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8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, December 26,2018
Ga. jobless rate at lowest level since 2001
By Joshua Silavent
DCN Regional Staff
Georgia’s workforce contin
ues to set records with the state
adding nearly 100,000 jobs
over the past year while the
unemployment rate has fallen
to its lowest level since January
2001.
The November jobless rate of
3.5 percent is down .1 percent
from October.
By comparison, the national
rate remained unchanged at 3.7
percent.
One year ago, the state’s rate
was 4.5 percent.
“As we approach the end of
2018, it’s great to see so much
progress,” Labor Commissioner
Mark Butler said in a press
release. “We have much to cel
ebrate this holiday season. We
continue to not only improve
but set records.”
Georgia added 4,500 jobs in
November for a total of 4.6
million workers employed.
For the year, Georgia added
more than 8,000 jobs per month.
Georgia’s labor force (all
age-eligible and able workers)
totaled 5.1 million at the end of
November.
Monthly job growth came
primarily in the trade, transpor
tation and utilities sectors
(4,800); professional and busi
ness services (2,600); and gov
ernment (1,000).
One caveat to these robust
numbers: Claims for unemploy
ment insurance increased in
November by almost 9 percent
from October, and were up 21
percent year-over-year.
And there were 73,067 state
wide job postings during the
month of November, down 5
percent from October.
“There are a number of fac
tors, some seasonal, that make
the numbers fluctuate month to
month,” Butler said. “It’s more
important to watch the trends
for the long term to understand
what’s really going on. And,
the long-term trends look posi
tive for Georgia.”
FROM 1A
Impact
mind, Ross’ methodology
report would calculate the
maximum impact fees that
the city could charge for
each category of public ser
vice the city offers. The
council could choose to
adopt the maximum fee or
reduce it to a smaller
amount.
The goal of impact fees is
to shift the burden from the
tax base as a whole to just
the new growth and devel
opment, so that everyone
pays their fair share of capi
tal improvements.
The public facilities that
could benefit from the
impact fees in the city
potentially include water
supply, treatments and dis
tribution as well as waste-
water collection, treatment
and disposal, in addition to
roads, streets and bridges
and parks and recreation.
The funds generated
could not be used to main
tain services that already
exist but to increase the
capacity of those services.
For example, road mainte
nance is not impact fee eli
gible, but adding turn lanes
or more lanes to increase
capacity of a road to carry
traffic is impact fee eligible.
Also included in the
study would be a Capital
Improvements Element,
which is a list of the proj
ects the city would plan to
fund using impact fees.
Once the Capital
Improvements Element was
approved by the Georgia
Department of Community
Affairs, it would be adopted
by the city as an amend
ment to their comprehen
sive plan, which the council
updated earlier this year.
The company would also
draft an impact fee ordi
nance and fee schedule the
council would have to adopt.
Moving forward with the
study would put the city
under no obligation to
adopt impact fees, though
the city would still have to
pay for the work performed.
“As we work with you
through this entire process,
you can stop at any time,”
Ross said.
Mayor Mike Eason said
he was concerned about the
effect impact fees could
have on small businesses,
which is the kind of busi
ness Dawsonville has typi
cally drawn.
Ross said the city could
adopt certain exemptions
and define different kinds
of businesses to give them a
reduction in impact fees. A
downside to exemptions
would be that the city
would have to reimburse
the impact fee fund the
amount that would have
been brought in if an
exempt business builds in
the city.
Council member Jason
Power asked if there was a
way to measure the effect
of impact fees on develop
ment in counties or cities
that have put the fees in
place.
Ross said the fees do not
impact development,
because the cost of impact
fees is often just absorbed
into the cost of develop
ment (either passed on to
the home buyer or absorbed
by the company).
“There are folks who
have adopted impact fees
with the thought that they
were going to slow down
growth; it’s never worked,”
Ross said.
Speaking against the
implementation of impact
fees was Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce
President Christie Moore.
Along with stating that
'To be honest it puts you at a strategic advantage right now
that you do not have impact fees," Moore said. "We're
looking to attract business, every detail right now matters.
Any advantage that you have as a city to build who we
want, I think we shouldn't add anything to deter that.'
Christie Moore
Dawson County Chamber of Commerce President
any additional cost would
be a burden to new home-
owners in the county,
whether purchasing a new
home through a developer
or building a new home
themselves, Moore also
advocated for small busi
nesses, saying the fees
could be detrimental to
attracting the kind of busi
ness that the city is looking
for.
“To be honest it puts you
at a strategic advantage
right now that you do not
have impact fees,” Moore
said. “We’re looking to
attract business, every detail
right now matters. Any
advantage that you have as
a city to build who we
want, I think we shouldn’t
add anything to deter that.”
Moore also reminded the
council that the city’s larg
est source of income is
sales tax, the lion’s share of
which is generated in the
Ga. 400 corridor. Moore
also said that 85 percent of
that money is generated by
people who do not live in
the county.
“If I was going to build a
house I would much rather
the money that we’re pay
ing for our parks and our
roads and everything else
(come from) other people
than me,” Moore said. “And
I think that’s one of the
amazing strengths we have
as a community is that we
get to take advantage of
being that hub of north
Georgia.”
Moore said that to her
knowledge, the only city in
any other counties sur
rounding Dawson County
that has impact fees is
Gainesville, which is home
to over 40,000 people and
has very different needs
than Dawsonville.
“In Dawson County,
between sales tax, between
special purpose local option
sales tax and the property
tax that our businesses pay,
business already carries the
brunt of the tax burden in
our community and I hope
we can all celebrate that
because it’s a great thing,
it’s afforded us beautiful
buildings and beautiful
schools, but I think it’s
something to consider as
we’re thinking through if
we’re going to add another
tax,” Moore said.
If the city engaged
Ross’s firm, it would take
six to seven months to
create the impact fee
study. A minimum of two
public hearings are
required before impact
fees can be adopted.
“Without impact fees, the
people who are here now
will be paying taxes to
build the facilities that they
don’t need, that are needed
only to serve future growth
and development,” Ross
said.
In other business:
The council voted to
table a site plan change for
a parcel at the corner of
Hwy. 9 and Perimeter Road
near JC Burt Road, where a
102 unit residential devel
opment and a smaller com
mercial development are
proposed. The application
will go before the planning
commission again Jan. 14.
The council also voted to
approve an ordinance to
regulate non-stormwater
discharges into the city’s
stormwater system. Drafted
by Planning Director
Robbie Irvin, the ordinance
gives the city an enforce
ment mechanism for pollut
ant discharges into the
stormwater system and
local waterways, which pre
viously have only been
enforceable at the state and
federal level.
The council also held the
first reading of an ordinance
to establish how people will
be appointed to the city’s
various boards, commis
sions and authorities in the
future. The second reading
will be Jan. 7.
The city is also looking
to amend its charter, which
Eason said had not been
done in some time. The
council will conduct public
hearings on the charter
amendments at 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 7 and Jan. 22. Among
the items that could change
include the establishment of
an ethics board, the grounds
and procedure for removal
of an officer and increased
compensation for the
mayor and city council
members.
The council voted 3-4 to
authorize the public works
department to survey
Stonewall subdivision resi
dents if they wish to have
the city instil speed humps
within the subdivision.
Stonewall resident and
council member Stephen
Tolson recused himself
from the vote.
The council also voted
unanimously to waive
annexation fees for a period
of 120 days with the intent
to clean up unincorporated
islands in the city. The city
waived annexation fees last
year and annexed several
dozen properties, mainly in
the Gold Creek subdivision.
SAL
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3622 CAMP ROAD JASI
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PER, GA 30143
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