- Fiscal Responsibility

• Your tax bill. In July of 2005, our County Commission, "The Team", increased your taxes by $8 million without knowing well in advance what the revenues would be used for. This increase came on top of the swell of taxable properties and rising valuations across the county. The information about where your tax dollars would be spent was not learned until the same day the tax increase was passed by the commissioners. This is not responsible government. This is a Team who advocates tax and spend, tax and spend. The taxpayers must decide whether this "Team's" demonstrated bent on taking money out of your pockets without need is good for you and yours. The budget for the next fiscal year reveals the back door taxes that you are paying for. Bloated property assesments to futhur the wasteful spending led by the commission chairman is what we have in store in Chatham. Vote for Change. Vote for accountability. Read More
  
  
• A new jail for Chatham County that is to cost over $100 million is not a very responsible use of your tax dollars. In my research, I have concluded that we can accomplish the same number of beds for our new jail by spending less than $40 million. Who else but the Chatham County Commission should be held to account for the squander of 60 million of your tax dollars? Read More
  
  
• Ongoing Staffing and Expenditure Management - We have leaders who have admitted to making capital expenditures and realized too late that such expenditures were not wise. The recent contracting of a consulting group to assess the staffing and expenditures proves the need has finally been realized for such scrutiny. What the commission has failed to realize is that this must be an ongoing process and not a temporary look at this and that. Indeed, an office of Staffing and Expenditure Management should have been created a long, long, time ago.
  
  
• Chatham Area Transit has no business continuing to operate the water ferries that mostly serve the Westin Resort. The so-called  "Comprehensive review of CAT's operations" in the 2008-2012 Transportation Development Plan did not even consider these ferry boats. It is no secret that the ferry boats are terribly underutilized and a waste of your tax dollars. 1400 gallons of diesel are delivered every 2 weeks for the operation of these ferry boats. Read More
  
  
• $80 million for an arena? Ridiculous. We don't need to spend that amount of money. Because there is no dollar amount on the SPLOST ballot that the voters approved, there is no reason we have to spend anywhere near that amount. We will have to build an Arena but we don't have to spend $80 million. 



• End to Wasteful Program Funding - SEDA is a tax exempt public organ of the state whose purpose is to promote the economic wellness of this area. SEDA has plenty of resources of their own. In fact, in 2007 they reported assets totaling almost $24 million, operating revenues of $4.4 million and over $5 million in cash on hand for the year ending 2006. This year alone SEDA expects to win approximately one half of a million dollars of your tax dollars from the county. This is on top of the many hundreds of thousands of dollars that SEDA has received directly from the county over the past many years. SEDA was created to promote economic opportunities to the area and they have millions and millions of dollars on their own tax free operations to sustain almost any program you can think of without being an ongoing burden to the tax payers of Chatham County.
  
  SEDA, directly, does nothing to improve our roads, our schools and it is already the job of SEDA to promote our area, our Georgia area. With the tax dollars from this county SEDA has used your resources to promote as many as 300 South Carolina businesses to compete with our Georgia businesses. For an example of the businesses SEDA promotes in South Carolina follow this link.
  
  Other wasteful and/or ridiculous and/or questionable expenditures might include the May Street YMCA, the Con Ed building on MLK, and the Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum and I am sure there are others. These organizations need to be scrutinized and accountable to the monies that have been afforded to them by the tax payers of Chatham County.
  
  We have to prioritize the expenses made by the county and the county must be accountable to the tax payers.
  
  
• We will stop wasting the taxpayers' money on studies of DeRenne and Hampstead. "We won't squander any more of the taxpayers' hard earned dollars on these ridiculous ideas of tearing down neighborhoods to widen roads," James Dewberry said.

• All of the woes this county enjoys is to be credited in whole to our Chatham County Commission. This is Commission's job to receive all of the blame of what bothers you about our county. "James Dewberry wants this job. As leader, James Dewberry will listen to and address every party's concerns," a promise made by James Dewberry.
  
  
• There have been positions created and filled with political and government insiders. These hirings and contracts are against the ethical standards the Commissioners are bound by and against their own human resource hiring standards, best practices  and procedure guidelines. This assault on the standards that this commission expects others to abide by has to come to an end so that confidence in our government can be restored. We need a government we can trust and believe in. If we can't trust or believe in our government then who can we trust and believe in? "James Dewberry is someone you can trust and believe in. Believe me," James Dewberry said. Read More
  
  
• Citizen Led County Oversight Commission - Advisory council for accountability of the elected leaders of Chatham County and their decisions. This body will play a very important role in the future of our county. This body will be composed of representatives of each of Chatham's districts and will scrutinize and influence the actions by the commission. The body will be presented information about the county's business and the topics of future commission meetings. The body will attend and be encouraged to speak to the commission about their findings, opinions, and certainly their criticisms. This effort will facilitate transparency in our government and will provide the citizens of this county the ability to have their will known to influence the decisions by the county government.



• The frivolous lawsuits that have been filed by this commission against corporations acting at the direction of the Chatham County Commission should not be used to cover up mistakes made by the commission. The cure is accountability. The commission must always accept responsibility for their actions and be held to account. Lawsuits will not excuse the commission's mistakes. "James Dewberry won't file frivolous lawsuits wasting the taxpayers' money," promised James Dewberry.
  
  

• Improved public transportation
  
  
• Improved roads
  
  
• Ongoing Health Promotion and Wellness Programs - The county currently spends $17 million dollars a year to provide health care to county employees and their dependents. This is up from $11 million in costs in 2003. The county commission has done nothing to provide an ongoing health promotion and wellness program. Indeed, there are many free opportunities that the county has looked past in addressing these ongoing needs.
  
  As a former graduate student in Armstrong's Health Promotion and Administration program I know first hand that there are many, many students who would welcome the opportunity to use the county as a part of educational research and internship opportunities. Under my leadership, Chatham will do much more to combat the rise in health care expenditures.
  
  Wellness and Health promotion programs will go very far to lowering the costs of providing health care to county employees. While it will take time to prove the benefits and the money we will save with these programs the time to start is long overdue. It is just too bad that the commissions, past and present, did not implement such programs to reduce this burden on the tax payers years ago.
  


• Enhanced pedestrian infrastructure and pedestrian safety improvements
  
  
• Better community involvement with the commission though outreach with the goal of closer relationships and community input
  
  
• An attractive and functional website - a much improved website representing our county in the best way possible. "Chatham County will have an award winning website and present the County in the best way possible even if I have to pay for the design and programming of the website myself. The current website is the most ridiculous and shameful website I think I have ever looked at," James Dewberry is quoted as saying.
  
  
• We will stop wasting the taxpayers' money on studies of DeRenne and Hampstead. "We won't squander any more of the taxpayers' hard earned dollars on these ridiculous ideas of tearing down neighborhoods to widen roads," James Dewberry said.

• Under the leadership of James Dewberry, ordinances will be introduced for adoption which provide penalties for companies and individuals who knowingly hire undocumented workers within Chatham County. Penalties for such breaches may include suspension of license to do business within Chatham County, the levy of fines of at least $5,000 per infraction, and possible jail time. We need to discourage the illegal hiring of undocumented workers in Chatham County and this measure will go a long way in discouraging this practice. At the same time, we will clearly prove the county's harmony with the federal laws of these United States of America. Read More
  
  
• James Dewberry will introduce a county wide ordinance which deals with the safety, quality of service, and overall care of our citizens who reside within the nursing homes and long term care facilities licensed to do business within Chatham County. "We as a county must advocate the proper care of our citizens through the regulation of the nursing homes and long term care facilities we license to do business in Chatham County," James Dewberry is quoted as saying. Read More
  
  
• We need to follow the direction we expect and demand of others. This county has made the practice of hand picking hires and contractors for positions and projects to the exclusion of everyone else. "The practice of hand picking individuals and firms which is contrary to adopted best practices and ethical norms will come to an end under my leadership. These practices are unfair, illegal, unethical and shameful. We will say what we mean and mean what we say," James Dewberry said. Read More
  
  
• Our county commission needs to be more involved with the schools of the county. We have watched for years and years what the hands off approach has accomplished for the children of this community. These children are our future and our future depends on the success of these kids. As Chairman of the commission, I promise to put myself in a different school each week so that I can see first hand what is going on in the schools. The accomplishments of doing nothing are very easy to see. Read More

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