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Barrow Journal
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Wednesday, April 29,2009
Vol. 1 No. 27 22 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•A look at historic
downtown Winder
page 1C
•In the kitchen with a
Cook of Barrow County
page 1C
•BOE deficit projected
for 2010
page 2A
•Study targets sites for
new reservoir
page 2A
Opinions:
•A true master at
working the land
page 4A
•Georgia's political
landscape is changing
page 4A
•Governments on a
diet
page 4A
Sports:
•WBHS baseball team
clinches playoff berth
page 1B
•AHS soccer team wins
state playoff match
page 1B
•Track athletes qualify
for state meet
page 1B
Also Inside:
•Classifieds
page 6C
•Church News
page 7B
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
BOC dips into reserve funds
BY SUSAN NORMAN
To the surprise of many in the audience Tuesday
night, the Barrow County Board of Commissioners
dipped multiple times into the county's dwindling
reserve funds to pay for new expenditures.
Prior to the first vote — to purchase land for a
new stand-alone health department — District 2
Commissioner Eva Elder asked chief financial offi
cer Beth Horacek how much money currently is in
the county's General Fund reserve.
Horacek said she could provide only what the
county had on Sept. 30, 2008, the end of the last
fiscal year: $6.7 million.
“Right now, what we are dipping out of reserves
is a projection,” Horacek said. “I can't tell you
what we are going to take out of reserves (in fiscal
year 2009). It’s based on the decisions the board
makes.”
The county's FY2008 audit showed a General
Fund reserve of $6.7 million, but about $1.4 million
of that consisted of unspent proceeds of a capital
lease for equipment. All but $472,000 of that now
has been spent, and after the county's planned
purchase of three emergency medical units, the bal
ance will be $100,000.
That leaves an estimated reserve balance of $5.4
million. The county's available cash is $5 million or
less, which would cover fewer than two months of
salaries and other operating costs.
As the commissioners voted to tap the reserves
Tuesday night, there were audible gasps in the
room from the audience.
The board voted unanimously to spend $141,000
to purchase 1.5 acres for the new health department
building.
An undetermined amount of additional spending
from the reserves will be required to pay for othei
project costs, such as architectural fees prior tc
construction, said Horacek.
Chairman Danny Yearwood said he didn't wanl
to lose a $500,000 community development block
grant the county has received for construction oi
the much-needed building.
The health department, which annually serves
10,000 local residents, currently occupies crampec
space on the main floor of the County Annex
Building on East Broad Street.
County nurse manager Susan Kristal in a pre
sentation told the board the project is “very, ver>
critical.”
continued on page 2A
SMOKE RISES
This silo, located on Midland Avenue, caught fire
Tuesday afternoon. Fire officials said the fire did
not spread beyond the silo.
Photo by Susan Mobley
Silo fire creates smoke,
but no injuries reported
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Poultry feed being processed in a silo at Harrison
Poultry’s feed mill on Midland Avenue caught fire
Tuesday afternoon.
The fire smoldered, but did not spread beyond the
silo and caused no injuries, said Winder Fire Chief Ray
Mattison.
Smoke was visible as firefighters shut down East
Midland Avenue for one-and-a-half hours.
But the 65-foot-high silo is totally contained within
the mill; so hours later, the only evidence of the emer
gency were hundreds of feet of yellow fire hose along
the shoulder of the street, two red fire trucks in a parking
area adjacent to the mill, and several firefighters talking
with company representatives.
The exact cause of the fire is still to be determined,
Mattison said.
continued on page 3A
Watering restrictions finally
eased for area residents
Barrow sales taxes sink
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Barrow County’s collec
tion of sales tax revenue for
April was the lowest it’s been
in six years.
The county government
received $297,196 this
month in Local Option Sales
Tax revenue, a 36-percent
drop from the $464,240 the
county collected in the same
month a year ago.
Sales taxes are the second
largest revenue source for
county government opera
tions behind property taxes.
The last time a monthly col
lection was lower was in
February 2003.
April’s SPLOST revenue
collection, which is used to
pay down the county's long
term debt and to build new
capital projects, also is the
lowest it has been in six
years. The county received
$478,192 for the month.
April’s education sales tax
collection for the schools
was $477,028.
Because disbursements
to localities are about two
months behind actual col
lections by the state, taxes
generated on sales at the new
Barrow Crossing retail cen
ter will not show up until
next month.
Based on those expect
ed store openings, county
administrators had budgeted
general sales tax revenues
in the current fiscal year to
increase by about $900,000
to $6.5 million.
However, in the first seven
months of this fiscal year,
which began last October,
the county government has
collected only $2.8 million,
far behind the anticipated
income.
That is $499,421 less than
in the first seven months of
the previous fiscal year and
$909,000 off budget for this
point in this fiscal year.
Salary discussed for
new superintendent
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Barrow County Board of Education members were
informed during April’s work session they need to
include a half-year salary and benefits package in the
2010 fiscal budget for the new superintendent.
Assistant superintendent for business services Ken
Cato told BOE members Tuesday night that $99,240
would cover six months salary and benefits for the new
superintendent, who will begin work in the middle of
the new fiscal year after current superintendent Ron
Saunders retired.
Cato said he simply took Saunders salary/benefit
figures and divided them in half.
“How does this compare with districts our size across
the state?" board member Larry Ballard asked.
“I did not make any comparisons,” Cato said. “I did
not want to take that step until you told me to.”
“I would feel comfortable telling you to take that
step," board member Mitch Churchill said.
Cato said he could provide a list of salaries for every
superintendent in the state by county.
“Get everyone’s salary,” board member Lynn Stevens
said. “That way we won’t feel bad about what we will
have to pay.”
Board member Dan Cromer, a former Barrow County
superintendent, said fellow school board members
would discover that some larger school systems than
Barrow pay less while some smaller ones pay their
superintendent more.
Unemployment
rate flattens
in March
Is the worst over? That ques
tion echoes after Georgia’s
March unemployment rate fell
slightly from February's high.
In Barrow County, the unem
ployment rate was 10.7 percent
in March, down slightly from
February's revised 10.9 percent
(the rate was initially reported
at 11 percent.)
Statewide, the rate was down
to 9.2 percent from 9.3 percent
the month before.
While the unemployment rate
has seemingly flattened, it is
still much higher than the same
time last year when in Barrow
County the rate was just 5.7
percent.
Across Georgia, the results
were mixed as some counties
saw declines while others saw
increases.
The state’s biggest jump
appears to have been in
Chattooga County in northwest
Georgia where the rate jumped
to 18 percent from 13.7 the
month before.
Winder officer injured in wreck
MONDAY ACCIDENT
This accident on Hwy. 81 Monday occured after the
driver, a Winder police officer, attempted to make a
U-turn in the middle of the road.
Photo by Susan Mobley
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The region’s local govern
ments are breathing a col
lective sigh of relief after
learning April 24 that state
watering restrictions in
their jurisdictions have been
eased.
The increased water flow
not only will make home-
owners and business owners
happy; it will bring much-
needed revenue from water
sales to the local govern
ments. Effective immedi
ately, the City of Winder, the
counties of Barrow, Jackson,
Oconee and Athens-Clarke,
and the Upper Oconee Basin
Water Authority that oper
ates Bear Creek Reservoir
are at drought restriction
level “IVb.”
That means water custom
ers in those jurisdictions are
allowed to water their lawns,
pressure wash their homes,
and wash their cars from
midnight to 10 a.m. two
days per week — in addition
to a third day per week when
the state already has been
allowing more restricted
water uses.
In her April 21 letters
to area officials, Carol
A. Couch, director of the
Georgia Environmental
Protection Division, also
gave the jurisdictions the
option of allowing watering
on Saturdays and Sundays.
Watering in north Georgia
had been restricted to week
days.
Starting April 29, those
with odd-numbered street
addresses may turn on their
sprinklers, wash their cars
and pressure-wash their
homes from midnight to
10 a.m. on Thursdays and
Sundays.
continued on page 8A
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A Winder police officer
was injured Monday in a
wreck on Hwy. 81 after he
made an improper U-turn
that caused another vehicle
to crash into his city vehicle.
According to a Barrow
County Sheriff's Office
report. Officer Christopher
Stapleton was traveling south
on Hwy. 81 in an unmarked
Ford Taurus, and Ken Parks
of Nicholson was behind him
in a Chevy Silverado.
When they reached the
intersection with Township
Avenue, the officer attempt
ed to make a U-turn in the
middle of the road.
However, the Silverado
had moved simultaneously to
the road’s center lane, and it
hit the Taurus on the driver’s
side.
Stapleton was taken to
Gwinnett Medical Center for
treatment.
Parks was not injured,
according to the report.
The officer said he had not
seen the Chevy, but he was
found to be at fault in the
accident.