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Barrow ... Journal www.BarrowJournal.com Or Read all over... Wednesday, December 10,2008 Vol. 1 No. 7 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 25c COPY — Inside — Area news: •Gloria Wall honored at retirement celebra tion page 3A • Numerous holiday events scheduled in Barrow County page 3A •Journal to pub lish kids photos for Christmas .... page 3A Opinions: •Remembering a poli tician of the people page 4A •Readers have their say: Letters to the Editor page 5A Sports: •Apalachee and WBHS wrestling teams compete at Jackson County page 7 B •WBHS basketball welcomes old rival this week page 7 B •Apalachee basket ball teams to face Hart County Saturday page 4B Other News: •Public Safety pages 6-7A •Obituaries page 9A •School News pages 5-6B •Church News page 9B Auburn postpones city charter change BY CHRIS BRIDGES A vote on changing the city charter in Auburn will not take place until 2009. The Auburn City Council voted last Thursday night to delay taking action on the controversial issue until another work session could be held. Council member Dorissa Shackelford made the motion after several typing mistakes in the pro posed new charter were pointed out. “I think we need to meet on a Saturday and go paragraph by para graph,” Shackelford said. “If we do it at a regular work session and stall at 7,1 don't think there will be enough time. I think we should do this after the holidays." The council then voted unanimously to postpone any action on possibly altering the charter until the unsched uled work session can be held. The next public hearing, set for Dec. 18, has been cancelled. Several citizens spoke during Thursday’s public hearing on the proposed charter changes, some in opposition to the idea. While some of the changes are mostly cos metic, the main focus has been a proposal to allow the city to issue bonded debt without first having a vote of Auburn citizens. That charter language limiting the town's ability to issue debt was added in 1998. City attorney Jack Wilson, speak ing at last week's council meeting, said that in 1998, there was not a downtown development authority. Wilson said there is a need for revitalization in the downtown area, a move the town’s new DDA could undertake. Wilson said obtaining bonds could be a method to fund this downtown project. continued on page 3A BLECHINGER Joyful celebrations Winder: Tough 2009 forecast NCTUARY SPIRIT HOLIDAY WEEKEND Winder and Barrow County residents had an opportunity to enjoy a taste of the holidays Saturday. (Top) Members of the Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit Church in Winder dressed in Charles Dickens era costumes and sang Christmas carols Saturday evening while (bottom) spectators gathered for the 60th annual Winder Christmas parade. See more parade photos on page 10A. Photos by Jessica Brown Property tax, sales tax may be pushed BY SUSAN NORMAN Economic reality is trump ing political expediency as Winder officials brace for a new year that could pose uncharted fiscal challenges. In interviews following last week’s council actions to rein in health and retire ment costs, the city's top two officials spoke candidly about the rough road ahead and the unpopular measures that may be taken. “We're doing a lot of antici pation of what might happen,” said Mayor George “Chip” Thompson III. “If this hap pens, we do that; if that hap pens, we do this, and who are we going to lay off. We can't wait. It's hard. This is the part of being mayor that I never really anticipated having to do.” In addition to spending cuts, Thompson and city admin istrator Bob Beck have their sights set on two potential sources of new revenue: A city sales tax or a resurrected city property tax. Thompson said he fully supports a 2009 Georgia Municipal Association leg islative proposal to enable all Georgia cities to levy a Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST) on sales within their boundaries. “We’re asking as a group of municipalities to have that option available,” Thompson said. Atlanta’s city govern ment has levied a 1-percent MOST since 2004. Its sales tax is now 8 percent. Winder's is 7 percent. If the Georgia General Assembly in January doesn’t go along with a statewide MOST levy, Thompson may dust off the city property tax that was mothballed in 1978. “I hope not, but that’s where we are. We have to think of everything,” he said. “It's not something we want to do, but it could be a possibility... It looks like the money is not going to be there this year.” continued on page 8A Audit: Winder OK for now, but revenues soften The City of Winder ended its fiscal year June 30 in a rela tively good financial position despite the economic downturn. But there are some warning signs in the FY08 audit recently released for the troubled economic climate ahead. Sales taxes, the city’s largest single source of general fund revenue, were soft, down slightly from the year before about one percent. More significantly, business licenses and building permit income was down about 40 percent from the year before, a decline of $157,000. Despite the softness in those areas, the city’s general fund revenues grew overall by 11 percent in FY08 to just over $9 million. Much of the revenue growth was due to more dollars being allocated in the general fund from the city's utility sys tems, which operate water, sewer and gas systems. That income growth, however, was more than offset by higher expenses of 21 percent in the city’s general fund, grow ing from $10.7 million in FY07 to $12.9 million at the end of FY08. The difference in the city's general fund income and expenses is made up by transfers from the city’s profitable util ity system, which netted $3.5 million in FY08, and also from a $1.6 lease note. The city’s largest expense department is the city police department at $4.3 million, followed by general administration at $2.4 million, public works at $2.3 million and the fire depart ment at $2.18 million. continued on page 8A Unemployment numbers continue to climb in NEGA County rate is highest in area Unemployment Rates Area Oct. 2008 Oct. 2007 State 7.0% 4.5% NE Ga. 7.3 4.4 Barrow County 7.4 4.2 Jackson County 7.0 4.1 Madison County 5.9 3.7 Banks County 5.1 3.0 Clarke County 6.7 3.6 Hall County 6.3 3.5 Gwinnett County 6.3 3.9 Unemployment Insurance Claims Area Oct. 2008 Oct. 2007 Change% State 72,627 41,506 75% Barrow County 526 230 129% Jackson County 382 165 131% Madison County 227 132 72% Banks County 81 46 76% Clarke County 680 282 141% Hall County 1,141 550 107% Gwinnett County 3,639 1,994 82% BARROW COUNTY had the highest unemployment rate in the heart of Northeast Georgia in October with a rate of 7.4 percent. That was higher than the state average of 7 per cent and higher than all of the Northeastern Georgia area which was at 7.3 percent. In addition, Barrow saw its unemployment insurance claims jump in October from 230 in 2007 to 526 in October 2008, a 129 percent increase. Jackson County was also hard hit in October's employ ment rates with an unem ployment rate of 7 percent compared to 4.1 percent the year before. While lower in raw numbers, Jackson’s ini tial unemployment insur ance claims rose faster than Barrow’s in October with a 131 percent climb over October 2007. Banks County had the low est unemployment in the area at 5.1 percent, although that was higher than the county’s 3 percent in October 2007. Madison County was a little higher at 5.9 percent compared to 3.7 percent the year before.