Dr. Ted Redman, "semi-retired ER doctor," longtime U.S. Army veteran and now a volunteer firefighter, decided to run for a seat on the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners after the property tax on his family home doubled. He proposes to vote "no" on any millage rate increase.
He also wants to halt any tax abatements for future industries, freeze county government hiring and pay raises if necessary, and vote "no" on county approval for any data centers or further agricultural to residential zoning changes. He is in a three-way race with fellow challenger candidate Frank Bedell and incumbent Commissioner Toby Conner for Seat 2-B, appearing on the District 2 Republican primary ballot. The race will be decided in the May 19 vote count or a June 16 runoff between the top two vote-getters.
"I decided to run because, like everyone else, I've seen my property taxes double over the past several years, and I've seen people go to county commission meetings, getting up and talking to the commissioners about their troubles with property taxes, and there's a lot of concern about people getting priced out of their homes, you know, older people on fixed incomes," Redman said.
"That," he said, "is probably the No. 1 issue" he hears about when he goes around talking to other Bulloch County residents.
"We've got a significant problem looming ahead of us, with an $8 million budget deficit for next fiscal year," Redman said. "So one of the things I want to do, I want to do away with property tax abatements. Companies that now come to Bulloch County should now have to pay their fair share of property tax."
(Both challenger candidates speak of an "$8 million deficit." But no such deficit has occurred in any approved county budget. This number assumes that current commissioners might approve all additional spending suggested by department chiefs and agencies in their budget requests for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, as well as funding raises, with no added revenue. But the budget has yet to be approved, and the requests included what current officials say are "wish list" items.)
In this week's interview, Redman referred to halting further tax abatements as "more a medium-term solution." He acknowledged that the exemptions from county-government property tax previously awarded to now existing industries would have to remain in place.
Proposes a freeze
"So there's a couple of other things I think we need to do as a county, and I know it's going to be painful, because this is what we do as households and small businesses; when we run out of money, we stop spending," he said.
The measures he proposes include "hiring freezes" and "probably" a freeze on salary increases. Then the commissioners could "look at the math and see how close we are to narrowing that gap completely, because I don't think there's $8 million of wasteful spending," he said.
"I hate to say it, but that's going to end up being the solution, because I do not want to raise property taxes," Redman said. "I will vote 'no' on all property tax increases."
To some follow-up questions, he said that "no" would apply "full term," not just next year, but also acknowledged that he means to vote "no" only to millage rate increases. He would allow for the situation in which commissioners keep the millage rate the same but the dollar amount of tax rises because of inflation in assessed real estate values. This is considered a tax increase over the "rollback rate."
"A rollback would be great. … I don't think we can do that because we're facing a lot of debts as a county," Redman said. "I'd love to do a rollback; I don't think that's possible."
Who is he?
Before describing other issue positions, who is Dr. Theodore "Ted" Redman?
Now 54, he previously retired from the Army at the rank of lieutenant colonel after 25 years of service. He had gone to Uniformed Services University for medical school and completed his residency during a four-year break from the military. His career, he has stated, included 13 combat deployments as an Army Ranger and member of Task Force 160.
Redman currently has two part-time jobs, one as strategic medical advisor to the defense contractor F3EA Inc. in Savannah and the other as medical director for the Emergency Medical Services program at Ogeechee Tech. He also serves as a volunteer firefighter with the Bulloch County Fire Department out of Station 8, at Leefield.
He and his wife, Autumn Redman, have lived in Bulloch County since 2020 and own a home on Clito Road. He has seven children, "most out of the house now." Three are in college at Kennesaw State, Georgia Southern and the University of Georgia, and the youngest is a junior at Southeast Bulloch High School.
'Responsible growth'
In his original campaign release, Redman stated that he supports the current moratoriums on data centers and rezoning for residential subdivisions. But moratoriums are temporary, so the question was what he proposes to do afterward.
Data centers
"On data centers? I voted 'no' on data centers this morning," he said Monday.
He had voted that first day of in-person early voting, and one local Republican Party ballot question is, "Should elected officials allow the building of data centers in Bulloch County?" This is a party position question, similar to an opinion poll. The results will not be binding on the county.
He had also stated that he wants to defend private property rights but that rezoning should not harm neighboring landowners.
"I am not a fan of these pop-up subdivisions that occur on our agricultural land out in the rural areas, so I will also vote 'no' on any agricultural to residential rezoning," Redman said. "I think we've got plenty of housing units in Bulloch County already."
He also wants to see industrial development targeted to designated corridors, not residential or agricultural areas.
Transparency
"Transparency is a key issue with me," Redman said. "I want to encourage as many people as possible to come to the county commission meetings so they can see what's going on. … Transparency is key to preventing misunderstandings."