…churches and private schools are charged an impact fee in Cherokee County?

Actually, they are charged an impact fee wherever in Georgia an impact fee is charged!  The fact of the matter is, the Georgia Development Impact Fee Act exempts only two categories of development: creation of affordable housing or cases of extraordinary economic development.  No other fees may be partially waived or fully exempted.  An individual assessment may allow a reduction of the fee if the applicant can

public and not by the users of that service?  If you still don't believe Georgia law is fair, please call our state legislators -- your commissioners' hands are tied on this issue!

…we have local political parties?  Believe it or not, there is more than one answer to that question!

Some view the local political party as the source of the vision and the policy of the national party.  Platform planks are debated by local delegates to district and state political conventions.  Controversy swirls around how to define and maintain a 'pure' party stance while offering a broad appeal to voters.  Political discussions are rarely philosophical, but usually aimed at gaining headcount at a higher political level.  With an eye always on higher political planes, there is scant interest in local issues and local candidates.

Sometimes, a local party member or elected official is consciously groomed at the local level for higher office, i.e., at the state or national level.  Citizens aspiring to local office are rarely encouraged and coached, unless a candidate is deemed to have the potential for a successful political career outside the local venue.  Especially in a county where one political party is predominant, a distinction can hardly be made between candidates based on state or national platforms.

Local platforms center on how much growth to allow, how to pay for growth, and how to distribute revenues to provide services requested by our own community with its unique 'take' on quality of life.  Local governance is the real nitty-gritty of our everyday lives -- how bumpy the roads are, how slow the traffic moves, how long it takes for the ambulance to arrive, how well our children are being taught.  A citizen's vote at the local level has much more power in determining the quality of life of his community than his vote in state or national elections.

Whether a local party focuses on national, state, or local issues and candidates makes a great difference.  If the focus is outside of the local arena, then local elected officials receive little support from their party's members (and are usually too busy with governing to contribute much to the state and national scene!).  If the focus is on the local arena, then the local party must work hard to support all candidates and elected officials as evenly and fairly as possible, without regard for each candidate's or official's position on any given local issue.  There should be no kingmakers in the local party -- the voters have that task!  The local party can aid the local political process by providing campaign know-how, developing opportunities for the public to meet and judge the candidates of both parties, and providing feedback to candidates and elected officials on local topics.

A local party which itself dabbles in politics can set local officials within the party against one another.  If the party expects that all members conform to a certain narrow state or national party viewpoint or level of involvement, the party is not likely to attract a wide base of citizens who can make the party stronger, which, if not accomplished, will inevitably weaken the party and result in a loss of credibility and power.  Local political parties need to determine at what level their focus will lie, and encourage debate and consensus-building that expands the party's potential at that level.

show substantially less demand on the infrastructure than is typical for that type of development.  Since fee calculations are based on numbers of customers and employees, it is unlikely that a business could be viable in the marketplace without many of either!
Private schools, especially those that are for-profit, are established to provide a service where a market exists.  They provide, from some perspective, a premium service as opposed to public education, much as a dry cleaner provides a cleaning service beyond that of the household laundry room.  Regardless of its contribution, a private school still requires the use of 911 facilities, fire equipment housed in fire stations, public safety provided by sheriff's precincts (and the jail), and road access for employees and students.  The property taxes paid by a private school cover the operating costs of these services, but only SPLOST and impact fees provide the bricks and mortar.  If the private school were exempt from impact fees, the general public would be funding, through higher property taxes, the school's share of new infrastructure required for its own use. 

Churches already pay their fair share of some service provision costs: electric and gas bills, telephone service, garbage collection, and water and sewer connection and usage.  They avoid contributing to the operating costs of public safety and road maintenance because they do not pay property taxes.  Like a school or other operation, they can create the need for wider roads, more fire and emergency and law enforcement equipment and facilities.  Without churches being exempt from impact fees, churchgoers, rather than the public at large, pay for the expanded infrastructure in the offering plate.  The bottom line about impact fee exemptions, though, is that, even if the service provided could be proven to have universal appeal in a community, the State of Georgia grants exemptions based on matters of the pocketbook: housing for lower income citizens and businesses that can jumpstart a local economy.  Services which cannot be measured in dollars and cents, but which contribute nonetheless to the spiritual, intellectual, and cultural development of our citizens must be supported by the smaller segment of society that has a vision for the character and the future of our society.  At least those contributions are often tax-deductible!

Is the Georgia law fair?  Would it be fairer if no exemptions were allowed?  Would it be fairer if each local governing authority determined its own categories to be supported by the