Ronnie Dimsdale

Office seeking: Republican nomination for District 5 Board of Commissioners

Age: 74

Platform: Improved cooperation within county and larger community, balanced budget, improved workforce

Current profession: Retired

Quote: "I feel we need to get to more of a cooperative phase in our county, like we have had in the past. We need to have less partisanship, less personal agenda," Dimsdale said. "We all really need to focus on what's best for the community. We can do that by working together. We have enough issues facing us to absorb our time without having all of these peripheral things going on."

Contact: notdamama@att.net; (770) 786-4687; (cell) (770) 542-7659

Covington News Q&A
Q1: Why should the Republican voters of District 5 choose you over any of the other three Republican candidates?
A: Track record is the short answer to that.

Somebody told me recently that the one issue that really distinguished me from other candidates the most, was the fact they said they had voted for the T-SPLOST, while I'm totally against the T-SPLOST and gave some information about why I'm against it. It's basically the largest tax increase in Georgia's history from what I'm told. It's a 14 percent increase in the sales tax, which is tremendous; doing some rough math, the average household in Newton County is going to pay $300 more per year for 10 years. If that thing is OK'd and taxpayers are on the hook for 10 years of that increase, that's a lot of money.

I don't understand why people are voting for it; it's extreme. We have problems with traffic, roads and bridges and we need for money to address those, but this is not the best way to do it. I hope the legislature will be rebuffed and come back with a plan B.

Q2: If elected, what do you think needs to be accomplished in District 5 during the next four years?
A: The things that concern me, and I think they're top priority, have to do with money for the most part. We're short on money and need more services. By having a more efficient operation than we have now, we can find some money in the system to do some things we need to do. Roads - we need money for that. We need to do repair work and resurfacing, at least have the money to do that. The sheriff's department needs to be funded to where we have an adequate number of deputies on roads to get out and keep the area safe. Those are the basic things a county government is responsible for, roads and public safety.

Employees of the county have suffered more than their fair share of giving up days of work and bringing home a smaller paycheck over the last few years. That needs to be corrected, and I think by finding money or waste in the system, we can correct some of that.

More info: To read Dimsdale's full profile read this previous story - http://www.covnews.com/archives/29671/