DCES promotes two
to division chief roles
LOCAL, 4A
Tigers roll to
scrimmage victory
SPORTS, IB
WEDNESDAY I AUGUST 15, 2018 DaWSOflNeWS ^com DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00
Gaines pushes for millage rollback
Final millage, impact fee hearings set for Thursday
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
The third and final hearing
for the county millage rate will
be held on Thursday night, at
which point the Dawson County
Board of Commissioners could
vote to set the rate for 2018.
The board has the option of
maintaining the current rate at
8.138, which is the most likely
option, as well as raising the
rate or rolling it back.
The millage rate is part of a
formula used to calculate prop
erty taxes, where one mill
equals $1 for every $1,000 in
assessed property value.
New businesses and homes
coming to the area as well as a
recent countywide revaluation
on all agricultural and residen
tial real property has resulted in
an overall increase in the total
tax digest, or value of all the
properties in the county.
Leaving the rate the same as
last year would therefore
increase the amount of taxes the
county could collect by about
12.8 percent, or $1.3 million,
over 2017.
A complete rollback to 7.393
mills would generate the same
amount of revenue from proper
ty taxes as the year before.
The board has kept the mill-
age rate the same for at least the
past 10 years, meaning that
each year as long as the total
assessed property values
increased, the board collected
more in property taxes
See Millage 16A
Photos by Bob Christian Dawson County News
Pictured from left, Dick Anderson, Dan Elliott and Charlie Hughes are inducted into the Georgia Racing
Hall of Fame.
5 more legends added to wall
New members inducted to Georgia Racing Hall of Fame
Georgia Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony guests chat Aug. 11.
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
Rarely in life does a person get the
chance to be a witness to history.
Even more rare is the opportunity to
be a part of that history as it occurs.
Attendees of the Georgia Racing
Hall of Fame’s 14th annual induction
ceremony got a chance to be a part of
both as the world of racing got
together on Saturday, Aug. 11 to pay
tribute to another group of legends.
“I’ve been here since day one, and
this is easily one my favorite days of
the year,” said Gordon Pirkle,
GRHOF president.
Beginning in 2002 with the cre
ation of the hall of fame and the
induction of its first eight members,
from legendary drivers such as Floyd
Seay to media representatives along
the lines of James Mosteller, the
Georgia Racing Hall of Fame has rec
ognized the contributions of people at
all levels of the sport.
This year’s class of inductees fea
tured three of the sport’s drivers:
Charlie Hughes, Russel Nelson and
Ranee Phillips; a member of the most
dominant racing team of the 1980s,
Dan Elliott; and an inventor that
changed forever the way drivers han
dled their vehicles, Dick Anderson.
WSB’s Doug Turnbull hosted the
ceremony for the fourth year, and
along with NASCAR commentator
Rick Minter, introduced each of the
recipients.
The first award of the day, the
See Racing 17A
Sheriff seeks
extra $1M in
next budget
County wrapping up hearings
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Open budget hearings continue this week with multi
ple departments presenting requests to the Dawson
County Board of Commissioners for the 2019 fiscal
year.
In perhaps the most anticipated of the budget presen
tations so far, Sheriff Jeff Johnson on Aug. 8 asked the
board to allocate $9.2 million for his total annual bud
get, an increase of almost $1 million from what he was
allocated in 2018.
Johnson sued the board last year when it approved a
budget that was around $700,000 less than what he had
requested, stating that the amount allocated to him was
“inadequate to perform the duties required of (his)
office.”
In March a judge ruled in favor of the commission,
stating there had been no abuse of discretion when the
board set Johnson’s 2018 budget.
See Budget 18A
Dawson 15-year-old
charged with making
terroristic threats
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
A 15-year old male student at Dawson County
Junior High School was arrested last week after
allegedly making terroristic threats at school on
Thursday.
The student has been charged with one count of
terroristic threats and one count of transmitting a
public alarm after allegedly making vocal reference
to shooting up the school.
According to Sheriff Jeff Johnson, at 2:40 p.m.
Aug. 9 investigators responded to reports of threats
that had occurred at the junior high.
“While there did not appear to be an immediate
threat to the students or staff, cause was sufficient
to warrant the juvenile’s detention,” Johnson said in
an email Friday.
See Teen 13A
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9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 3, Number 46
© 2018, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
3B
Classifieds
7B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
8B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
3A BOE discusses
rolling back
millage rate
4A Water wars
L may drag on
even longer
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