Bremen Mayor Sharon Sewell expects to meet with members of the Haralson County commission today to finalize the transition into a new service delivery agreement.
 
“Back in July, the Haralson County commission did vote to establish service delivery districts in Haralson County--- and that is for the purpose of equalizing service delivery so that people who live in the city of Bremen… and the other cities, do not pay for county services which they do not receive,” Mayor Sewell said prior to Monday’s city council meeting.
 
Sewell says Bremen city officials are offering a plan that would allow the county to change the service delivery structure over a four-year period; so as to not put undue hardship on the county.
 
“It gives the county the opportunity to deal with some budget issues where they may need to make some cuts,” she says. “It also gives those residents in unincorporated areas an opportunity to kind-of adjust to the fact that they will have to pay higher taxes if the county does not cut their budget in those areas.”
 
Sewell says she believes that residents of incorporated areas in Haralson County have been paying double taxes to the benefit of those living in the unincorporated parts of the county for years.
 
“We now understand… and have seen from court cases that it is illegal in Georgia to do that and I trust that the commissioners will see that we need to comply… not only with the law, but ethics and all systems of fairness to make this a stronger county across the board,” Sewell said.
 
Sewell expects to see initial results of lower county taxes for city residents when tax bills are mailed at the end of this year.