Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 3A
Carl evaluates financial situation
BY KATIE HUSTON
Finances and a potentially rough road ahead
were the talks of the town for the Carl Town
Council recently.
Mayor David Brock mentioned that the
town had to transfer money to guarantee that
accounts payable would be satisfied for the
remainder of the calendar year. He also said
that the town is not relying or counting insur
ance franchise monies, because he is unsure
when it might come in.
Brock told the council that it will be nec
essary to cut $10,000 from its next annual
budget.
“I’m not guaranteeing we'll make that in
revenues,” he said. “With everybody else's
revenues being down — that impacts our mon
ies from them.”
The town will be forced to explore options in
the future, and Brock said that the council will
have to consider all kinds of budgetary cuts.
“The biggest outlay I believe we’ve got is
garbage,” he said. “So we may have to get
creative with that.”
Businesses in Carl could face taxes in the
future, as Brock said that the town should
consider anything that can be implemented
without referendum approval — including
excise taxes.
“(Anything) just to kind of spur (revenue),”
he said. “I hate to put that burden on businesses
— especially because I’m one of them that's
not making it — but you've got to take care of
your community.”
According to Brock, a major part of the Carl
community is the town's city clerk, Deana
Davis. Davis was re-hired as city clerk back in
March, and was up for her 120-day evaluation
— including a potential raise at Thursday's
meeting.
“I think anybody who puts in 90 days and is
going to stay with us is worth a 50 cents raise
right off the bat,” Brock said. “Even consider
ing our financial plight.”
Council member Truman Phillips echoed the
sentiment, and the council approved a 50-cent
raise for Davis.
As far as specific alternatives with the town's
budget, Brock said he is prepared to get with
citizens in the fall and discuss Carl's options.
Barrow schools to appeal some AYP results
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Barrow County School
System will appeal some of its
AYP results for the past year.
Claire Miller Assistant
Superintendent for
Curriculum and Instruction
said during Tuesday night’s
meeting the system would
appeal the ruling for Russell
Middle School.
Miller also noted the
retest scores for Bethlehem
Elementary School had not
been factored in yet so those
results could change.
This year marked the fourh
time in a row some Barrow
schools did not meet AYP
(adequate yearly progress).
Winder-Barrow High School
and Apalachee High School
also did not meet AYP stan
dards.
Since WBHS and AHS
failed AYP for the second
year in a row, they are now
tagged as schools in “need of
improvement.”
Superintendent Wanda
Creel said she hopes parents
will consider more than just
AYP results when evaluating
area schools.
Also at last night's meet
ing, assistant superintendent
for facilities Jake Grant said
15 schools spent less for elec
tricity in May 2010 than the
previous year.
“We are thrilled our schools
are cooperating with us on
this,” Grant said. “Without the
schools trying, we are dead.
We just need to celebrate
these savings.”
The new school year begins
Monday and that could have
an impact on current power
costs due to temperatures
being in the 90s.
County budget continued from 1A
“It just doesn’t look good,” Yearwood said.
“It's bleak. And every time we have gotten
somewhere, something seems to hit us in the
face.”
SERVICE
CUTS?
Taxpayers — and employees — also can
expect to share the pain. Services, and pos
sibly jobs, may be cut. Property taxes may be
hiked.
Commissioner Ben Hendrix asked the public
to weigh in immediately.
“How much of a decline in services are you
willing to take and in what areas? What is most
important to you? Call us. E-mail us. Tell us
how you feel about it,” he said. “Do you want
to stand in line longer to get a tag, or wait
longer for an animal control officer to pick up
a dog? I don't think you want to wait longer
for an ambulance and a sheriff's deputy and I
don’t think you want to wait longer for a fire
truck. I know I don’t.
“But you have got to decide what critical
services you expect and we as a body have got
to decide what we can fund.”
HIGHER
TAXES?
The board has been on a roller coaster over
the issue of raising the property tax rate.
At the first budget session July 21, half of
the board talked openly about the likely need
for a tax hike in order to recoup lost property
tax revenues.
But after local media alerted the public about
the possible hike, telephone lines and online
blogs heated up in opposition to any increase
in the property tax rate.
Although some property owners might not
see an overall dollar increase in their taxes due
to lower assessments, Yearwood noted Tuesday
night that anyone with property that did not
decline in value during the recent countywide
reassessment would pay more.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
ERRORS
It was internal auditor Marilyn Golightly
who presented the incorrect budget data to the
board Monday afternoon, but it was her boss
who alone took responsibility for the depart
ment's missteps Tuesday night.
Yearwood asked both women to come to the
podium to explain the budget situation, but
only Kisaalita walked to the microphone.
“I didn’t do my homework that well,”
Kisaalita told the board. “That was my mis
take.”
Asked by the Barrow Journal who had actu
ally put together the numbers, she responded,
“my auditor.”
Asked Wednesday for further explanation of
the mistake, Kisaalita said it was due to mis-
communication.
She said she had instructed her staff to
put into Monday's document a 5-percent cut
in departmental operating expenses and just
assumed that salaries and benefits were not
to be included in the cuts, since that had been
the conclusion drawn at earlier meetings of the
budget committee.
Kisaalita said her mistake was to have made
that assumption.
After her presentation Tuesday night, the
commissioners sat in silence for several sec
onds, but did not openly criticize the finance
department staff for the errors.
Commissioner Steve Worley said after the
meeting that he was impressed by Kisaalita’s
handling of the situation.
“Our CFO to me is a true leader, because
she is responsible for that department, and she
took it upon herself to accept responsibility
for what that department put out to the board
of commissioners, when in reality I do not
feel like that was her mistake,” Worley said.
“I commend her for taking responsibility for
that error.”
Kisaalita said Wednesday morning that she
will continue working with the numbers this
week and that a third budget session of the full
board would be scheduled for sometime next
week. She said she hopes to have a prelimi
nary budget prepared within two weeks.
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CHEAP GAS
Motorists were no doubt stunned to see the price of gas at some local stations
Tuesday evening, including this Shell station at the corner of East Midland
Avenue and Athens Street. Photo by Jessica Brown
Schools continued from 1A
Other statewide Republican races on the
runoff ballot include the Attorney General’s
race in which voters will choose between Sam
Olens and Preston Smith as well as the race for
insurance commissioner in which voters will
be asked to decide between Maria Sheffield
and Ralph Hudgens.
The District 2 Public Safety Commissioner
seat is also headed to a runoff between Tim
Echols and John Douglas.
Locally, Republican voters will decide
between Shane Coley and Frank Ginn in the
State Senate 47 race and between Jody Hice and
Rob Woodall for the 7th U.S. Congressional
District.
Democratic voters have one statewide race
contested in the runoff.
Gail Buckner and Georganna Sinkfield
are vying for the Democratic nomination for
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Runoff continued from 1A
“It will tell parents where
the bus stop is, what time the
kids will be picked up, and
what time the bus returns in
the afternoon,” Grant said.
NEW
DIRECTOR
The school system's new
transportation director, Wanda
Young, was
introduced
to the public
at Tuesday
night’s meet
ing of the
Barrow
County Board
of Education.
Young is the
0# COSK
m
WANDA
YOUNG
former trans
portation safety
coordinator for
the Monroe County Board of
Education and will be paid a
salary of $73,000.
That is about $10,000 less
than the salary of her prede
cessor, James Cantrell, who
resigned June 30 amid some
internal controversy.
Barrow County School
Superintendent Wanda Creel
told the Barrow Journal this
week that the bus drivers and
monitors laid off last week
had nothing to do with that
controversy.
“It had absolutely no con
nection with anything,” she
said. “We looked at last
hired.”
The BOE voted July 20 to
hire Young, who was among
36 people applying for the
position.
She also worked for the
Jasper County Board of
Education from 1999-2006
as a school bus trainer and is
a certified school bus train
ing instructor and a certified
transportation director, Creel
said.
53 POSITIONS
ELIMINATED
Last week's transportation
department layoffs were the
final phase of a reduction-in-
NEW ROUTES TO BE RUN
The Barrow County School System bus drivers will do a
practice run Friday. Board of education chairman Mark
Still joked Tuesday night that the media should tell kids
not to chase the buses in an attempt to get on board.
Photo by Jessica Brown
force that was approved by
the Barrow County Board of
Education April 8 and result
ed in the elimination of 53
positions.
Positions eliminated imme
diately after the board's vote
included an assistant super
intendent, an elementary
curriculum coordinator, the
director of information tech
nology, the fine arts coordi
nator, the strategic initiative
coordinator, two strategic ini
tiative secretaries, the assis
tant director of pupil trans
portation, the public relations
coordinator, the computer
support supervisor, a tele
communications position, the
director of technology secre
tary, a curriculum secretary,
a maintenance helper, nine
lunchroom monitors and six
graduation coaches.
Another 15 clerical posi
tions were eliminated in May,
Creel said. However, most
of the employees affected by
the RIF have been moved to
other jobs within the school
system.
“All total, we have 12 peo
ple that have either not been
able to be placed or have
declined an offered position
with the school system,”
Creel said.
She said it wasn't until the
transportation department
completed the bus routing
process earlier this month
that the decision was made
to reduce the number of bus
routes and to lay off addi
tional transportation staff.
Some buses last year were
filled to only about half of
their capacity, she said.
The affected bus driv
ers and monitors have been
offered an opportunity to
become substitute drivers and
monitors, she noted.
The school system’s per
sonnel changes since April
are one of several cost-saving
measures expected to save
the school system about
$5.1 million during FY2011,
according to Ken Cato, assis
tant superintendent of busi
ness services.
State funding for Barrow
County schools dropped by
nearly $2.6 million for the
fiscal year that began July 1.
The new budget approved
by the school board in the
spring was about $8 million
less than the one approved for
FY2010.
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