Newspaper Page Text
Barrow Journal
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Wednesday, January 7,2009
Vol. 1 No. 11 18 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Terry England pre
views upcoming 2009
legislative session
page 2A
•Deadline for hospital
appeal approaching
page 2A
•County water suit
wages on
page 2A
Opinions:
•Time to tighten the
money belt
page 4A
•County cuts the right
first move
page 4A
Sports:
•WBHS, AHS wrestling
teams prepare for team
duals , D
page 1B
•Doggs, Cats prepare
for next chapter in ath
letic rivalry , D
J .... page 1B
•Gridiron Bulldogs
already working toward
2009 campaign page , 6
Other News:
•Birth Notices
page 6B
•Church News
page 9A
•Person column
page 5A
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Obituaries
page 7B
•School News
pages 5-6B
Yearwood: Cut county hours to 37.5
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Barrow County's new commission
chairman Danny Yearwood will pro
pose cutting county employee hours
to 37.5 per week and one unpaid
furlough day per month in an effort
to cut county spending during the
economic downturn.
The proposed cuts would
reduce salaries across the board by
9.8 percent, Yearwood said. He said
the cutbacks will be across-the-board
and will affect everyone from “top to
bottom.”
Yearwood announced his cost-cut-
ting proposal to county employees at
a meeting Wednesday mor
ning. He said he plans to for
mally take the proposal to the
full board of commissioners
at the Jan. 13 BOC meeting.
Commissioners Larry Joe
Wilburn and Eva Elder also
attended Wednesday's mee
ting.
The BOC will also be asked
to whether to open county offices a
half-hour later at 8:30 a.m., he said.
Yearwood appealed to county
employees to approach this tough
economic time as a team and to offer
suggestions they have for how to cut
costs or increase income.
He explained to the 150
employees gathered for the
first of three staff meetings
on Wednesday how the down
turn in the nation's economy
is affecting the county's
financial picture. He said the
county has $13.6 million in
cash for operating expenses,
but the total weekly expenses amount
to $1.5 million. More than half of that
cost is for salaries and benefits.
The total reserves, including unde
signated cash and account payables,
is about $6.7 million. The majority
of the liquid reserves are in a $2.7
million certificate of deposit.
“What I don't want to do is to go
into that reserve,” Yearwood said.
“If we go into it, we can’t put il
back. We’ve got to make sure Barrow
County is protected. That's our job.
That’s the reason we have a job -
because of Barrow County.”
Yearwood also read a two-page lisl
of financial challenges the county
is facing. He said the county has
$118 million in debt and is facing
shortfalls in several revenue streams:
continued on page 2A
YEARWOOD
Housing bust slams sales
Real estate sales down
87% during month of Nov.
T he change has
been dramatic.
From one of the
fastest growing counties in
the nation just two years
ago, Barrow’s housing and
construction market has vir
tually collapsed.
How bad is it?
In November 2006,
Barrow recorded 319 resi
dential property sales and a
total sales number of $43.7
million.
Compare that to two
months ago, Barrow County
recorded just 42 residen
tial property sales and total
countywide property sales
of just $5.4 million, an 87
percent decline.
Housing and construc
tion was the economic
engine that fueled several
years of dynamic growth in
Northeast Georgia. Starting
in 2004, Barrow County
saw a dramatic rise in home
sales and new construction.
That housing boom created
a lot of employment oppor
tunities for construction
workers, real estate agents,
landscapers and financial
officials. At one point, con
struction work made up the
dominant work of adult
males in Barrow County at
22 percent of total employ
ment.
Indirectly, the housing
boom also created new gov
ernment jobs for planners,
administrators, utility work
ers and school teachers.
The massive housing
growth also sparked a sec
ondary rush of commercial
real estate projects: Stores,
restaurants and other ser
vices that catered to the
booming population rushed
in.
Construction permits
peaked in 2005 in Barrow
County with 1,416. That
followed two years in
which building permits in
the county were over 1,300
each year.
That housing boom
peaked in the second and
BANK OWNED
This home in the Lake Rockwell subdivision was
foreclosed.
third quarters of 2006 when
around 1,000 home sales
were recorded each quar
ter. In addition, new build
ing permits began to slip
in 2006 to back under 2002
levels.
But from that 2006 peak,
housing sales began a steady
decline in Barrow County.
By the fourth quarter of last
year, housing sales had fall
en to half the peak rate, to
Photo by Jessica Brown
around 500, and remained
there for the first two quar
ters of 2008.
Then the bottom fell
out. In the third quarter of
2008, fewer than 200 home
sales were recorded and the
fourth quarter is likely to
be much, much worse. For
October and November,
only 89 home sales were
recorded.
continued on page 5A
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Federal funds will allow sewer services for the new Southern regional
office of Olympic Steel, Inc. Photo by Susan Norman
Funds to extend sewer for business
Journal now a
paid publication
After a 10-week free trial
period, only paid subscribers
will now receive a copy of the
Barrow Journal in their mail.
Launched Oct. 29, the Barrow
Journal was mailed free to every
home in Barrow County through
last week.
Beginning with this first edi
tion of 2009, only paid subscrib
ers will get a weekly issue by
mail.
Copies of the Journal will
continue to be available at news
stands and in stores around
Barrow County for 25 cents. The
paper will be available on news
stands Wednesday night and by
mail on Thursdays.
The Journal will continue to
honor the introductory rate of
$5 per year for subscriptions for
those who use a coupon with
the $5 special. Coupons were
distributed in past editions of the
newspaper.
"The subscription response
has been overwhelming,” said
co-publisher Mike Buffington.
"We’re still processing a large
stack of last-minute subscribers,
so if you didn’t receive your
newspaper in the mail this week,
we will add an additional week
to your subscription.”
The Barrow Journal is pub
lished by MainstreetNewspapers,
Inc. a family-owned publishing
firm in Jefferson. The firm also
publishes The Braselton News
and The Jackson Herald among
its six weekly newspapers.
By SUSAN NORMAN
The Georgia Department of
Community Affairs has awarded
$401,800 in federal funds for the
extension of sewer service to the new
Southern regional office of Ohio-based
Olympic Steel, Inc.
Linda Moore, vice president of eco
nomic development for the Barrow
County Chamber of Commerce,
announced the award in a press release.
Moore said a key factor in the compa
ny’s 2008 decision to locate its regional
office in Georgia was the commitment
by Winder and Barrow County officials
to provide sewer.
The local governments applied for the
grant and also committed a combined
total of $112,650 in additional local
funding for the project.
The grant to the local governments
is through the state's Employment
Incentive Program, which directs fed
eral funds for infrastructure or other
improvements to local governments
attempting to attract business initiatives
that create or retain jobs for low- and
moderate-income workers.
When Winder and Barrow County
governments jointly applied for the
grant last year, Olympic Steel expected
to locate 50 employees, many of them
new, in its new 9,600-square-foot build
ing on Barrow Park Drive. However,
when the building opens in March,
no new employees initially will work
there.
“Immediately, the only workforce at
the new expansion will be those current
ly employed in Winder,” stated Tracey
Dowell Nursey in an e-mail. “We cur
rently have 25 office employees, and the
new building has enough space to house
50 comfortably.”
continued on page 5A
Auburn
to meet
Thursday
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Auburn City Council will
hold its first meeting of 2009
Thursday and it's scheduled to
vote on several items, includ
ing the appointment of a mayor
pro tem and the awarding of
a contract for the collection of
the city's garbage and recycling
pickup.
The meeting, set for 7 p.m.
in the council chambers, will
include a year-in-review address
from mayor Linda Blechinger.
Also on the agenda for vote
by the council will be a proposal
from police chief Larry Brown
for the addition of a K-9 officer.
Brown made a presentation to
the council during a December
work session.
The council will also vote on a
recommendation from city clerk
Rafael Avalos to use Robertson’s
United as the exclusive residen
tial solid waste company for the
city. The city received bids from
Robertson’s United as well as
Advanced and Waste Pro.
Robertson’s United offered the
lowest rate which Avalos pre
sented at the December work
session.
Also scheduled for Thursday’s
council meeting are:
•vote on franchise agreement
with Comcast.
•resolution to adopt the 1999
Service Delivery Strategy with
Gwinnett County.
•accessory building ordinance.
No fieldhouse
repairs made
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Barrow County Assistant
Superintendent for Facilities
Jake Grant was asked about
the progress on repairs for the
Winder-Barrow High School
athletic complex during Monday
night’s Barrow County Board of
Education meeting.
Grant’s answer: “We are no
where on repairs.”
That reply came in response
to school board member Lynn
Steven’s question regarding a
status report on repairs to the
new field house, which was con
structed within the last two years
but now is in need of reported
repairs.
continued on page 2A
MLK parade
set for Jan. 19
The Winder City Council
approved a permit Tuesday night
for the Martin Luther King Jr.
Committee's parade honoring
the late Civil Rights leader from
10:30 a.m. to noon Jan. 19.
The parade route will began at
Quality Foods on North Broad
Street, turn left onto East Athens
Street, and then left onto King
Street. It will end at White Oak
Springs Baptist Church.
