Committee Opposing Consolidation in Milledgeville-Baldwin County meet for first time

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Some Milledgeville-Baldwin County residents do not support consolidating the two governments.

Members of the Committee Opposing Consolidation met for the first time on Tuesday to introduce themselves to the public. The group said it has nine problems with the proposed charter: 

• The lack of empirical proof to assertions related to charter document
• The use of an incomplete charter-document (fill in as we go)
• The creation of larger government (with less checks and balances)
• Increased taxation through franchise fees (County)
• Increase taxation through commission annexation powers
• No cost savings of economic development benefits
• No cost-benefit analysis or financial projections released to public
• No realized benefits to consolidation (long or short term)
• The use of an unusual elections calendar to virtually assure low voter turn-out

The chairman claims other people in the county feel the same way and that’s why he felt the need to form a committee. 

“There was a lot of opposition in the community, but it was just not organized so we decided to organize it and put a face to our opposition,” explained Gregory Barnes, Chairman of the Committee Opposing Consolidation.

The people that support consolidation call themselves Citizens for Unification. Both groups will give presentations at a breakfast event on September 16th.

Residents will vote on consolidation during the November 3rd election.