary to adequately describe this boondoggle. If this special act is accepted a person with an $80,000 house will actually pay more county property taxes than someone on the Milky Way with a million dollar home. With this plan all the benefits go to Milky Way while the county stands holding the bag once more. -- Allen Barrett