PABC-Gate rolls on as the Athens Banner-Herald rightfully chastizes the Oconee County Commission for tinkering with its fee structure to offer a kick-back to Prince Avenue Baptist Church.
This is blatant favoritism being exercised by the commission with an arbitrary number seemingly pulled from the sky designed to conveniently benefit only the high-profile Southern Baptist church, but not the Mormon church which came just underneath the financial trigger designed to reduce fees.
Now, I'm a firm believer in protecting the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations and churches. Likewise, I think the idea proposed by a PABC member to consider changing the fee structure to one centered on square footage rather than property value is worthwhile to consider.
None of that, however, changes the fact that the existing fee structure was comparable to other counties and that it was wholly inappropriate for the commission to, again, simply make up policy willy-nilly as it went along.
As I argued in my column last weekend, if Oconee County citizens want to see what a micro-managed government looks like, the past few weeks are offering an excellent glimpse into the future.
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