Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL PAGE 1A WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023 Barrow News-Journal Barrow County News Est. 1893 • Barrow Journal Est. 2008 Merged August 2016 28 Pages, 2 Sections A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia SI.00 Copy Wednesday, May 31, 2023 Inside URTI0N Apalachee 2B, 3B Bethlehem Christian 4B, 5B BASA 6B, 7B Winder-Barrow 8B, 9B School board hears FY24 budget proposal By Carole Townsend The Barrow County School System (BCSS) continues to grow at a steady pace. During the recent school year, 14,872 students attended schools throughout the system. In the coming school year, more than 15,000 students are ex pected in the halls of these same schools, Austin Road Elementary School is on track to be fin ished, having received the certificate of occupancy last week. Sod will be installed in June. At both Apalachee High School and Winder-Bar row High School, the tennis courts have been complete ly rebuilt. Construction at BASA II is also moving along nicely. During the major portion of Tuesday’s work session, budget considerations were presented by various de partment heads to the board members, covering issues from buses to fuel, salaries to capital projects, special ser vices to nutrition, and more. With the option to hold the current millage rate at 17.881, the board considered pros and cons of both lower and higher millage rates. The school board will hold three public hearings prior to voting on the millage rate at the following dates and times: •Thursday, June 15, 10 a.m. •Thursday, June 15,6 p.m. •Thursday, June 22, 1 p.m. The board will vote on the millage rate Thursday, June 22, 6 p.m. during a special called meeting. In addition to budget mat ters, the private accounting and financial service firm Mauldin and Jenkins is be ing considered for a one-year service contract with Barrow County Schools. Two cus todial companies, ACS and FQS (both already contracted to work for Barrow County Schools), are being consid ered for a renewed annual contract with the school sys tem. These budget items and other matters will be placed on the board’s June 6 consent agenda. MAILING LABEL Honoring traditions ^ Credit: BCSS Graduates from Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy, Apalachee High School and Winder Barrow High School honored the annual tradition of walking through the halls of their former elementary schools. Pictured are graduates visiting County Line Elementary. Memorial Day Winder hosts Memorial Day service Credit: City of Winder The City of Winder hosted a Memorial Day event Friday, May 26 at the Cultural Arts Center. The keynote speaker was Retired Army Lt. Colonel Cary S. King, who served in the U.S. Army and National Guard, and was in the Infantry and Artillery in Viet nam commanding troops with the 1st Infantry Division. During his service, King was awarded five Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, five Air Medals, the Combat Infan tryman’s Badge and many others. “This Memorial Day, we honor and remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Their cour age and selflessness will never be forgotten,” read a press release from the city. Bridging cultures and creating community Estacion Latina Hosts Michelle and Rene The B aiiow County Newcomer Academy’s student-led, Spanish Podcast about Latin cul ture and experiences focuses on bridging cul tures and creating com munity. The Newcomer Academy serves high school students with lim ited English proficiency, who are new to the Unit ed States. Estacion Latina is a Spanish-language pod cast hosted by brother and sister duo, Rene and Michelle. Rene and Mi chelle are Newcomers from Venezuela. Each episode features guests and topics exploring Latino culture in the Bar- row County community. Newcomer Academy teacher Amy Wilson and Barrow Arts and Scienc es Academy teacher Paul Thornton helped produce and facilitate the podcast. Wilson says, “A large part of what we do at the Newcomer Academy is encourage our students to share their unique stories with us and with each other so that we can connect, learn from one another, celebrate each person’s unique experi ences, and share these amazing stories with our B aiiow Bold Com munity. Estacion Latina allows us to bring the in spiring stories from our community to us! At the Newcomer Academy, we believe that storytelling unites us as human be ings and that when we take the time to share our stories as well as listen to the stories of others, we recognize our common humanity while creating a sense of community.” Barrow County School System (BCSS) School Social Worker and pod cast guest Laura Ether idge says, ‘“It was an im mense pleasure to be able to be part of Estacion Latina. I was able to share part of my story on what drove me to become a social worker. It was raw, unedited and vul nerable. It was important for me to share my story because I will always be proud of my roots as a daughter of Mexican im migrant parents. I hope my story inspires those who have a chance to lis ten to it.” BCSS Family Engage ment Specialist and pod cast guest Ramon Manzo says, ‘“It was an honor to participate in this pod cast. I was able to share a little bit about my story, my struggles, and about how hard work can lead to achieving your goals. I hope that what I shared during the podcast can inspire people who may be facing similar situa tions. Working with Rene and Michelle was a blast! They were very profes sional, and were able to create a very welcoming and friendly environ ment. Overall, it was an amazing experience!” The first show aired on Feb. 7. The last episode for the Spring 2023 se mester was broadcast in front of a live audience and featured a celebra tion of all the guests and topics discussed. The teachers plan to continue the podcast with their fu ture Newcomer Academy classes. Rene and Mi chelle are participating in Work-Based Learning next school year at the Newcomer Academy to continue creating epi sodes. Supreme Court rejects Winder’s appeal in annexation arbitration case By Morgan Ervin The Georgia Supreme Court rejected the City of Winder’s appeal challeng ing a decision made by an arbitration panel in a rezoning dispute with the county. In early Sept. 2022, days after the arbitration panel ruled in the county’s favor regarding the annexation and rezoning of a property located on Pearl Pentecost Road near the West Wind er Bypass, the city moved forward with rezoning the property as the applicant, Meritage Homes, had originally proposed and in direct contravention to the arbitration panel’s ruling. In tandem with the il legal rezoning, the city appealed the arbitration panel’s decision to the Georgia Supreme Court. In the order issued Fri day, May 26, the Supreme Court of Georgia reject ed the city’s appeal and ordered the case be dis missed in its entirety with all justices concurring. Legal woes between Barrow County and the City of Winder, however, are far from over. Winder filed two ad ditional actions against Barrow County and the State of Georgia in Fulton County that also address the arbitration panel’s decision in the Meritage Homes case. Both cases have been on hold during the appeal to the Supreme Court and remain pend ing. Whether the city will bring these cases back to the forefront following the May 26 order from the Su preme Court remains to be seen as the city has made no comment regarding the latest ruling. What’s more, the city has requested the Su preme Court’s review of a separate lawsuit against the county concerning ser vice delivery strategy. The Supreme Court hasn’t yet responded to grant or deny the appeal. County’s FY24 proposed budget presented to BOC By Morgan Ervin morgan@barro wnewsj ournal .com Barrow County’s chief financial officer presented the Board of Commission ers and other county lead ers with the proposed bal anced budget for fiscal year 2024 (FY24), which begins July 1, 2023, and ends June 30, 2024. Funds included in the proposed budget are the general fund, special rev enue funds, capital project funds, debt service funds and enterprise funds. The proposed general fund expenditure budget for FY24 totals $57,986,230, representing a 9.89% in crease compared to the fis cal year 2023 (FY23) orig inal budget of $52,765,715 and an 8.83% increase com pared to the FY23 amended budget of $53,280,532. Key drivers of the gen eral fund expense increase are general insurance lia bility, pay raises and new full-time staff positions. General insurance lia bility is estimated to in crease by about 25%, from $1,341,285 to $1,679,183, of which $1,406,478 is in the general fund. Employee pay raises con sisting of a 3% cost of liv ing adjustment and a 3.7% raise for performance are budgeted for all employ ees except sheriff’s office employees, detention and constitutional officers and elected officials. Pay raises in the sheriff’s office and detention center comprise a 4.7% cost of living raise and a 2% salary compression adjustment. The addition of 19 full time and one part-time po sitions is recommended in this budget at a total cost of $1,539,298. which includes payroll taxes and county benefits. Of the 19 added positions, 13 are within the sheriff’s office and will cost roughly $1 million an nually. Also noteworthy in the proposed budget is a 624% increase from $331,459 in FY23 to $2.4 million in FY24 in the general fund’s contingency funds. The proposed budget is based on rolling the millage rate back to revenue neutral at 4.489 mills for the unin corporated and 6.109 mills for the incorporated M&O. The proposed budget also anticipates rolling back the county bond millage rate from 1.078 to 1.077 and the economic development bond millage rate from 0.26 to 0.259 mills. Coun ty bonds are scheduled to be paid off in Oct. 2026 and economic development bonds are scheduled to be paid off in Oct. 2031. The fire tax millage rate is proposed to remain the same at 2.94 mills. The total revenue for the water and sewerage fund is $49,106,234, up 136.05% from FY23, due to an ad ditional $36,846,269 going into the capital project fund from a bond. The operating fund in water and sewerage for FY24 is $11,684,965, a 34.64% decrease from FY23. The state-required public hearing is set for June 14 at 5:30 p.m. Adoption of the FY24 budget is set for June 27 at 6 p.m. OTHER BUSINESS Also, during its meeting on May 23. the BOC voted on the following: See BOC, page 2A o 1 4 5 4 1