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Barrow Journal
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Wednesday, June 17,2009
Vol. 1 No. 34 48 PAGES 4 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•In the kitchen with a
Cook of Barrow County
page 1C
•Statham looks at
increasing traffic tickets
page 2A
•Grand opening held
for new courthouse
page 2A
Opinions:
•Common Sense 101
is back in session
page 4A
•The drought ends,
but will return
page 4A
•Readers voice their
thoughts: Letters to
the Editor
page 5A
Sports:
•Bernstein continues
to win on tennis court
page 1B
•Racing returns to WB
Speedway
page 2B
•Randy Blalock offers
his latest musings
page 2B
Also Inside:
•Classifieds
page 7B
•Church News
page 6B
•Public Safety
page 6A-7A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5B
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
County tax hike looming?
Layoffs, cuts lighter than expected this week
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Fewer Barrow County govern
ment employees were laid off this
week than had been planned — 11
rather than the 25-35 expected.
While that may be good news for
county employees, the lighter cuts
means the county still faces a $1
million deficit this fiscal year, which
ends September 30.
And county leaders are increas
ingly sounding like a property tax
hike may happen this fall to fund the
FY2010 budget that has a projected
deficit of about $6 million even with
these additional layoffs.
Barrow County Board of
Commissioners chairman Danny
Yearwood said this week he couldn’t
cut enough positions required to fix
that shortfall and continue to pro
vide necessary services.
“I can’t stop services we need in
Barrow County to try to get to the
number we’re trying to get to,” he
said. “Going into the new budget,
I’ll know if we’ve got to raise taxes
and what I’ve got to do to fund these
(remaining) positions.”
While this week’s layoff actions
were lighter than anticipated,
Yearwood said Tuesday that addi
tional salary cuts are coming and
would be done on a case-by-case
basis rather than across the board.
In addition, he said he is tossing,
for now, plans for additional fur
loughs that would have cost employ
ees another eight hours of pay per
month.
Yearwood reduced the layoffs
after meeting individually with
county elected officials and depart
ment managers Monday.
“We sat down and discussed
everybody, every position,” he said.
“I found out things that me being
here six months had never heard
before, sitting at the table with them.
Before the day was over, I let them
know my door is always open, you
talk to me; if Fve got to make a deci
sion concerning your department,
I’ve got to know the best decision to
make. I think it really helped.”
Yearwood said he was surprised to
learn that some departments hadn’t
hired new staff in a decade.
“We’ve got departments in our
county - and this was a shock to
me - that had not had employees
added since 1999," he said. “I didn’t
know that. They just didn’t get any
body when everybody was doing the
hiring. They’ve got five people in
(Probate Judge) Tammy’s (Brown’s)
office that have been there since the
‘90s. How do you tell somebody
who has been there 15 years you
don’t need them?”
continued on page 3A
THE START
Swimmers begin a race during
the North Georgia Swim League
pentathlon.
BARRACUDA
Winder swimmer Jack McDaniels competes in the 8-9-year-old division
where he finished 8th overall Saturday. Photos by Jessica Brown
Pink slip: Airport director laid off
City of Winder
Officials: No staff or
pay cuts in FY2010
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Winder’s city government
plans no pay cuts or layoffs
in the coming fiscal year,
according to city officials
who answered a series of
questions from the Barrow
Journal last week.
And despite a cash-flow
imbalance of more than
$600,000 as of May 31, the
city will likely come close to
breaking even at the end of
the current fiscal year June
30, officials said.
“The finances of the
City of Winder are sound,”
said Mayor George “Chip”
Thompson III. “We are not
in trouble. However, these
are troubling times. We are
making sure we do every
thing we can to make sure
we do not get into trouble.”
REDUCED SALARY
EXPENDITURES
The proposed Winder bud
get for the new fiscal year
beginning July 1 includes
funding for 35-38 fewer
positions than were in the
FY2009 budget and $2.2
million less for salaries. But
no staff cuts are planned on
top of February’s layoff of
28 employees, said finance
director Leslie Ginn.
The positions eliminated
in the new budget are vacant
positions that were budgeted
in FY2009, but not filled,
she said.
The reduced spending for
A public hearing on
Winder's city budget
for FY2010 is scheduled
for 5 p.m. Thursday,
June 18, at the Winder
Community Center. The
mayor plans to conduct
the hearing. The finance
director will respond to
questions posed by citi
zens and the city coun
cil will be on hand to
hear comments.
salaries also is due to the
elimination of raises that had
been planned this year, but
which had not been imple
mented due to the revenue
shortfall.
The 20-percent plunge in
the fire department’s salary
expenditures for FY2010 is
due to the removal of three
positions that were funded
in the FY2009 budget —
though not listed in the
document — and were not
filled, Ginn told the Barrow
Journal this week.
The community television
station in FY2010 will have
two, rather than the three
employees as initially listed
in the budget.
Ginn said she included in
the budget a handful of posi
tions that were “furloughed”
instead of eliminated in
February and the technician
job was one of them.
continued on page 8A
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Barrow County’s airport director was
among 11 county employees laid off invol
untarily this week.
And Glen Boyd, who had worked for the
county since June 2006, did not go pas
sively into the night.
He apparently lost his temper after learn
ing that he would not be paid his accumu
lated time off and was directed by Human
Resources Director Norma Jean Brown to
immediately leave the airport and not to
take anything with him, including personal
belongings in his office.
After the encounter became confronta
tional, Brown said she directed her assistant
to call the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy arrived as Boyd was leaving the
property, but Brown said she filed a com
plaint.
She disclosed information about the inci
dent during a meeting that she and county
Chairman Danny Yearwood held with local
reporters late Tuesday afternoon. Because
the county confiscated Boyd’s cell phone,
it was not possible to contact him for com
ment.
continued on page 3A
Barrow foreclosures reach new high
Foreclosures in Barrow County hit a new
monthly high for the upcoming July sale
date with 245.
That puts the 2009 year-to-date total at
1,210, up 62 percent over last year and a
pace that could top 2,000 foreclosures in the
county by the end of the year.
In 2008, Barrow had 1,395 total foreclo
sures for the year. For the first seven months
in 2008, there were 741 foreclosures in
Barrow.
The trend in Barrow is troubling because
it appears to be accelerating in 2009 rather
than stabilizing.
Few pay back taxes
following FiFa issues
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Most of the 2,900 tax liens filed against
Barrow County properties last month
remain unpaid.
In an effort to collect $2.9 million in
delinquent taxes for the county’s schools
and local government, Barrow County Tax
Commissioner Melinda Williams filed an
unprecedented 2,900 “writs of fieri facias”
with the Barrow County Clerk of Superior
Court in early May.
Since then, only about $180,000 of the
overdue taxes has been paid, Williams said
this week.
The FiFa fdings are the first step in the
process leading to tax sales of the properties. Letters notify
ing the property owners of the liens against their properties
will go out next week, Williams said.
continued on page 3A
See a
complete
list of
unpaid
taxes on
pages
4C-28C
