Council Chair won’t say never….”

The two Oconee County councilmen who left office at the end of 2016 repeated their warning that if the county continues to spend at current pace, the county will have to raise taxes.  The council’s new chair, Edda Cammick, won’t rule out an eventual property tax increase, but not before the county “gets its house in order first” and show taxpayers that the county is working as lean and as tight as possible.  101.7/WGOG NEWS asked Cammick about the validity of a complaint heard in her campaign for office two years ago that the county is too involved in the real estate business. Cammick said “I do believe that some of the purchases were made with good intentions.  The industrial parks.  The intentions were to bring good jobs to Oconee County.  There is nothing wrong with that.  The fact that we bought some industrial parks and, to this day, there is nothing sitting in them is very frustrating.”  And, although not a big fan of spec buildings, Cammick says she has complete confidence in Richard Blackwell and his belief in the value of having a product ready when a manufacturer is willing to locate.