About Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2009)
Barrow Journal www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over... 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.
