Newspaper Page Text
| NEWS REPORTING / NEWS RECAP / NEWS ANALYSIS
StarNews monthly traditional print publication / StarNews Online daily local news \
JUNE 11, 2023 • VOLUME 29 NUMBER 6
www.starnewsgaonline.com
Subscription Drive
Please consider supporting
StarNews through a paid
subscription - your only locally
owned, locally operated newspaper
StarNews reports on local matters
- because local matters! Since
1995, StarNews has reported on
West Georgia’s local news and
events through Investigative
reporting and a diverse variety of
columnists and opinion writers.
Why? Because local matters!
Now during our SUBSCRIPTION
DRIVE you can stay in the KNOW
for just $20 for a one year
subscription or $35 for two years
See subscription form on Page 24
StarNews ■ because LOCAL MATTERS!
After two years of negotiations,
City of Villa Rica able to secure
county school board as an
18-year financial partner in
Tax Allocation District (TAD)
County school board to forfeit 13.5 of its current 17.5 mills
(revenue) that lies within the TAD area (Eastside)
18 years of certain county property taxes will go towards paying for
new water and sewer services in three of the five growth “nodes”
The Carroll County School System issued a press release
announcing that the Carroll County Board of Education (BOE)
and the Villa Rica City Council each have approved an intergov
ernmental agreement to govern Villa Rica’s Eastside Tax
Allocation District (TAD). This agreement commits future prop-
See VILLA RICA/COUNTY SCHOOLS TAD page 13
Commission: $4M in excess by end
of fiscal year of June 30; chairman
earmarks how to spend by then
Revenues exceeded current Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Budget of $67,037,386
Expenditures increased to match the $4 million in excess funds
Proposed FY2023-2024 Budget of $73,234,841 to begin July 1st is $6M higher
story by Sue Horn
The Carroll County Board of
Commissioners held a budget work
session 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 10,
2023 in commission chambers,
downtown Carrollton, with the purpose of
discussing any issues, changes,
suggestions, or ideas any of the six board
members may have with the proposed
FY2023-2024 Budget of $73,234,841 as
presented to them by Chairman Michelle
Carroll County Board of Commissioners hear presentation on proposed historic split of judicial circuit
Morgan in April. The new budget is $6M
higher than the current budget.
During this budget work session,
Finance Director Alecia Searcy shared
with the board that by this budget’s end
on June 30th there will be $4+ million in
extra revenue, over and above all reve
nues in and accounted lor in the FY2022-
2023 Budget. The finance director then
See COMMISSION $4M EXTRA page 9
Commercial and
industrial property
reassessments lined
up for next three
years: 1/3 per year
GMASS of Norwood, GA re-hired
Contract totals $263,000 plus $1000
per diem for certain court hearings
story by Sue Horn
GMASS, Georgia Mass Appraisal
Solution and Services of 540 Ridge Road,
Norwood, GA, 30821, has been hired to
carry out the reassessments of all com
mercial and industrial properties in
See GMASS page 13
$4M awarded to
UGA to design the
“Farm of the Future”
Carroll County Commission Vice Chairman Clint Chance, center, presides at the June 1, 2023 work session of the Carroll County
Commission. The five attending (two were absent) district commissioners listened to a presentation by Superior Court Judge John
Simpson concerning the proposed split of the Coweta Judicial Circuit. This split would change the current circuit into two: one
comprised of two counties and one of three. Carroll County would belong to one of the two newly formed circuits with a decision by
Judicial Circuit of Georgia Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) and a legislative act by the Georgia General Assembly. The current
Coweta Circuit Court is made up of the five counties of Carroll, Coweta, Heard, Meriwether, and Troup. (See story>page 7.)
Judge Simpson’s presentation showed the preferred split to be Carroll, Heard, and Troup counties as the “West Georgia Circuit”,
and Coweta and Meriwether as the “Coweta Circuit”. On May 2, 2023, the Coweta Board of Commissioners voted for the split to be
Carroll and Heard counties as one circuit, and Coweta, Meriwether and Troup to be the other. Photo by Sue Horn
by Jordan Powers, UGA College of
Agricultural Environmental Sciences
Researchers at the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences have been
awarded nearly $4 million from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s National
Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
to develop a climate-smart “4-D Farm.”
See FARM of FUTURE page 21
This issue is also
posted on over
110 Facebook
community pages,
Twitter,
Linkedln,
&
starnewsgaonline.com
Call 770-722-7227
suehorn.starnews
@gmail.com
waynereynolds.starnews
@gmail.com
ERNEST "ERNIE" REYNOLDS
Retired Deputy Director, State Department of Audits
TRANSPARENCY
ACCOUNTABILITY
RESPONSIVENESS
Celebrating Our Independence -
Thanks to my dad (Korean Conflict) & all our Veterans!
ereynolds@carrollcountyga. com*770-851 -6215
Your Carroll County Commissioner District 5