Wednesday, October 13,2021
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 7A
County commissioners discuss budget for 2022
Julia Fechter Dawson County News
BOC chairman Billy Thurmond speaks to the commissioners during his annual budget presentation to them during the Oct. 7
work session meeting
Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Usually, Board of
Commissioners Chairman
Billy Thurmond sits in the
central seat behind the
assembly room’s curved
wooden island, but
Thursday night, he was up
at the podium talking about
next year’s general fund
budget.
Thurmond presented a
fiscal year 2022 budget of
$32,176,013, which
includes the millage rate of
7.625 mils, down from
7.885 mils. The proposed
budget clocks in fairly
close to the FY 2021
amended one of
$32,114,834.
For FY 2022, property
taxes are still projected to
bring in the biggest slice of
revenue at barely over 39
percent. LOST revenues
are projected to be 29 per
cent. Other taxes, fees, ser
vice charges and income
will compose the other 35
percent.
The proposed 2022 bud
get includes use of
$534,017 from the fund
balance, although in the
four years that he’s led the
board, Thurmond said he
hasn’t seen the balance
used.
The Dawson County
Sheriff’s Office comprises
the largest portion of 2022
general fund expenditures
at $8.88 million. Public
Safety entities ranging
from the fire and EMS
departments to the Humane
Society will be allocated
roughly $5.98 million.
The other departments
are slated to receive the fol
lowing:
• General govern
ment (BOC, elec
tions, etc.): over
$6.5 million
• Judicial: $3.86 mil
lion
• Public Works:
$1.91 million
• Other financial
projects: $1.77 mil
lion.
• Recreation and
Culture: $1,735
million
• Housing and
Development:
$1.12 million
• Health and
Welfare: $373,000
Notable expenses
Earlier this year, the
county government was
notified that it would
receive $5 million from the
federal American Rescue
Plan Act (ARPA).
Thurmond reminded the
commissioners that $1.5
million was set aside in a
special fund to cover salary
increases for first respond
ers for the next three years.
For the 170-175 part and
full-time employees who
did not receive money from
COVID-related funding,
each will receive dollar-
per-hour raises from a
planned amount of
$341,615. Additionally, the
county manager will be
given $75,000 as a contin
gency for county employ
ees who may want to
request additional pay rais
es.
Thurmond proposed nine
new positions with an allo-
cated $657,919. This
would allow the county to
upgrade a part-time custo
dian to be full time and
hire:
• a county marshal;
• two more IT person
nel;
• a senior judicial
assistant in Juvenile
Court;
• a front desk clerk for
Planning;
• a legal assistant for
the public defender;
• a pretrial officer for
the Superior Court.
Two capital projects will
be funded by transfers from
the general fund. A vehicle
for the tax assessor’s office
will cost $28,000. The
sheriff’s office will also get
a new, much-needed x-ray
and metal detector for the
courthouse at a cost of
$25,000.
Collections for the sixth
Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax ended on
June 30, leaving
$4,915,783 in overages.
Included in the SPLOST
VI overage funds was
$1,595 million for use on
various Parks and
Recreation projects, such
as a new canoe/kayak put-
in at Dawson’s River Park.
Thurmond also highlighted
$521,241 in funds for IT
fixes across county depart
ments.
SPLOST VII took effect
on July 1, and $9.5 million
is projected to be received
in 2022. The high-priority
Emergency Operations
Center and communica
tions upgrade projects will
be the first items that the
tax is used for in 2022.
Since Thurmond became
the BOC chairman four
years ago, he said he appre
ciates department heads
coming in front of the full
board to present their bud
gets.
“One of the things that
I’m very glad this board
has been very good at is
telling our staff, ‘If you
need something, come and
ask for it,’"’ Thurmond said.
Citizens can come com
ment on the proposed
FY2022 budget at public
hearings during the 4 and 6
p.m. BOC sessions on Oct.
21 and the 4 p.m. session
on Nov. 4.
Board of Education hears presentation on programs at DCHS
'I wanted every student in our building to have one
adult that they felt like they could goto no matter
what; whether it was personal, whether it was aca
demic, whether it was just somebody to hold them
accountable, and I didn't want that person neces
sarily to be one of their own teachers.'
Michael Negley
Dawson County High School principal
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
At the Oct. 5 meeting of
the Dawson County Board
of Education, board mem
bers heard a presentation
from Dawson County
High School administra
tors on some of the most
interesting programs the
high school offers for its
students.
One of the newest pro
grams that staff are excited
about, according to DCHS
Principal Michael Negley,
is the new Tiger Advisor
Program (TAP). Negley
said that the idea for TAP
has been in administrators’
minds for several years
and has finally come to
fruition this year.
“The Tiger Advisor
Program stems from the
fact that we have two
counselors in the high
school that are responsi
ble for over 400 kids
apiece; that’s a lot of kids
to be responsible for and
they have a lot of work
that they do for those
kids,” Negley said. “I
wanted every student in
our building to have one
adult that they felt like
they could go to no mat
ter what; whether it was
personal, whether it was
academic, whether it was
just somebody to hold
them accountable, and I
didn’t want that person
necessarily to be one of
their own teachers.”
Negley said that, in the
advisor program, each
teacher will have a focus
group of between 20 and
25 students that they will
stay with all the way
from the students enter
ing the high school in
tenth grade through to
graduation. A TAP com
mittee of teachers will
help to plan activities
with the teachers in the
building, including things
like training all of the
TAP teachers on how to
read a high school tran
script.
TAP teachers will meet
with their students once a
week and be available to
help with anything they
may need. Negley said
that the goal isn’t for the
TAP teachers to take over
for the existing counsel
ors, but to give each stu
dent someone else to go
to if they need to.
“The goal is not to take
over for the counselors;
the goal is to have anoth
er set of eyes looking out
for these kids to maybe
catch something that you
then refer them to the
counselor and say
‘maybe we need to look
at your math’ or to have
those conversations about
‘what comes next after
high school; let me help
you explore some of
those opportunities’,”
Negley said.
Amy Smith, CTAE
director for the high
school, spotlighted
another program that stu
dents recently participat
ed in: a work-based
learning bootcamp, spon
sored by a grant from the
University of North
Georgia and led by
author Chad Foster.
“Chad Foster came and
spoke to our kids and
actually gave them one of
his books about career
readiness that he’s the
author of,” Smith said.
“He came and did a real
ly interactive day teach
ing them how to make
connections, how to meet
that employer when they
go in and anybody that
they interact with during
their work-based learning
and remember who that
person is, follow up with
emails and those kinds of
things.”
Smith said that Foster’s
presentation was very
engaging and helpful to
the students, and that the
content he covered was
able to help the students
in their college and
career readiness.
Smith and Negley,
along with DCHS
Assistant Principal
Charles Beusse, spot
lighted six other fun
ways that the high school
administrators are work
ing to make learning
engaging and fun for the
students, including a
“speed dating” activity to
learn about biomes,
March Madness brackets
to learn about statistics,
engineering games proj
ect which allows students
to design and build their
own games, “baby week”
to teach students about
parenthood, future educa
tors signing day and
“traveling the silk road”
which is aimed at teach
ing students about the
different cities along the
Silk Road.
Following the presenta
tion, Negley thanked the
board members for
allowing her and the
other high school admin
istrators to present some
of the exciting things
going on at DCHS.
“I appreciate the
opportunity to share this
with you guys, cause I
know we highlight our
fine arts programs and
our sports programs and
all the extracurricular
stuff that our kids get to
do, but I don’t know that
you guys get to see the
day in and day out really
innovative, creative activ
ities and the way that our
teachers are working
really hard to reach every
kid in our building,”
Negley said. “We’re real
ly proud of the work
that’s going on in the
high school.”
Dawson County Humane Society
a no kill shelter
706-265-9160
Doggy Spotlight
Hi! I’m ATLAS, a Staffi/Lab mix. I am 5
years old. I know I look intimidating,
but the reality is, I’m confused and not
really sure why I ended up here.
Most people overlook me because I look
“scary”. I am really just a big, happy-
go-lucky baby. Some things I do love:
cuddling, trying to be a lap dog, even
though I’m way too big, and treats!
For more information contact the
Dawson County Humane Society
706-265-9160 | 633 Martin Road, Dawsonville
adjacent to the Rock Creek Sports Complex
Visit our RESALE SHOP & BOUTIQUE benefits the
Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | 54 S. Lumpkin Campground Rd. Humane Society
AM Collision
Specialists
706-216-0992
103 Industrial Park Road,
Dawsonville
Bradley M. Maple
CPA, PC
706-216-2362
2390 Thompson Road
Suite 100 Dawsonville
Dawsonville
Veterinary
Hospital
706-265-8381
