Newspaper Page Text
LOCAL
THURSDAY, JUNE 7 -13, 2018 • Page 2
BY DEREK SMITH
derek@dekalbchamp.com
Pine Lake’s city motto is
“Arts’ Natural Habitat.” The
city of fewer than 800 people
is bringing that motto to the
forefront with an upcoming
public art project, “Public
Works at Public Works.”
The project puts the artistic
skills of Pine Lake residents to
work using the city’s natural
habitat as a muse. Set to be
unveiled June 16 at a special
event, a wall will display 12
oversized photos of nature
in the Pine Lake area on an
“art wall” in front of the city’s
public works building.
The photos for “Public
Works at Public Works” have
yet to be selected. A non
resident panel will select the
12 photos from more than 100
submissions, something mayor
Melanie Hammet said she’s
proud of.
“That’s impressive for a
town of less than 1,000 people,”
she said.
Hammet credits the town
Pine Lake’s new fence in front of the city’s public works building will display 12 photos taken by Pine Lake residents of the city’s natural habitat. Photo by Derek Smith.
motto for the response
“Our natural world [in Pine
Lake] is so robust and we have
so many photographers and
creative [types],” Hammet said.
Resident Tom Ramsey said
he submitted five photos taken
on a nature walk sponsored by
a local organization.
“I took a ton of pictures—
mostly flowers, trees, things
that you don’t normally stop
for,” Ramsey said. “ [Normally,]
if I’m walking, I don’t take
the time and I don’t carry my
camera because I’d be shaking
all over the place. But here I
had the time.”
Nature walks similar to
the one Ramsey went on are
not uncommon in Pine Lake,
according to Hammet.
“The twin values of
Pine Lake are arts and the
environment,” she said.
Those two values, Hammet
said, are what led to the
project in the first place. When
Hammet took office as mayor
in 2016, the city had a grant
of $850 to construct a fence
for the public works building.
Hammet said she and council
member Brandy Hall wanted
to make the fence something
the city could be proud
of. They went to the city’s
Municipal Arts Panel for ideas
on how to beautify the fence.
“The Municipal Arts Panel
thought it would be cool to
have our first public art event
feature photographs from our
many citizen photographers,”
Hammet said.
Then, the city had to
establish parameters for public
art.
“We had to create a public
art policy so that we weren’t
just randomly sticking things
up there,” Hammet said. “That
might go well for a while, but
then we’d have something that
we’d have to defensively create
public art policy about.”
The fence was constructed
of PVC pipe, then painted to
look like copper, with curved
light fixtures every few feet to
illumunate the eventual art
piece.
“I’ll be happy if one [of my
photos] gets up there,” Ramsey
said. “It’s a big space. They’re
gonna be large and I’m sure
there’s gonna be tremendous
diversity of submissions.”
According to Hammet, the
public works art wall is just the
beginning for the city’s public
art projects. She said she would
like to see a similar project on
the other side of the road that
displays more art. That may
happen, she said, but they’ll
wait for another grant.
“We’re a city that’s got
tremendous heart and soul,
and a tiny budget,” Hammet
said.
City of Decatur Georgia Ad Valorem Tax Digest History
Decatur - Digest
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Assessment Ratio
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Real Property
$
1,168,516,500
$
1,326,596,200
$
1,594,612,800
$
1,693,241,200
$ 1,835,249,100
$ 1,998,244,300
Personal Property
$
23,211,680
$
22,248,300
$
22,322,600
$
23,627,600
$ 25,448,800
$ 25,650,100
Public Utilities
$
14,639,953
$
15,152,700
$
17,209,600
$
15,658,700
$ 16,521,530
$ 16,257,600
Motor Vehicle
$
52,979,900
$
47,331,600
$
35,521,587
$
26,623,700
$ 23,481,400
$ 13,249,900
Total Digest
$1,259,348,033
$1,411,328,800
$1,669,666,587
$1,759,151,200
$1,900,700,830
$2,053,401,900
City Operations
General Fund Exemptions
$
126,332,000
$
125,393,000
$
130,639,000
$
128,646,080
$ 169,825,080
$ 175,774,991
Net City Operations Digest
$1,133,016,033
$1,285,935,800
$1,539,027,587
$1,630,505,120
$1,730,875,750
$1,877,626,909
City Operations Millage
11.580
11.580
11.080
10.680
10.680
11.170
City Operations Levy
$13,120,326
$14,891,137
$17,052,426
$17,413,795
$18,485,753
$20,973,093
Percent Change
2.46
13.50
14.51
2.12
6.16
13.46
Dollar Amount Change
$315,587
$1,770,811
$2,161,289
$361,369
$1,071,958
$2,487,340
The Decatur City Commission announces that the 2018 tentative millage rate was adopted at their
meeting on Monday, May 21,2018. Hearings on the budget and millage rate will be held on:
Monday, June 11, 2018 at6:00 p.m.
Monday, June 18, 2018 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
A separate hearing on the budget only will be held Monday, June 4, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.
The hearings will be held at Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough Street, Decatur, GA. Final adoption of
the 2018 millage rate and fiscal year 2018-2019 budget is scheduled for consideration at the Decatur City
Commission meeting on Monday, June 18, 2018. The above table is presented pursuant to O.C.G.A. 48-
5-32 showing the estimated current year's digest and proposed millage rates along with a five-year history
of the tax digest and millage rates.
Pine Lake to put nature on display