Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2008
AUBURN FESTIVITIES
The Manning family of Winder, including granddaughter Emma, take in the events in
Auburn this past weekend. See more coverage on page 11A.
Photo by Jessica Brown
Auburn to discuss city charter
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
City of Auburn officials will
hold the first of two public
hearings Thursday concerning
proposed changes to the city
charter, including a change to
allow the city to issue bond
debt without holding a public
referendum.
The public hearing is sched
uled as the first agenda item
Thursday at 7 p.m. as part of
the December meeting. The
second public hearing is set
for Dec. 18. The main issue in
the proposed changes centers
on the city being able to issue
bond debt. Currently, the city
is unable to issue bonds due
to an ordinance in its charter
limiting Auburn’s municipal
debt. A change passed by the
citizens in 1998 prevents the
city from issuing bonds with
out first holding a referendum
in the town.
Mayor Linda Blechinger
said the Downtown
Development Authority
needs to have the power to
issue bonds and under the
current charter cannot do so.
According to city attorneys,
the council has the right to
make the change to the char
ter without holding a public
referendum.
Council member Sally
Brown said at the work ses
sion for Thursday's meeting
that she felt uncomfortable
reversing what so many citi
zens voted in some years ago.
Other items on Thursday’s
agenda include:
•Parks Family Sports
Complex, first phase.
•Shackleford Camping
Policy
•road bids
•installation of street lights
on various locations on Hwy.
8.
•proposed ordinance for
door-to-door sales.
•proposal of contract with
Brick Kickers for building
inspectors on mobile homes.
•downtown development
coordinator position.
Newly formed Auburn DDA elects officers
The Auburn Downtown Development
Authority recently held its initial meeting Nov.
19 and elected its first slate of officers.
City of Auburn mayor Linda Blechinger was
named chairman of the newly formed DDA.
Janet Jeanes was elected as vice-chairman with
city administrator Ron Griffin named secretary
of treasurey.
Other members of the Auburn DDA include
Paul Nadeau, Bob Vogel, Tina Parks, Howard
Hawthorne and Dottie Coffman.
Some issues the group will discuss at future
meetings include a conceptual plan for the
downtown Auburn area, sewer plans, landscap
ing and a new sports complex.
The DDA is also pushing for the city of
Auburn to have the power to issue bonds,
which it is unable to do so under the current
charter. The city is in the process of updating
the charter and the bond issue is one major
area Blechinger, in her role as mayor, and the
city council is looking are reviewing.
BOC grapples with finances
FINANCIAL DISCUSSION
Chief financial officer Beth Horacek and chief adminis
trator Keith Lee are still ironing out a final recommenda
tion to county officials. Photo by Susan Norman
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Faced with a potential bud
get shortfall of more than $2
million, Barrow County gov
ernment officials are consider
ing measures that could hit the
pocketbooks of both taxpayers
and county employees.
During a Nov. 25 financial
presentation to the board of
commissioners, the county’s
chief financial officer and
chief administrator put on the
table a list of potential actions
that include the possibility of a
sending a second property tax
bill in 2009, reducing county
services, staff reductions or
pay cuts.
CFO Beth Horacek and
Chief Administrator Keith
Lee are still working on a
final report and recommenda
tions. And it is unlikely that
the board will take any major
action before January, when
four of its seven seats will be
filled by newly-elected offi
cials.
The preliminary numbers
presented last week indicate
a possible fiscal year 2009
budget shortfall of $1.96 mil
lion. Among the possible bud
get remedies presented to the
BOC were: Opening county
offices 30 minutes later each
morning to cut employees’
hours to 37.5: offering health
benefits to part-time employ
ees so that some full-time
employees would voluntarily
reduce their hours; institut
ing non-paid furloughs for
all employees; and reducing
staff.
The numbers that Horacek
and Lee presented last week
did not include reduced Local
Option Sales Tax revenues
that help fund the govern
ment’s daily operations or the
Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax revenues that pay
for capital improvements and
cover the debt payments for
projects, such as the $52 mil
lion criminal justice center
that will open in the spring.
LOST revenues in the first
two months of this fiscal
year were about 14 percent
below collections in the same
two-month period last year.
SPLOST revenues were down
by more than 12 percent in the
same two-month period.
Lee said that the contin
ued decline of LOST revenues
“will have an impact on the
operating budget.” But county
SPLOST revenues, he said,
“exceed the funding obliga
tions for the bonds associ
ated with the Criminal Justice
Facility, so we are not having
problems meeting our debt
service obligations.”
The SPLOST revenues also
are paying for road projects
and Bear Creek debt and they
are funding all of the other
SPLOST projects as outlined
in the SPLOST intergovern
mental agreement, Lee said.
Horacek said property tax
collections in the first two
months of the fiscal year actu
ally are ahead of what they
were for the same period last
year, but that is because the
tax deadline was moved up a
month and tax bills went out
early.
What the county has not
received since Oct. 1 is about
$1.1 million in state grants
for state-initiated homestead
exemptions. Because the state
is facing a severe budget cri
sis due to the economy. Gov.
Sonny Perdue ordered his
staff to withhold the reim
bursements that the state gives
counties for not levying taxes
on that first $8,000 in value.
Lee said if the Georgia
General Assembly does not
override the governor’s action,
the county could be forced to
send homeowners a supple
mental tax bill of about $225
per household.
The county’s newly elect
ed BOC chairman, Daniel
Yearwood, said in an interview
last week that he believes the
state legislators will fund the
grants. But if they don’t, the
county may not be able to
avoid asking local taxpayers
for more money.
“I want very much to be
able to not send that tax bill,”
Yearwood said. “But I can’t
put our county in jeopardy
and not be able to pay our
expenses.”
District 5 Commissioner
Billy Parks, one of only three
incumbents who will still have
a seat after Jan. 1, said in
an interview Tuesday that the
county is “in serious trouble.”
He said he doesn’t see the
picture improving in the next
few months.
“It’s just that the economy
is in a downward spiral. We’re
going to do everything we can
to operate efficiently.”
Fieldhouse repair needs stun BOE
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
While the Winder-Barrow
High School fieldhouse is
still being termed “new,” it is
already in need of numerous
repairs.
After learning about the
problems last week, Tuesday
night the Barrow County
Board of Education heard a
report from its own committee
that the facility needs a review
by a structural engineer.
Last week, assistant super
intendent for facilities Jake
Grant told superintendent Ron
Saunders and board of educa
tion members the fieldhouse
located at W. Clair Harris
Stadium needs roof work and
other repairs.
BOE members were also
told landscaping work is
needed to keep water from
coming into the facility when
it rains.
Fiberglass also needs to be
removed from the showers
and replaced. Tile in the front
lobby and blocks on the struc
ture’s foundation have also
cracked.
Total costs have not been
gathered at this point as Grant
said he wanted to go out and
obtain “competitive bids.”
The news of needed repairs
to the facility, which was only
completed in the last cou
ple of years, left many BOE
members stunned.
“Is this the contactor’s
fault?” BOE member Connie
Wehunt asked. “This was just
built.”
“There was a lot of volun
teer work,” Grant said. “We
had a contractor who coordi
nated the work.”
BOE chairman Bill Bramlett
said it would be best to work
around the issue and take a
different approach rather than
placing blame.
“It appears to be some
things were left out of the
roof installation,” the chair
man said “My question is,
‘Why was the construction
incomplete?”’
The project was done at
a cost of $600,000 from
SPLOST funds, which are
to be repaid back over time
from the W. Clair Harris
Foundation, which pays for
projects of this nature. School
system financial director Ken
Cato said two payments of
$85,000 have been received to
reimburse the school system
for the building.
“We made some sugges
tions on how it should be built
and they were not followed,”
superintendent Ron Saunders
said.
BOE member Mark Still
said the school system should
never allow something to be
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built on its property without
control over it.
“If we go forward, can we
require the booster club to
pay some of this repair money
back?” Still then asked.
Wehunt added: “Athletics
is not what we are in business
for. Where is the money for
this going to come from? I
have nothing against athletics
but there are other needs.”
BOE members then asked
who was in charge of oversee
ing the construction project.
Rob Johnson, who is now
an assistant superintendent,
was principal at WBHS at the
time and said he was in charge
of it along with former athlet
ic director and assistant prin
cipal Jeff Beggs, who retired
at the end of the 2007-08
school year. Beggs is no lon
ger working for the Barrow
County School System.
The project was later turned
over to former head football
coach Brian Allison, who is
now at Union County High
School.
“Is a coach authorized to
handle that type of money?”
Wehunt said, looking stunned
at the news that Allison was
handling it.
REPAIRS NEEDED
More rain fell this past weekend on the Winder-Barrow High School fieldhouse locat
ed inside W. Clair Harris Stadium. Photo by Chris Bridges
The BOE was then told Joel
Walters was initially coordi
nating the project.
“Brian was making sure
payments were getting make
to the contractors,” Grant said.
“There were some issues with
contractors getting paid.”
Bramlett recommended a
committee be formed to look
into the situation and report
back to the board for next
Tuesday night’s regular meet
ing for December.
“When we did this I wanted
to be sure it was planned and
thought out and apparently
it was not,” Bramlett said.
“Many of these issues should
have been taken care of.”
Bramlett, Wehunt, Larry
Ballard and Dan Cromer are
serving on the committee
looking into the matter.
TUESDAY’S MEETING
Bramlett reported to the
BOE Tuesday night that the
committee had met with sev
eral representatives of the
construction team, but the
person in charge of the project
was not there.
“We came away from the
meeting with more informa
tion,” Bramlett said. “We want
a structural engineer to review
the building.”
In addition, Bramlett wants
to get all invoices from con
struction of the building to see
what has been paid.
Continued on page 11A
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