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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021
Clarification:
A story in the Sept. 15
edition about petitions being
circulated to amend the City
of Winder's charter men
tioned that resident Jessica
Burton vowed at an Aug. 3
city council meeting to re
call sitting council members
who weren't already up for
re-election and had voted
in favor of increasing the
city’s millage rate, but that
she had been told by the city
attorney she could only pe
tition to amend the charter.
Burton did say at the
meeting that she intended
to hie a recall petition, but
the petition she initially
drafted was one to override
the council's resolution
adopting the millage in
crease, which prompted the
response from the attorney
that residents could only pe
tition to amend the charter.
One of Burton’s three
active petitions being cir
culated seeks to establish a
citizens' veto measure in the
charter where citizens could
vote through a referendum
to override any actions tak
en by the council.
Barrow resident receives ‘Hice Headliner 9
award after Loganville mayor’s nomination
On Sept. 13, Congressman Jody Hice of Geor
gia's 10th Congressional District presented Bar-
row County resident Dana Cureton with the most
recent Hice Headliner Award.
Cureton is the founder and president of Clau-
dine's Closet, a nonprofit that partners with busi
ness organizations to care for residents who are in
need, according to a news release from the con
gressman’s office.
“Dana Cureton is one of those selfless citi
zens who springs into actions when faced with
a need.” Hice said. “Time and again, she has
teamed up with civic organizations and local
businesses to provide backpacks to students and
both free meals and clothing to those in need.
Dana has organized regular food box giveaways
in communities, including Loganville. Monroe,
Atlanta, and Snellville, and has demonstrated her
deep sense of gratitude by serving up meals to
area health care workers. In winter months, Dana
drives a mobile ‘clothes closet’ from which she
distributes jackets, home-made mittens, hygiene
products, and more. Thank you, Dana, for the
way in which you bring people together to serve
our larger community!”
Hice selected Cureton for the Hice Headliner
Award after receiving a nomination from Logan
ville Mayor Rey Martinez.
To nominate an individual “making a positive
impact in your community,” Hice’s office said,
send an email to Jessica.Hayes@mail.house.gov.
Submitted photo
Barrow County resident Dana Cureton, right, is pictured with Congressman Jody Hice
after recently receiving the Hice Headliner award.
COVID
continued from 1A
School
continued from 1A
There had been 1,449 deaths at NGHS fa
cilities from COVID as of Tuesday. Eight-
one percent of the current patients at NGHS
who are being treated for COVID-19 are
unvaccinated.
According to the latest available DPH
data Tuesday, Barrow’s full vaccination rate
was at 37%, with 42% having received at
least one dose. Those figures continued to
trail the statewide figures of 46% fully vac
cinated and 53% having received at least
one shot.
SCHOOL UPDATE
The Barrow County School System on
Tuesday reported a second straight weekly
drop in student COVID cases after imple
menting a district-wide mask mandate Sept.
1.
According to the district's latest data,
there were 52 students with positive cas
es the week of Sept. 13-17, less than half
a percent of the total student population, a
week after the district reported 57. Twen
ty-eight employees were out with COVID
last week.
District officials attributed the recent
drop in positive cases as well as a sharp re
duction in at-home quarantines to the tem
porary mask mandate, which they plan on
reassessing in the middle of the next month,
according to a news release. While more
than 4,000 students had to miss school in
August due to a quarantine, less than 50
have been required to stay at home due to a
close contact with a COVID case since the
mask mandate went into effect.
“When students wear masks, they can
keep learning in school,” officials said.
“Without masks, significantly more stu
dents are required to stay at home due to a
quarantine. This means students must pro
actively manage their learning at home and
that parents must provide childcare, which
is often challenging to arrange due to work
requirements.”
Officials said they plan to reexamine the
case numbers the week students and staff
ers return from the district’s Oct. 4-8 fall
break and are anticipating announcing the
next steps the week of Oct. 18.
“Schools will have time to track and
gather data on positive student cases and
look at the number of students quaran
tined,” officials said. “Student quarantines
and positive cases will be the two primary
criteria used to determine temporary mask
requirements on a school-by-school basis.”
without the usual addition of funds
from the Georgia Department of Edu
cation.
What’s unique about the innovation
campus, officials said, is the “shared
campus concept,” where schools from
elementary level to college level can be
attended across one large campus. The
innovation campus elementary school
will be adjacent to Barrow Arts and Sci
ences Academy for high school students,
which opened in August 2020, on the
same campus. Lanier Technical College
also shares the campus as well as a future
middle school, which will likely open in
2025.
“We looked at a lot of different mag
net schools and charter schools and we
modeled pretty much on that,” said Mc-
Michael.
However, BCSS added transportation
options to accommodate students who
would otherwise lack reliable means to
travel off-campus independently, offi
cials said.
To clear the transportation obstacle,
the district runs shuttle buses to and from
the innovation campus and Winder-Bar
row and Apalachee high schools.
Photo courtesy Barrow County School System
Superintendent Chris McMichael
speaks during the groundbreaking
ceremony.
“We made sure to provide that transpor
tation that a lot of these types of schools
don’t offer.” McMichael said. “One of my
big things is it needs to be accessible to
everybody.
“In Barrow County, if you want to grad
uate high school, you have to work not to.
We've got a little bit of everything.”
Planning
continLied from
1A
project would be a “high-
end quality development”
that will “flourish over the
years.”
The requests didn’t draw
any opposition during a
public hearing before the
planning commission last
week, though the Barrow
County School System
raised concerns about it in a
letter to the county. Roches
ter said the apartment com
munity would likely have
very few children, and his
firm presented calculations
suggesting that the school
district would see an annu
al net benefit of more than
$158,000 from the estimat
ed $35 million develop
ment.
The panel’s recommend
ed approval comes with 17
conditions — including that
there be a limit of 275 units,
that there be no more than
12 three-bedroom units and
that there be no playground.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at its
Sept. 16 meeting, the plan
ning commission:
•tabled and called for a
second public hearing on a
request by developer D.R.
Horton and the J. Daniel
Blitch Family Partnership
to eliminate nine of the 17
conditions attached to a re
zoning of 144.7 acres just
west of Highway 211 for
a planned single-family
Considering
((TM*R) )) buying or
selling?
770-867-9026
www.maynardrealty.com
subdivision on both sides
of Rockwell Church Road
with a little more than 300
homes. The property was
rezoned by the county in
2008, but the project has yet
to be built. The developers
are seeking to strike a con
dition that the northern side
of the development be an
age-restricted 55-and-old-
er community and are also
planning to do away with a
planned commercial com
ponent for the project. And
while county staff has rec
ommended 2,000-square
foot minimums for homes,
the applicants are propos
ing a minimum of 1,800
square feet for their ranch-
style homes, adding that
they would abide by rec
ommendations for a new
traffic study for the project
that was completed in July.
Planning commissioners
agreed they wanted more
time to review the requests,
and nearby residents made
similar comments during
last week’s public hearing.
The second public hear
ing on the request will be
held by the panel at its next
scheduled meeting, Oct. 21.
•recommended approval
of a request by South Point
Homes to rezone 34 acres on
Smith Mill Road between
Vinings Drive and Ode Pep
pers Road for a single-fam
ily subdivision. The request
now heads to the BOC for a
public hearing and final vote
at its Oct. 12 meeting.
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NOTICE
The City of Auburn City Council does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting to be held at the Auburn Courthouse/ Council
Chambers located at 1361 Fourth Avenue, Auburn, Georgia on October 7, 2021 at 5:00 PM and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.GA. § 48-5-32
does hereby publish the following presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the history of the tax digest and levy for the past five
years. ** Due to recommendations by the CDC during the Coronavirus crisis, this meeting may be conducted via teleconference. This is allowed by
O.C.G.A. §50-14-1 (g) as the public is provided simultaneous access to the teleconference meeting. The City of Auburn may utilize the Zoom meeting
app to conduct this public hearing teleconference meeting, more information can be found on the City’s website www.cityofauburn-ga.org .
CURRENT 2021 TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEA
R HISTORY OF LEVY
City of Auburn
Barrow District
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Real & Personal
$115,900,408
$128,548,492
$149,634,223
$166,545,281
$181,077,957
$203,445,877
Motor Vehicles
$5,408,510
$3,843,320
$2,808,600
$1,322,850
$1,990,570
$1,732,140
Mobile Homes
$466,539
$506,966
$492,329
$538,834
$530,493
$538,907
Timber -100%
$C
$C
$C
$C
$32,446
$C
Heavy Duty Equipment
$C
$C
$C
$C
$C
$C
Gross Digest
$121,775,457
$132,898,778
$152,935,152
$168,406,965
$183,631,466
$205,716,92^
Less M& O Exemptions
$4,073,530
$4,390,861
$4,954,235
$5,872,052
$6,807,646
$6,995,528
Net M & O Digest
$117,701,927
$128,507,917
$147,980,917
$162,534,912
$176,823,82C
$198,721,396
Gross M&O Millage
13.591
12.976
12.404
12.291
12.437
12.612
Less Rollbacks
8.660
8.045
7.473
7.360
7.506
7.681
Net M&O Millage
4.931
4.931
4.931
4.931
4.931
4.931
Net Taxes Levied
$580,388.20
$633,672.54
$729,693.90
$801,459.66
$871,918.26
$979,895.20
Net Tax $ Increase
-$13,814
$53,284
$96,021
$71,766
$70,456
$107,977
Net Tax % Increase
-2.32%
9.18%
15.15%
9.84%
8.79%
12.38%