Bill Carruth

Voters of Paulding County,

When I decided to run for Chairman of the Paulding County Board of Commissioners earlier this year, it was because I care deeply about our county and I want our home, Paulding County, to be the best place possible to live and work. I grew tired of watching as all the work I had done in the past eroding, mainly because of the poor decision making and excessive spending habits of the current administration. I have attempted to inform the voters of some of the costly mistakes that affect us all, but once again here is a short recap.

The Richland Creek Reservoir was started during my administration, and should have been completed years ago and for a much lower price tag. When my opponent took office, the extensive planning, permitting and letting of contracts was completed, yet the mismanagement under his administration allowed the construction to go $11,000,000+ over budget. Our new jail is another example of a project in the works and under my opponent, the jail is $5,000,000+ over budget. That adds up too a lot of wasted tax dollars. Perhaps the worst example yet of bad decision making and wasteful spending is the Water Department. Paulding County already owned land on Macland Road and had spent money to have plans drawn up for a new Water Department headquarters. Then Carmichael’s team decides to instead spend 1.6 million on a 40 year old bank building (that should have remained a viable commercial site) and spent another 2.7 million renovating it, topping it off with $235,000 for “furnishings”. Add to that the loss for the film studio, using hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, 1.2 million for a reservoir welcome center, plus over a hundred thousand spent for a Parks and Recreation study that was never adopted, and you begin to feel my frustration with the direction our county has taken. We are funding his mistakes and his wasteful spending affects each and every one of us in our pocketbooks.

Folks, it was truly my intention to run a clean campaign and I thought my opponent would do the same. I was very wrong to assume that, and I am deeply disappointed in the character of my opponent. Our actions speak louder than our words, and my opponent and his team have proven they will stoop to any level to keep him in power. From nasty Facebook jabs to malicious mail pieces, apparently tearing me down is easier than building him up. Carmichael’s campaign team has broken the law and committed several ethics violations. A piece of mail attacking my character was sent out by a fictitious person listing a return address that belongs to the Hiram Walmart. An encrypted email was used and payment was made in cash so that Dave can tell you he knew nothing about it although it came from his campaign’s printing company. He broke the rules again by not reporting this “donation”.

The last item I want to address is a very important one, and that is the proposed budget for Paulding County that recently came out. You can view it online at paulding.gov. At a time when Governor Kemp is predicting an 11% tax revenue decrease because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, my opponent has presented a 4.5 million dollar INCREASE in spending which includes 28 NEW POSITIONS. In addition to funding his bad decisions and mismanagement, we are being asked to add millions of dollars to an already inflated budget. He will be forced to once again raise our taxes or once again dip into our general fund reserves. Paulding County is our home, and on Tuesday it is your choice. Vote for a true fiscal conservative, Bill Carruth, as your next Paulding County Commission Chairman.

Early voting continues this week and next at the Watson Government Complex from 8:00 AM- 5:00 PM. This Saturday, May 30th, is the last Saturday to early vote from 9:00 AM- 4:00 PM. I would be honored to have your vote and serve as your Paulding County Commission Chairman. I look forward to going to work to reduce taxes and cut out the wasteful spending!