Homeowners for Better Government is organizing a public forum on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at the J.P. Carr center on the proposed 2010 county budget.

Organizer Don Meyer said some of the speakers and guests would include Tax Commissioner Dan Ray, Finance Director Roselyn Miller, Commissioners Oz Nesbitt and JaNice Van Ness. Invitations had been extended to Rockdale Democratic Party head Stanley Williams, Rockdale Republican Party head Kellie Pharr, and Lewis Belcher of the NAACP.

"Everybody seems to be looking at the right goal. It’s the way that we get there that’s important," said Meyer. Another goal, he said, was education for average citizens on how the process worked.

He said he would like to see the Commissioners put in place monthly "automatic triggers" relating to the budget, "so we don’t run into logjam of problems in July," he said.

"I want to see automatic triggers approved before Jan 1, that if we start falling under the revenue stream, the director of finance can tell the BOC, we’ve hit trigger number one, we need to hit furlough number one."

"My proposal is to ask the residents, do you want to do that or do you want your tax to go wherever it goes next year?" he said.