Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016, April 22, 2009, Image 1

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Barrow journal., April 22, 2009, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextBarrow Journal www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over... Wednesday, April 22,2009 Vol. 1 No. 26 20 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY — Inside — Area news: •Disc golf a growing sport in Barrow page 1C •In the kitchen with a Cook of Barrow County page 1C •Statham begins bud get work page 2A •Some area banks had difficult 2008 page 2A Opinions: •Tea parties: Right messsage, wrong approach page 4A •Cagel opens door for tidal wive of candidates page 4A •County budget adjustment may be needed page 4A Sports: • Diamond Doggs record key region win page 1B •AHS baseball defeats Monroe Area page 1B •WB Speedway season continues page 2B Also Inside: •Classifieds page 7B •Church News page 5C •Letters to the Editor page 5A •Public Safety pages 6-7A •Obituaries pages 4-5C To subscribe, call today: 770-867-NEWS (6397). The Barrow Journal is delivered every Thursday. Barrow in the red for FY2008 BY SUSAN NORMAN By just about every measure, Barrow County's government had a bad financial year in 2008, with revenues down, expens es up and the county's main operating fund finishing FY2008 some $2.3 million in the red, according to the county’s recently completed audit. In addition to the general fund, the county’s water and sewer funds also had operating losses for the year. Its worsening financial situation last year left the county with thin reserves from which to ride out the ongoing economic crisis. General fund reserves as of Sept. 30 were down to $6.7 million — providing a safety net of less than three months of expenses. The audit results have serious implica tions for this fiscal year, because revenues are likely to dip below the $32 million collected in FY2008. And they spell real trouble for FY2010, which begins in six months, because yet another $2-3 million in revenue losses are almost a certainty. County Chairman Danny Yearwood and Commissioner Steve Worley said in inter views this week that they do not understand why county administrators last fall recom mended a $37 million budget for FY2009 when they knew 2008 revenues were mil lions of dollars below that and heading lower. “If in 2008, your revenues weren’t as high as you estimated, then why would your estimate in your budget for 2009 be higher than what 2008 was?” said Worley. “We’ve not only been fighting a bad econ omy, but, since the beginning, we've also been fighting an unbalanced, approved budget for fiscal year 2009.” He said he hopes to get a better idea of the county’s current financial status when Chief Financial Officer Beth Horacek delivers a fiscal year-to-date report he requested. The report will show all rev enues and expenditures for the first half of this fiscal year and is due this week. Yearwood said people need to wake up and accept the reality of the county’s finan cial distress. “I’ve been trying to tell them,” he said. “They don’t want to believe it.” GENERAL FUND REVENUES DOWN According to the audit, general fund rev enues were $3.3 million short of original budget projections and $1 million below what the county collected in FY2007. The major shortfalls in actual revenues were as follows: •Tax collections were $1.6 million below budget. Property taxes were off by $1 mil lion and Local Option Sales Tax revenues by $452,327. •Licenses and building permits revenues were $356,025 or 35 percent below bud get. continued on page 3A Barrow County FY2008 Audit Results REVENUES Taxes $24.17 million Licenses/Permit $800,100 Intergovernmental $351,500 Service Charges $4.59 million Fines $1.55 million Investments $380,600 Miscellaneous $173,400 TOTAL REVENUES $32 million EXPENSES General Govt. $6.6 million Judicial $2.9 million Public Safety $18.8 million Public Works $2.8 million Health/Welfare $689,500 Culture/Rec $950,150 Housing/Development $2.26 million Debt Service $552,400 TOTAL EXPENSES $35.7 million Deficiency of revenues - $3.6 million Capital Lease Proceeds + $1.4 million Sale of assets + $157,719 Tranfers to other funds - $213,429 Net Loss -$2.3 million Sewer costs in Auburn to decline BY SUSAN NORMAN The engineer for Auburn’s new downtown sewer project had good news for the city council last week. Paul Simonton of PC. Simonton and Associates in Greensboro said con struction costs have plum meted with the economy; so the $1 million the city is investing in sewer infra structure downtown will go farther - literally. North of Hwy. 8, the sewer line along 4th Avenue will now go from Mount Moriah Road all of the way to Hawthorne instead of stopping at 9th Street. And an additional line will be installed along 5th Avenue for service to the library and a future restroom facility at the Roy E. Parks Children’s Park. continued on page 3A Armed Forces Day planned The City of Winder is hosting a festival celebrat ing both Armed Forces Day and Train Day on May 16. The four-hour event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will take place around the train depot on Porter Street. The annual parade asso ciated with Armed Forces Day will not be held due to the city’s budget con straints. But the event will include a sidewalk parade of preschoolers and kinder garteners with decorated toy wagons. “There will be music and things for kids, food, a car show, entertainment, displays and speechifying to celebrate our military veterans who are serving or who have served in the armed forces,” said Don Wildsmith, the city’s cul tural arts and Mainstreet director. “We want to show our support of the military,” he said. "Everyone here is impacted by the military.” Tea Party Rally PROTECTING THE FUTURE Holly Longino, along with Ivey, let their feelings be known at last week’s event at the historic Barrow County Courthouse, which was held in conjunction with protests across the state and country. Photo by Jessica Brown Statham looks to collect back taxes, overdue bills BY CHRIS BRIDGES With the City of Statham facing still tough financial times, officials are looking at ways to shore up its eco nomic numbers. City council members Betty Lyle and Gayle Steed have begun looking at past due city taxes as well as over due water bills. What they found surprised them. Lyle reported to mayor Robert Bridges and council members during a meeting last Thursday that $124,254 are currently owed in back taxes and that little is being done to collect them. In addi tion, residents owe $65,529 for delinquent water bills. Lyle also pointed out a problem of water customers leaving one residence with money owed and moving to another address and running up more fees. “Then they leave again owing more money,” Lyle said. Lyle did note some cus tomers who owed fees for water had died. City attorney Thomas Mitchell said some people who owe back taxes have declared bankruptcy. continued on page 3A Airport Authority functioning again BY SUSAN NORMAN Three months into its new term, the Barrow County Airport Authority this week held only its second regular monthly meet ing. A political standoff between new and old appointees - along with a couple of personal disputes involving chairman Frank Nocera - threatened to render the group non-functional in March, when it couldn’t even muster a quorum for its regular meeting. But Nocera has taken steps to resolve disputes over his out standing water bill and airplane taxes, and the ill winds on the panel appear largely to have subsided. “I’m glad to see y’all meeting and functioning as a board,” said Commissioner Larry Joe Wilburn, who was one of two county commissioners attending Tuesday night’s meeting. Commissioner Eva Elder also attended. During the meeting, the authority took a look at county invoices for attorney’s fees and stormwater fees. The county wants the authority to reimburse it for $21,136 in attorney’s fees the county paid for work on an ongoing land condemnation case. The authority voted 5-0, with member Jerry Thompson absent, to hold off on that payment until the authority can determine whether the expense belongs to the authority or to the county. The authority also voted 5-0 to have Nocera negotiate a pos sible reduction in the $21,433 stormwater fees assessed by the county. A financial report distributed Tuesday night showed that in the first six months of the fiscal year, the authority had income of $26,189 and total expenditures, including capital, of $39,565 - for a shortfall of $13,376. The majority of the authority’s $1.2 million in current liabilities is the $707,034 due to the county’s general fund, according to the report. continued on page 3A Statham continues to battle financial crisis BY CHRIS BRIDGES While the City of Statham is continuing to battle the cur rent economic crisis, mayor Robert Bridges said Tuesday he does not foresee any additional cutback in hours for city employees. Several weeks ago, the city cut back full-time employees to 32 hours. "Most everyone we have talked to is OK with it,” Bridges told the Barrow Journal. “We had a few cases where the cut backs were really tough on some employees, so we worked some things out so they could have more hours.” Currently, the Statham Police Department is not at full staff, so Bridges said the employees there are all working 40 hours a week. “I think things are going to improve,” the mayor said. “We know of some houses that are going to be built soon. We just have to hold on.” Bridges did say the current economic crunch is unlike any thing he has ever seen. During Tuesday night's brief 15-minute council meeting, officials voted to change collection agencies to seek back taxes owed to the city. Council members voted to change from Collection Services of Athens to Penn Credit Corporation. Also Tuesday, the council voted to allow builders to pay water tap fees once they sell houses. This will be limited to two homes per platted subdivision.