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10A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 4,2018
Dawsonville approves 2018-2019 budget
ByAllie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
The Dawsonville city
council recently voted to
approve its 2018-2019 bud
get, which will take effect
July 1.
The $5.7 million budget
is an increase of $726,778
over the 2017-2018 budget.
The city has budgeted
$1.3 million in SPLOST VI
expenditures, with roads
and sidewalks, the farmers
market project and Main
Street Park as the biggest
expenditures.
Improvements are also in
the books for city hall,
including a storage build
ing, new HVAC units, a
security badge system,
replacing the awning,
painting the upstairs, land
scaping near Hwy. 53 and
furnishing the J.L. Cox
meeting room.
The public works depart
ment has budgeted for a
diesel fueling station, emer
gency lights for vehicles,
sidewalks that extend from
Shoal Creek Road to
Rainhill to Hwy. 9 as well
as sidewalks that span from
Robinson Elementary
School to Hwy. 9, a winter
weather equipment storage
facility, replacement of
street barricades and plans
to work on a rock wall and
paving at the cemetery.
The city’s utility depart
ment has a few projects
planned, with funds going
towards a sewage expan
sion plan, replacing water
lines, stabilizing the bank at
one of the sewage ponds
and upgrading the filter
system at well 108.
In addition to that, the
city is working to develop
parking and a public rest
room for downtown for
future food truck events as
well as the Mountain
Moonshine Festival and
other events.
Citizens can also expect
a website redesign, and the
city is working on creating
city newcomer packets for
all new residents.
Employees will also see
benefits of the larger bud
get.
One new position has
been approved, a part-time
permit/license technician,
as well as a cost-of-living
raise for all employees.
Public works and utility
staff will see a competitive
pay rate, and substantial
training for all departments
is also on the list.
'I don't think it'll be a short process. I think it'll
be a thorough process.'
Linda MacGregor
Director of the Gainesville Department of Water Resources
FROM 1A
Water
Now, the states and the tax
payers funding the multimil-
lion-dollar legal battles are
girding for months more time
working with a special master
to make their cases while
answering these five questions
posed by justices in a decision
written by Justice Stephen
Breyer:
“First, has Florida suffered
harm as a result of decreased
water flow into the
Apalachicola River? (The
Special Master assumed ‘yes.’)
“Second, has Florida shown
that Georgia, contrary to equita
ble principles, has taken too
much water from the Flint
River (the eastern branch of the
Y-shaped river system)?
(Again, the Special Master
assumed ‘yes.’)
“Third, if so, has Georgia’s
inequitable use of Basin waters
injured Florida? (The Special
Master assumed ‘yes.’)
“Fourth, if so, would an equi
ty-based cap on Georgia’s use
of the Flint River lead to a sig
nificant increase in streamflow
from the Flint River into
Florida’s Apalachicola River
(the stem of the Y)? (This is the
basic question before us.)
“Fifth, if so, would the
amount of extra water that
reaches the Apalachicola River
significantly redress the eco
nomic and ecological harm that
Florida has suffered? (This
question is mostly for
remand.)”
Answers to the latter two
questions will determine wheth
er the court will, or even can,
create a water-consumption cap
for Georgia.
Breyer wrote in his decision
that a cap is possible, which
would mean more water flow
ing out of Fake Fanier and into
the Chattahoochee and, eventu
ally, Flint rivers.
“The record leads us to
believe that, if necessary and
with the help of the United
States, the Special Master, and
the parties, we should be able to
fashion one,” Breyer said, but
noted that Florida would only
qualify for a cap if “the benefits
of the (cap would) substantially
outweigh the harm that might
result.”
In his dissent, which begins
on page 43 of the 79-page deci
sion, Justice Clarence Thomas
lays out how a cap on Georgia’s
water use could be economical
ly unfair between the states.
“Although both Georgia and
Florida depend on the Basin,
the Florida portion of the Basin
is significantly less populated
and productive. The Georgia
portion has a population of
more than 5 million and
accounts for around $283 bil
lion in gross regional product
per year,” Thomas wrote. “The
Florida portion, by contrast, has
a population of fewer than
100,000 people and generates
around $2 billion in gross
regional product per year. In
relative terms, Georgia accounts
for 98 percent of the population
and 99 percent of the economic
production.”
Determining the costs for
Georgia and benefits for Florida
of a water use cap in the basin
is likely to take years.
“I don’t think it’ll be a short
process,” said Finda
MacGregor, director of the
Gainesville Department of
Water Resources. “I think it’ll
be a thorough process.”
MacGregor once oversaw
watershed protection for the
Georgia Environmental
Protection Division, the state
agency responsible for permit
ting water utility providers in
Georgia.
State lawmakers and EPD
have tightened conservation
measures in the course of the
litigation while trying to prove
the state can back up claims of
good stewardship of the river
basin. While the litigation con
tinues, MacGregor said it’s
unlikely the litigation is “going
to change anything about pro
viding water” in Gainesville
while it’s ongoing.
While both sides of the case
wait to hear how it will proceed
— it’s not yet clear whether it
will return to its original special
master, Maine lawyer Ralph
Fancaster — Florida lawmakers
were crowing after the decision
was announced.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who
is running for a U.S. Senate
seat, called Wednesday’s deci
sion “a huge win” for the state
and that after “decades of failed
negotiations” the state decided
to keep pushing the issue to the
Supreme Court.
Sen. Marco Rubio said the
Supreme Court came one step
closer to alleviating the decades
of harm caused by Georgia’s
disregard for the (Florida)
Panhandle’s vital economic and
environmental resources.”
Georgia leaders struck a dif
ferent tone after the decision
was announced. Gov. Nathan
Deal said he was disappointed
in the ruling but “confident in
the state’s legal position” that
would prove the “ineffective
ness of draconian caps placed
on Georgia’s water use.”
Deal noted that state govern
ment has reduced the state’s
drain on the Apalachicola-
Chattahoochee-Flint River
Basin through changes to state
law and conservation tactics.
Deal also told the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution that he
regretted negotiations with the
governors of Florida and
Alabama weren’t successful,
especially at the start of his
term.
“We got very close. But
sometimes politics gets in the
way, too. We had the advantage,
at one point, when we were all
three of us were early in their
gubernatorial cycles,” Deal told
the AJC.
“That would have been the
time when we could have
reached an agreement. I thought
we were going to get it done,
but we didn’t. And I regret
that.”
In Washington, D.C., Rep.
Doug Collins, R-Gainesville,
told The Times that the
Wednesday decision wasn’t a
win for either said and that the
Supreme Court has decided
“there’s going to be another
several years of very expensive
litigation. We’ll see where it
goes from there. I believe we’ll
still prevail.”
Army Corps management of
lakes Fanier and Hartwell has
been a major issue for Collins
as a representative, and he said
Georgia’s congressional delega
tion has had to beat back
attempts from Florida and
Alabama to mandate changes to
water flows through federal law.
The decision should have
been hashed out between the
states, Collins said, Georgia has
done “all of the legwork on
conservation” while leaders in
Alabama and Florida have
“abdicated” their responsibili
ties to their states.
“Alabama and Florida
wouldn’t have heard of conser
vation if somebody came up
and yelled it at them,” he said.
Hyman Waff, Sie/ner of the Uecfaration of independence
This statue is a 2018 Bicentennial gift to Hall County
from Jack Frost, Memorial Park Funeral Home.
NORTON
SINCE 1928
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