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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, November 30,2022
County approves funds for health department fixes
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
After previously hearing about a
mounting list of maintenance
needs at Dawson County’s
70-year-old health department, the
Board of Commissioners unani
mously approved
money for the fixes during their
Nov. 17 voting session.
The county plans to use
$60,968 from the general fund
balance to cover repairs for the
health department, located at 54
Ga. 53 in downtown Dawsonville.
Of that amount, $5,000 is allotted
for contingency funds.
At the board’s Nov. 3 work ses
sion, Facilities Director James
Tolbert said his staff will manage
the contracting in-house to keep
costs down.
Some of the health clinic’s
needed fixes include replacing its
carpet with non-slip vinyl flooring,
swapping deteriorating door
frames for more secure ones,
updating the electrical panel and
adding more electrical outlets to
the clinic’s WIC offices.
These repairs will serve both as
a holdover while Dawson County
plans for a new health department
and as improvements for the
building’s next occupants.
In particular, the electrical fixes
would allow clinic staff to move
medical refrigerators to secure
locations in those spaces and avoid
an overload to the building’s
power system, which BOC
Chairman Billy Thurmond point
ed out was a fire hazard.
“I know we’re building a new
health department,” Thurmond
said on Nov. 3. “But we’ve got to
keep what we have up until we do,
and that’s going to be a couple
years down the road.”
FROM 1A
Rotary
some of the same people
they served last year and
getting to serve the com
munity.
“We’ve gotten to know
and meet people in the
community that we might
not see otherwise; it’s real
ly neat to see people that
we recognize from last
year,” Stewart said. “It’s a
really great team-building
event for us where we all
get to hang out, do some
thing fun and help the
community.”
In the end, the goal of the
event is to provide commu
nity members with friendly
faces, a hot meal and a little
holiday cheer, Stewart said.
“We have some people
who need the food, or
some people who are by
themselves for
Thanksgiving and now
they can have a meal —
we always put little flyers
and cards in there for them
too,” Stewart said.
“Everybody was so nice
and thankful and super
sweet — and a lot of peo
ple have messaged us on
Facebook and said that it
was good and they appre
ciated it.”
She added a special
thanks to all of the event’s
sponsors, Service Projects
Chair Randy Wells and
President-Elect Mike
Liberatore for their hard
work helping organize and
plan the event and all of
the Rotarians who came
out to volunteer their time
and efforts to serve the
community.
FROM 1A
Park
said Fausett has been “liv
ing and breathing this one
with me for a long time”
since Styles initially
approached the county
wanting to donate the land
almost two years ago.
BOC Chairman Billy
Thurmond also voiced his
gratitude, thanking Styles
for the “huge donation to
Dawson County citizens”
attorneys and Fausett
because “she put a lot of
time and energy into this
project to make it happen”
by coordinating much of
the conversation between
the county and Styles.
Fausett noted that like
any proposed park, there
will have to be planning
for it, though a passive
park with walking and
biking trails seems to be
the preference for the
land, which sits in the
more rural District 1.
“The county is just so
blessed to have this ...
y’all just look forward to
that because great things
are coming,” Fausett
added. “Good things come
to those who wait. It’s
another great day in
Dawson County. We’ve
had a lot of great days,
and this is one of them.”
DAWSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SCHEDULE 10
SCHEDULE OF APPROVED LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX PROJECTS YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2022
AMOUNT
AMOUNT
ORIGINAL
CURRENT
EXPENDED
EXPENDED
TOTAL
EXCESS
ESTIMATED
ESTIMATED
ESTIMATED
IN CURRENT
IN PRIOR
COMPLETION
PROCEEDS NOT
COMPLETION
PROJECT
COST (1)
COSTS (2)
YEAR (3)
YEARS (3)
COST
EXPENDED
DATE
ESPLOST V
adding to, renovating, repairing, improving,
and equipping existing school building and
school system facilities;
1
7,635,000.00
5,884,613.06
718,497.05
4,631,381.93
acquiring and/or improving land for school
system facilities;
2
2,000,000.00
2,144,967.00
1,720,967.00
acquiring miscellaneous new equipment,
fixtures and furnishings for the school
system, including technology equipment,
tablets and laptops, and safety and security
equipment.
3
7,200,000.00
8,503,976.06
764,560.84
7,254,964.59
acquiring school buses and other vehicles,
transportation and maintenance equipment,
4
2,065,000.00
1,430,456.50
315,360.00
749,986.50
acquiring books, digital resources, and other
media for the school system.
5
500,000.00
554,695.96
554,695.96
constructing and equipping new classroom
space including a performing arts center at
Dawson County High School
6
13,000,000.00
24,060,629.60
24,060,629.60
paying expenses incident to accomplishing
the foregoing, and for the purpose of
payment of a portion of the interest on such
debt.
7
$
32,400,000.00 $
203,505.06
42,782,843.24
6,000.00
$ 1,804,417.89 $
183,505.06
39,156,130.64
ESPLOST VI
adding to, renovating, repairing, improving,
and equipping existing school building and
school system facilities;
la
17,500,000.00
17,500,000.00
240,743.11
2,950,295.82
acquiring and/or improving land for school
system facilities;
2a
3,000,000.00
3,000,000.00
375,402.75
649,069.43
acquiring miscellaneous new equipment,
fixtures and furnishings for the school
system, including technology equipment,
software, tablets and laptops, and safety and
security equipment.
3a
12,280,000.00
12,280,000.00
2,164,056.38
1,823,954.89
acquiring school, transportation and
maintenance equipment.
4a
2,000,000.00
2,000,000.00
34,698.80
235,802.10
acquiring books, digital resources and other
media for the school system.
5a
1,294,990.00
1,294,990.00
293,421.33
26,013.62
June 2023
June 2023
June 2023
June 2023
Completed
Completed
June 2023
June 2025
June 2025
June 2025
June 2025
June 2025
constructing and equipping new school
buildings and facilities and new educational
space, including athletic, technological and
academic facilities 6a 12,000,000.00 12,000,000.00 9,459,649.10 288,626.20 - June 2025
paying expenses incident to accomplishing
the foregoing, and for the purpose of
payment of a portion of the interest on such 7a 140,240.00 140,240.00 - 105,274.00 - - June 2025
$ 48,215,230.00 $ 48,215,230.00 $ 12,567,971,47 $ 6,079,036.06 $ $ -
$ 80,615,230.00 $ 90,998,073.24 $ 14,372,389.36 $ 45,235,166.70 $ __ $ -
(1) The School District's original cost estimate as specified in the resolution calling for the imposition of the Local Option Sales Tax.
(2) The School District's current estimate of total cost for the projects. Includes all cost from project inception to completion.
(3) The voters of Dawson County approved the imposition of a 1% sales tax to fund the above projects and retire associated debt. Amounts expended for these projects may include
sales tax proceeds, state, local property taxes and/or other funds over the life of the projects.
(4) In addition to the expenditures shown above, the School District has incurred interest to provide advance funding for the above projects as follows:
Prior Years $ 2,870,480.00
Current Year 170,875.00
Total $ 3,041,355.00
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Y0027_23-649_M DCN_GA_AEI