r/DecaturGA • u/ParkingWayzFoster • 1d ago

Your tax $ (not) at work

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Remember this postcard from the city about rebates for improvements in energy usage? It dropped sometime in June and in order to take advantage of it, you needed to email prior to any upgrades.

So I did. On June 22nd and basically every week since. Once I got an answer after email three to specify my project (which I had already done in email one). Then I got an answer from the city manager that he would look into it after I emailed Tony Power. And another he would look into it.

Over two months. 10 emails. No concrete answer. What is Decatur even doing? Wasting money on postcards? The city has always been slow to respond to citizen questions but this is ridiculous.

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u/Spare-Cranberry- 13h ago

That's Decatur. The city works so hard on PR and submitting themselves for BS 'awards' so they can be seen as progressive and look like they care about things. And that's where the effort stops. Truly no one in leadership there actually cares about results, only that they look good.

I'd be curious to see an audit on how much time/effort/money is spent on PR activities (like that postcard & touting the benefits of the program) vs doing the actual work.

Kinda hilarious that the postcard says "Rebates will be available subject to the availability of funds and applicable city policies". That, to me, says that they weren't intending to do the work to make this real. Just more PR with no substance behind it.

Also very bizarre that funds would be paid to the contractor doing the work rather than the homeowner. So no DIY here. Not even allowed to buy a new range from Home Depot, have them install it. You gotta buy your new induction range through a contractor for it to be worth anything.