We love living here. Let’s keep it that way.
There’s a reason we live in Elbert County.
We like the open land. The quiet. The small towns. Knowing our neighbors. Seeing more stars than streetlights. And, frankly, we like that there aren’t that many people here.
We want Elbert County to stay Elbert County.
We don’t want Elbert County to become another suburb. We don’t want subdivisions covering our open spaces. We don’t want traffic everywhere we turn.
But we also have some problems we can’t ignore anymore.
We all know our roads need help.
You don’t need a study to tell you about the condition of some of our roads. You drive them.
And you’ve probably driven across some of our aging bridges, too.
Fixing roads and bridges costs real money. Putting off repairs doesn’t make them cheaper. And as a rural county with a limited tax base, there is only so much money to go around.
We should be able to have decent roads without turning Elbert County into suburbia to pay for them.
When there’s an emergency, help can’t wait.
Last spring’s County Road 169 fire was a vivid reminder that wildfire is moving across dry grass and the wind is blowing, every minute matters.
Our firefighters, first responders, and law enforcement officers do everything they can with the resources they have. But a county this large and this rural needs the equipment, people, and resources to respond when our families, homes, and property are in danger.
The same goes for our Sheriff’s Office, EMS, and other public safety services.
The people protecting Elbert County deserve the resources to do the job.
Our kids deserve more, too.
We want our children to grow up here. And whether they go to college, learn a trade, start a business, work a ranch, or build a career somewhere else, we want them ready to compete.
That takes good schools.
It takes teachers. Technology. Career and technical education. Training opportunities. And resources that prepare kids for the jobs of tomorrow.
Our kids shouldn’t have fewer opportunities just because they grow up in a rural county.
So how do we pay for it?
That’s the question behind Elbert County Works.
We are Elbert County residents who believe we can protect the place we love and find a better way to pay for the things our county needs.
We don’t believe the answer is thousands and thousands of new houses. More houses mean more people. More traffic. More students. More demands on roads, water, law enforcement and other public services.
We want the kind of economic development that grows our tax base without dramatically growing our population.
Not every project belongs here.
We’re not for development just for the sake of development. And we’re certainly not saying Elbert County should take whatever somebody wants to build.
If a big project wants to come here, it should have to earn our support.
For major data centers and similar projects, we think that means a few common-sense rules.
Protect our water.
Protect our water.
Don’t stick residents with the power bill.
Don’t stick residents with the power bill.
Bring real money into Elbert County.
Bring real money into Elbert County.
Create jobs people here can actually get.
Create jobs people here can actually get.
Keep the people. Keep the land. Bring in the revenue.
For too long, it has felt like we have only two choices: Stay rural and accept underfunded roads, bridges, and public services.
Or grow like the counties around us and slowly lose the reason many of us moved here in the first place.
We don’t accept that choice. There is another way.
We want to bring the right kinds of economic investment into the right places. Make developers play by our rules. Protect our water and our land. Create good-paying jobs. And generate new tax dollars without adding thousands of new residents.