Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How do the citizens of Macon and Bibb county feel about consolidation proposals the Mayor thinks it will put the city on the National map for companies and events that would otherwise bypass the city because of low population numbers what do you think consolidation would help the city achieve that it otherwise could not in its current state. Separate city and county governments other than budget saving from not having duplicate services and possibly less overall employees what else. What happens to the citizens of Jones county who currently live in the city limits, would that still be apart of Macon or form a new city like East, North Macon or become just another part of unincorporated Jones county.
Consolidation is a must. Successful cities must grow and the city limits of Macon have not kept up with the population's move outside of the close-in areas. That means when prospective residents look at the numbers for Macon, they only get the view of a high-poverty city when if the areas outside of the city limits were averaged in (like Columbus and Augusta), we would be comparable to those two cities in many quality of life areas. That is huge for prospective businesses looking to open/relocate.
Also, I live in the city limits and do not see what I get for my county taxes. I pay Bibb County more than the city of Macon, but get less. The research shows that city residents are getting the short end of that stick. C. Jack allowed the county to change the revenue sharing percentages basically shortchanging city residents. Peake's bill keeps a higher tax levy for current city residents that I don't agree with. I think the urban services district should be all areas on 1/2 acre lots or smaller. If you live in a neighborhood and not in the country, it would be you. But hey, I can live with Peake's proposal and it would ensure that unincorporated residents taxes won't go up which is required to get Cecil Staton's support.
The residents of unincorporated Bibb County would benefit as well (I hate to say city vs. county. Some of the unincorporated residents forget that city residents live in and pay taxes to the county TOO ). A consolidated Bibb County with the correct budget restrictions such as those in Peake's bill, will remove duplicate services and require some job losses. Personnel costs are killing both governments. I hate to see anyone lose their job, but it needs to happen.
Also, Bibb County will go the way of Macon. We are all in this together. A few years ago, the problem was that the city was a disaster politically and unincorporated residents wanted nothing to do with C Jack and friends. I don't blame them. Now, I think the city council is actually doing a better job than the county commissioners. The county taxes are about to go up 2 full mils due to their incompetence and inability to plan in this budget.
What I see is this: consolidation is a must, a reduction in local politicians is a must. There are 15 councilmen, 6 commissioners, 1 mayor, 1 sheriff, a police chief, and a partridge in a pear tree. Way too much bickering.
It can be done and I think Allen Peake's bill is a great start and would be good for our community.
As for the little part in Jones County, Peake's bill sends them out of the city limits.
The way I see it: What we are doing now obviously isn't working, what do we have to lose? Let's do it.
Last edited by midgeorgiaman; 02-13-2011 at 06:35 AM..
Or yall could just merge your county sheriff's office with your city police like savannah did. Just kidding, but seriously I think the county consolidating with the city would be a good Idea. I know in augusta before consolidation richmond county residents always considered themselves augustans not just richmond county residents. I say go for it if lame ol columbus can do it than a cool more modern city like macon should have no problem doing it. Macon and Augusta are more similar anyway and also if a small college town like athens did it than why not macon which is also a college town in its own right.
Or yall could just merge your county sheriff's office with your city police like savannah did. Just kidding, but seriously I think the county consolidating with the city would be a good Idea. I know in augusta before consolidation richmond county residents always considered themselves augustans not just richmond county residents. I say go for it if lame ol columbus can do it than a cool more modern city like macon should have no problem doing it. Macon and Augusta are more similar anyway and also if a small college town like athens did it than why not macon which is also a college town in its own right.
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
2,014 posts, read 5,099,557 times
Reputation: 2089
That's true, midgeorgiaman. It's frustrating entering Bibb County from both the north and south on I-75 and seeing a few miles of a very nice areas, only to see "Macon City Limits" pop up right before you get to lower income areas even though you really have been in Macon long before seeing that sign.
This seems like a no-brainer if you can get past the obvious racial debate, since I *assume* a consolidated Macon-Bibb would be majority white, while the current city is majority black? It would immediately catapult Macon back to 4th-largest city in the state, ahead of Athens and Savannah -- at least temporarily (see graph on Savannnah's future growth below). As it is now, Macon is in danger of being overtaken by some of the fast-growing North Fulton suburbs -- Roswell, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek.
Columbus-Muscogee County was one of the first government mergers in the nation. If Athens-Clarke and especially Augusta-Richmond could overcome their issues to successfully consolidate, I don't see why Macon-Bibb can't as well. Like the others, a Macon-Bibb consolidation would be made easier by the fact that the county is relatively small geographically and only has one incoporated city of any decent size (I believe both Winterville and Bogart retained their independence from Athens-Clarke, as did Hepzibah and Blythe in Richmond County. Does Bibb County have any other cities besides Macon?)
Consolidation has been discussed for Savannah-Chatham but is very likely NEVER going to happen because Chatham has 7 incorporated cities, several of them quite large, in addition to Savannah. Instead, what's been happening in recent years is annexation of all the unincorporated land in West Chatham by these cities, to grow their own boundries / tax bases AND to protect them from enchroachment by Savannah. Still, tens of thousands of acres of undeveloped land south of I-16 and west of I-95 has been annexed by Savannah in recent years for future development. There's actually plans in place to build upwards of 20,000 NEW houses in this area whenever the economy improves, with schools, shopping and public safety to serve it -- all of it within the Savannah City limits! Don't know if Macon could grow that way as well, since it appears to me that available land is becoming quite scarce in Bibb County. True?
P.S. -- Can y'all tell me why SOUTH Bibb / Macon seems so rural and desolate? You drive past the Coliseum on I-16 and suddenly the city ... just ... ends. NOTHING!
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
2,014 posts, read 5,099,557 times
Reputation: 2089
Newsboy, I know what you mean. That's East Bibb/East Macon though. The part of East Macon/East Bibb that extends down I-16 is very close to 2 counties that are basically deserted (Twiggs County & Wilkinson County) and it has alot in common with them. There is Ocmulgee East Industrial Park out that way though.
The part of East Macon that's actually within the city proper is pretty vibrant, it gets a bad rap because of 1 bad neighborhood called Fort Hill, when actually most of the neighborhoods are middle class.
Last edited by Southern Soul Bro; 02-15-2011 at 09:34 PM..
Well, racial issues shouldn't be an issue anymore as Bibb County is now majority black (just barely). What consolidation would ensure is that a majority of the city's residents would be contributing members of society and that would improve things considerably. There are far too many folks in the city limits who know nothing about the world as they live in the social progam world of entitlements and don't understand or care where the money comes from. Minimizing them as a voting block would help all of Middle Georgia.
As far as the southeast part of the county, King is correct that there are no jobs there or in the neighboring areas. Also, that whole area has cheap land, but the school district is Appling Middle and Northeast which are unfit for attendance by anybody without an ankle bracelet or probation officer. (Bibb schools are a whole other issue). Therefore, there is no demand to build on it. A lot of it is very swampy as well and I imagine issues with perking a septic system add to the issues out there.
This seems like a no-brainer if you can get past the obvious racial debate, since I *assume* a consolidated Macon-Bibb would be majority white, while the current city is majority black? It would immediately catapult Macon back to 4th-largest city in the state, ahead of Athens and Savannah -- at least temporarily (see graph on Savannnah's future growth below). As it is now, Macon is in danger of being overtaken by some of the fast-growing North Fulton suburbs -- Roswell, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek.
Columbus-Muscogee County was one of the first government mergers in the nation. If Athens-Clarke and especially Augusta-Richmond could overcome their issues to successfully consolidate, I don't see why Macon-Bibb can't as well. Like the others, a Macon-Bibb consolidation would be made easier by the fact that the county is relatively small geographically and only has one incoporated city of any decent size (I believe both Winterville and Bogart retained their independence from Athens-Clarke, as did Hepzibah and Blythe in Richmond County. Does Bibb County have any other cities besides Macon?)
Consolidation has been discussed for Savannah-Chatham but is very likely NEVER going to happen because Chatham has 7 incorporated cities, several of them quite large, in addition to Savannah. Instead, what's been happening in recent years is annexation of all the unincorporated land in West Chatham by these cities, to grow their own boundries / tax bases AND to protect them from enchroachment by Savannah. Still, tens of thousands of acres of undeveloped land south of I-16 and west of I-95 has been annexed by Savannah in recent years for future development. There's actually plans in place to build upwards of 20,000 NEW houses in this area whenever the economy improves, with schools, shopping and public safety to serve it -- all of it within the Savannah City limits! Don't know if Macon could grow that way as well, since it appears to me that available land is becoming quite scarce in Bibb County. True?
P.S. -- Can y'all tell me why SOUTH Bibb / Macon seems so rural and desolate? You drive past the Coliseum on I-16 and suddenly the city ... just ... ends. NOTHING!
That area is not considered South Bibb/ Macon; Thats actually east Bibb/Macon; Also to answer your question most of the land pass Downtown on I-16 east toward Savannah is Swamp and wetlands........ Most of the city of Macon expands North East towards Gray and Milledgeville, north towards Forsyth and Atlanta, West towards Columbus and Thomaston and south toward Warner Robins and Byron. Over the years Macon has Experience Tremendous growth in North and south Macon/Bibb county and thats one of the biggest reasons why consolidation is so important right now; because the high growth areas, higher living and people within Higher income brackets are all located outside of the city limits. Because these high growth areas are outside the city limits; Macon can not receive credit for this growth in development and population; because its in the unincorporated parts Bibb county; So if you look at Macon growth rate according to the US census it will appear to be decreasing which seem that Macon is not growing. So thats Why Consolidation is becoming so important to Macon to help push it back up to the top and allow it to compete with other similar size cities or larger for development and Demographical recognition. Macon's Pop is decreasing because a lot of people are migrating to the newer areas out of city limits; Right now according to the US data; if someone reads that info and is not familiar with Ga; they would think Athens is a larger city than Macon because of it consolidation figures; But anyone from Ga clearly knows that actual city of Athens is no way near as large as Macon. Also Bibb County has the community of Lizella Which is about 18- 20,000 people and Payne City which is surrounded by Macon and has it own Mayor and I think council team.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
