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Barrow .■ Journal
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Wednesday, July 28,2010
Vol. 2 No. 40 26 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
— Inside —
Community
•In the kitchen with
Amber Wigley
page 1C
•Musings from Journal
columnist Shelli Bond
Pabis
page 2C
•Outdoor advice from
Britt West
page 2C
Opinions:
•Barnes continues to
pick up steam
page 4 A
•Things are the same
all over
page 5A
•Letters to the Editor
page 6A
Sports:
•Beating the summer
heat
page 1B
•Mat Doggs have qual
ity summer
page IB
•WBHS baseball gets
early start on next spring
page IB
Also inside:
•Church News
page 6C
•Classifieds
page 7C
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
•Public Safety
pages 7-10A
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Thursday.
Barrow budget process falls apart
Wrong numbers, declining tax digest scramble county plans
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A spending plan for fiscal year
2011 that was cobbled together over
the past week by the Barrow County
Board of Commissioners came
unraveled Tuesday night when the
county’s new CFO announced that
incorrect figures had been provided
by her department at a budget ses
sion the previous day.
The commissioners came into
Tuesday night’s meeting thinking
that after two budget meetings of
the full board, they had managed to
close enough of last week’s $6.3 mil
lion budget gap to enable the finance
staff to generate a balanced budget.
The preliminary budget was to have
been presented Tuesday night and
was to have included no tax hike.
But a series of mistakes and misun
derstandings by county staff left the
budget incomplete.
CFO Rose Kisaalita told the BOC
that she had come to them empty
handed because data provided by
her staff at Monday’s budget ses
sion mistakenly included a 5-percent
cut of all departmental expenditures,
including payroll.
Salary and benefit cuts totaling
$1.1 million should not have been
included in those operating cuts, she
said. In addition, hundreds of thou
sands of dollars in additional rev
enue identified at Monday’s session
already had been included in earlier
revenue projections and therefore
could not be used to close the budget
gap, Kisaalita said.
Also Tuesday night, BOC chair
man Danny Yearwood announced
that preliminary tax digest numbers
from Chief Appraiser Cecil Highfield
on Tuesday indicate the county may
collect up to $1.5 million less prop
erty tax revenue in the upcoming
fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
The bottom line for the BOC: Even
after slashing $3.3 million in spend
ing and cutting another 5 percent of
non-payroll operating expenses for
most departments, the budget needs
a $2.8 million fix.
See Budget on page 3A
GAS WAR
The price for a gallon of gas bottomed out Tuesday evening after a new
BP station opened near the intersection of Georgia Highways 53 and 8. At
several stations, gridlock caused the need for law enforcement assistance
to handle the traffic. Gas pumps were also emptied and deliveries of a new
supply had to be made. Word of the price war spread quickly among local
Facebook pages and it also moved to stations like this one in Winder where
the price at one point was 63 cents a gallon, (TOP, BELOW). The wait at the
some of the stations participating was a reported quarter of a mile.
Photos by Jessica Brown
Bus routes reorganized
Final phase of RIFs and layoffs set
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Days before the new trans
portation director for Barrow
County Schools came on
board Tuesday, four bus driv
ers and three bus monitors
were laid off in a cost-saving
consolidation of bus routes.
“We are looking for ways
to be more efficient, and
we’ve done that in the bus
routing system,” said Jake
Grant, assistant superinten
dent for facilities and opera
tions.
“We've gone from 120
regular-ed bus routes down
to 107 bus routes; and for
special needs, from 24 down
to 20.”
The drivers and monitors
were laid off last week.
The consolidation of bus
routes means the county's
school buses will carry more
students and bus routes will
change for the new school
year that starts Monday.
Grant said drivers are mak
ing dry runs of their new
routes early Friday morning
and parents are encouraged
to watch for the buses that
morning and to note arrival
times. Also Friday, the routes
will be posted at each of the
schools, where open houses
will be held from 7-11 a.m.
And route information is
available online at the school
system's newly revamped
website at www.barrow.kl2.
ga.us, he said.
See Schools on page 3A
Developer predicts
more tough times
BY SUSAN NORMAN
One of Barrow County’s top developers and real estate leadei
warned the Barrow County Board of Commissioners Monday
that much tougher economic times are coming and he urged the
board to slash spending immediately.
Jerry Maynard of Maynard & Bartlett Realty Group LLF
called on the BOC at their Monday meeting to cut spending in
half instead of trying to sustain current levels of services and
warned that the county faced bankruptcy if leaders didn’t take
drastic action.
In an interview after the meeting, he said both the county and
city governments should immediately stop all capital spending.
Asked if that includes suspending the county’s multiple sewei
projects now under development in order to prepare for future
economic development, Maynard responded, “Yes.”
Maynard told the BOC Monday that in 2008, he warned the
previous county administration of the coming economic down
turn and urged them to slash the county budget at that time in
order to prepare for it. But he said former BOC chairman Doug
Garrison, former commissioner Bill Brown and former county
administrator Keith Lee “ignored the opportunity” to make the
cuts that would have preserved the financial well-being of the
community.
See Maynard on page 2A
Early voting to begin
Aug. 2 for runoffs
BY KRISTI REED
Early and absentee voting for the August 10 runoff is
scheduled to begin Monday, August 2.
Barrow County Elections supervisor
Katie Ferm has already begun the process
of preparing and testing the machines.
Voting will take place Monday through
Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the
Barrow County Elections Office located
at 233 E. Broad Street, Winder.
Though ballots are not yet available,
Ferm encouraged those who wish to take
advantage of absentee voting to request a
ballot as soon as possible.
Voters may request a ballot by calling
the elections office at 770-307-3110.
Applications are also available on the
Barrow County Elections site, www.
barrowga.org/vote, and on the Georgia
Secretary of State’s website, http://vote.
ga.gov. The Secretary of State’s website
also allows voters to check registration,
find polling locations, check on the status
of absentee ballots and view sample bal
lots. Several races in this year's primary
will be settled in the August 10 runoff.
On the Republican ballot, voters will
choose between Nathan Deal and Karen
Handel for the gubernatorial nomination. The winner will
face Roy Barnes in November. Barnes secured the Democratic
nomination outright with 65 percent of his party's vote.
See Runoff on page 3A
Commissioners accept
resignation of Clement
BY SUSAN NORMAN
After a 40-minute closed-door session Tuesday night, the
Barrow County Board of Commissioners voted to accept
the resignation of Lyn Clement, the longtime director of the
Department of License & Permits.
There was no public discussion of the matter, and no one
explained why it was necessary for the board to vote on
Clement’s retirement.
The motion by Commissioner Larry Joe Wilburn simply
stated that the board of commissioners “accept Lyn Clement’s
retirement as discussed in executive session.”
The vote was unanimous, but Eva Elder was absent from
the meeting.
See Clement page 2A
HICE