Newspaper Page Text
Barrow ... Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com Or Read all over...
Wednesday, November 26,2008
Vol. 1 No. 5 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 25c COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Fire displaces family
on Cardinal Lane
page 6A
•Auburn seeks to do
bonds without vote
page 3A
Barrow budget facing tight crunch
Another tax bill one option being weighed by officials
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Just two months into its new fiscal
year, Barrow County’s government is
facing a budget crunch.
Chief Financial Officer Beth
Horacek and Chief Administrator
Keith Lee were scheduled to address
the issue Nov. 25 before the Barrow
County Board of Commissioners.
One of the options they planned to
put on the table is the possibility of
sending out supplemental tax bills
in early 2009 to cover some of the
shortfall.
The BOC meeting was scheduled
for Tuesday night, after this week’s
deadline, but in an interview last
week, Lee talked about a projected
revenue shortfall of at least $1.3 mil
lion.
The biggest financial hit to date has
been caused by Gov. Sonny Perdue’s
decision to withhold $700,000 to
reimburse the county for state-spon
sored, $8,000 homestead exemptions.
The governor’s decision, which must
be endorsed by the Georgia General
Assembly in January, also threatens
$2.1 million in funding for Barrow
County’s public schools.
In addition, the economic downturn
is hitting two other regular sources of
county revenue, building permit fees
and landfill tipping fees.
“We only issued five building per
mits last month,” Lee said. “That
certainly can have a serious impact
on revenues.”
So far in 2008, the county has
issued only 208 building permits.
That is just over a fourth of the per
mits issued in 2006.
Lee now projects only $150,000 in
revenues from building permit fees
during the fiscal year that ends Sept.
30, 2009 - a $350,000 drop from
what was anticipated.
And Lee said he also expects the
county to take
in $300,000
less in landfill
tipping fees
for the year.
“We don’t
have people
buying as
much, so there
is a decline in KEITH LEE
the retail mar
kets,” he said. “And we don’t have
the construction industry building. A
lot of debris is not being taken to the
landfill.”
continued on page 10A
Opinions:
•Political junkie gets
to share the spotlight
page 4A
Sports:
•WBHS basketball
teams begin new season
at tournament
page 3B
•Apalachee sweeps
Commerce in basketball
opener
page 4B
Other News:
•Legion News
pages 12A
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Church News
page 6B
•Obituaries
page 11A
Holiday
activities
to begin
People longing for
a cup of old-fashioned
Christmas cheer will not
have to wait much longer.
Chateau Elan will hold
its annual “Lighting of
the Chateau” this Friday
and the City of Auburn
is hosting its Christmas
celebration Saturday.
In Auburn, the fun
begins at 6 p.m. Saturday
with the holiday illu
mination of downtown
timed to the singing of
traditional Christmas car
ols by church choirs, offi
cials said.
“We’ll sing ‘O Little
Town of Bethlehem’ and
light the star on the water
tower,” said Charlotte
Ewing, coordinator of
parks and leisure.
“Then ‘Away in the
Manger’ and light up the
gazebo, which has been
turned into a manger
scene.
continued on page 10A
Journal to
publish kids
photos for
Christmas
The Barrow Journal
will publish photos of
your children and grand
children in our Christmas
week editon.
You can send in photos
of your child with Santa,
a school photo, or a photo
that you make at home.
Children must be under
12-years-old.
The deadline for pho
tos is Dec. 3. The photo
graphs may be mailed or
dropped by the Barrow
Journal at 77 East May
Street, Winder, Ga. 30680
or you can email your
photo to news@barrow-
journal.com.
Include the child’s
name, parents or grand
parents name and town.
The child or a parent or
grandparent must live in
Barrow County.
Cost for the photo is
$10 for a single child’s
photo or $15 for a photo
of multiple children.
You can pick up the pho
tos you send in after the
Dec. 24 Barrow Journal
edition at the Journal
office.
Mayor rips Barrow tax break
Graham questions industrial warehouse incentives
i
COLLIERS
SPECTRUM CAUBLE
Available
(404)
888-9000
*w*.£o«ieFiigjBewuines*kie t i:om
80,000 to 439,338 S.F.
Price Weaver 1 Steve Grable
1
■ v - 'tty •■••?/ ■
fc its. tci. Oi V. U.ii .-if
READY FOR SALE
Commonwealth warehouse sits ready for lease.
A large tax break given to a
$12.5 million industrial ware
house in Northern Barrow
County has come under fire
by the mayor of Braselton.
The Joint Development
Authority of Barrow County
and Winder-Barrow Industrial
Building
Authority
agreed
earlier
this month
to a $12.5
million
industrial
revenue
bond for
a 444,000
sq - ft PAT GRAHAM
warehouse
and 24.6 acres of land on Hwy.
124 in the Town of Braselton.
The facility is owned by
Commonwealth Braselton
LLC, a commercial real estate
firm with properties around
the Southeast.
Construction on the
Braselton warehouse is almost
completed.
The JDA’s deal with
Commonwealth exempts the
warehouse and 24.6 acres
from both Barrow school
and county property taxes. In
effect, the JDA takes owner
ship of the building and leases
it back to the original devel
opers. The developers in turn
pay a lease on the facility back
to the JDA to cover the yearly
bond payments.
But because the JDA is a
government entity, the prop
erty is not subject to local
property taxes.
Instead, Barrow County
has a seven-year tax phase-in
where the firm will pay taxes
on the “lease hold interest”
starting at five percent the
first year and phasing into
100 percent in year eight. The
deal will save Commonwealth
thousands — even hundreds
of thousands — of dollars in
county and school property
taxes that the firm would have
otherwise had to pay on the
property.
Barrow County Chief
Appraiser Cecil Highfield
said that the county would go
out to the facility and do an
appraisal just like it would any
other facility.
The tax phase-in on the
lease would then be based on
that appraisal.
The complex financial
structure is commonly used
by counties and some towns
as an incentive to lure indus
trial development to a com
munity.
But not all counties struc
ture the deal the same way
and Barrow’s incentives deal
appears to be generous and
less strict compared to some
other area counties.
MAYOR OBJECTS
TO DEAL
Braselton Mayor Pat
Graham, whose town includes
the Commonwealth project,
believes Barrow’s tax abate
ment deal was unnecessary
and ill-advised. She said that
the project doesn’t meet her
view of how governments
should dole out tax incen
tives.
“I strongly believe that tax
abatements should only be
given to employers that are
creating new high-paying jobs
within our community,” she
said.
continued on page 10A
Barrow-Hall hospital fight in judge’s hands
By Susan Norman
Litigation that could reshape the nature of
healthcare providers in Barrow County is now
in the hands of Superior Court Judge Robert
Adamson and a decision could come before
the end of the year.
At issue is a legal fight between Barrow
Regional Medical Center in Winder
and Northeast Georgia Medical Center in
Gainesville over NGMC’s plans to build a
100-bed hospital in Braselton near Chateau
Elan. BRMC opposes the idea, fearing such
a move would hurt the Barrow County hospi
tal. Hospital lawyers argue that state officials
didn’t follow the proper procedure allowing
permits for the new facility.
At the end of a two-hour hearing Monday
in Barrow County Superior Court, Judge
Adamson said he would issue his decision on
the appeal by Barrow County Medical Center
in two or three weeks.
Armando L. Basarrate, an attorney for the
Gainesville-based NGMC, argued during the
hearing that the hospital’s application for
a state-issued Certificate of Need has been
through two administrative appeals and that
the court’s power at this point is limited. He
BARROW REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
said case law has shown that agency decisions
in such matters are “not to be taken lightly by
the judiciary.”
However, Adamson said there is “some
purpose for the courts in this process.” His
decision, he said, would be based on whether
objections raised by the hospital’s opponent
“rise or fall within those purposes.”
And the decision will be “difficult,” the
judge said. “I always take seriously the limita
tions in my scope of review when dealing with
(state) agency cases.”
Local man
charged in
child rape
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A 39-year-old Statham
man is in the Barrow County
Detention Center after video
taping his own alleged rape
of a 9-year-old local girl.
“The perpetrator video
taped it and we have the vid
eotape, so he’s going to jail
on this one,” said Statham
Chief of Police Roger E.
Tripp.
Alan Richard Konwinski’s
alleged crime came to light
Nov. 17, when his girlfriend
stopped by his Dooley Town
Road apartment while he was
at work. She just happened
to view the homemade vid
eotape and recognized the
victim.
“She knows the family,”
Tripp said.
The woman went to the
girl’s home in Statham and
told her parents what she
had seen. The girl's father
then went to the apartment,
looked at the tape, returned
home and called police.
Two Statham officers then
went to the family’s home
and after the parents told
them what they had learned,
one of the officers drove to
Konwinski’s apartment to
secure access to it. The police
then requested a search war
rant and waited for the con
struction worker to show up
after work.
Konwinski was arrested
the same day at 6:44 p.m.
during a traffic stop. A neigh
bor riding with him, 38-year-
old Darrell W. Lamp of 1895
Dooley Town Road, also was
arrested on an unrelated war
rant from another jurisdic
tion.
Tripp said Konwinski did
not resist arrest and made no
statements to police.
“He was very quiet,” the
chief said.
Konwinski was charged
with rape, aggravated sod
omy, statutory rape, child
molestation, sexual exploita
tion of a child, enticing a
child for indecent purpos
es, possession of less than
1 ounce of marijuana and
having an open container of
alcohol in his vehicle.
During a search of the
apartment, police confiscated
two computer hard drives,
VHS tapes, CDs, and High-8
videotapes.
“We were just looking for
homemade stuff that might
have additional victims on
them," the chief said. “It’s
an open investigation. There
might be more charges pend
ing.”
continued on page 10A
