About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2024)
Wednesday, May 15,2024 dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A Cole Walters agency expands in downtown Dawsonville By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com On Friday May 10, community members gathered to celebrate local State Farm agent Cole Walters and his recent business expansion in the downtown area of Dawsonville. Walters said that he grew up in a small town much like Dawsonville, so he knew that the downtown area would be the perfect place to open his business. He opened his current location, located at 169 Highway 9 South Suite 110, in 2023, and most recently he expanded his business to add in the storefront directly next to his existing one, where RLN Grocery used to be. Walters and his team offer all types of insurance, from personal and auto insurance to business and life insurance. He said that he’s incredibly thankful for his team, which includes his own personal biggest supporter: his wife. “I’m grateful for my staff which includes my amazing wife,” Walters said. “It’s been a long pro cess to get here and I wouldn’t have gotten here without her.” On May 10, the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held a rib bon-cutting ceremony for Walters and his business, complete with hamburgers, hotdogs and other treats provided by Walters’ office. “We’re grateful for customers; nothing works if you don’t have customers,” Walters said. “If we can ever help you — whether it’s business insurance, personal insur ance, anything — just give us a call.” For more information about Cole Walters and his State Farm agency, go to https://www.statefarm.com/ agent/us/ga/dawsonville/cole-wal- ters-ycq5c8t20gf. I g* \ 4 ‘IM fl i i m i F i — ■ 1 i I M Tl~ 'J •; Uj KW n iijiiiL, Mil Erica Jones Dawson County News The Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 10 to celebrate local State Farm insurance agent Cole Walters and his business. Real estate agents provide day of entertainment for special needs locals By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com Despite the heavy rain on Thursday, May 9, the inside of Harmony Baptist Church in Dawson County was alive with laughter and fun as local Keller Williams agents put on a festival-style event for people in the Dawsonville branch of Creative Enterprises. Creative Enterprises is a local nonprofit that serves people with spe cial needs, providing them with employment and life skills training to help maximize their potential. The program has four campuses, and the campus in Dawson County serves a total of 37 clients. “We help optimize their potential; everybody wants and needs a pur pose and we help give them that,” Cassi Dillon, who does public relations and VR for Creative Enterprises, said. “We work on all kinds of skill sets, from social skills to daily living skills. We’re trying to teach them to be as independent as possi ble, and we do job train ing as well and help them find those natural con nections there so that they can be independent.” Creative Enterprises’ Dawson campus has been in operation for almost three years, and Dillon said that a big part of her goal is to raise awareness for what they do, since currently there are still a lot of people who don’t even know that the Dawson campus exists. “We’re trying to get out there and volunteer, and just bring awareness to what Creative Enterprises is and what we’re all capable of,” Dillon said. “We’ve been very blessed to be able to be in Photos by Erica Jones Dawson County News At left, local Keller Williams agents brought a day of festival-style activities May 9 to clients with Creative Enterprises Dawson during the annual Keller Williams RED Day. Above, local Keller Williams agents help Creative Enterprises Dawson clients make sand art during the annual Keller Williams RED Day on May 9. Harmony Baptist Church, but our needs are out growing our space. We’re going to start doing some fundraising and looking for a new building, and just looking to make that community connection.” One of the groups looking to help make a difference for Creative Enterprises and the cli ents in the program is Keller Williams Community Partners, whose agents recently devoted their time and energy to help the non profit as part of the annu al Keller Williams RED Day. “RED stands for Renew, Energize and Donate; it’s our annual day of giving back to the community,” Keller Williams agent and Agent Leadership Council (ALC) member Joseph Benedetto said. “We try to pick projects in the community that they need assistance, and this year we just wanted to do something com pletely different.” When Benedetto’s business partner, who has a child with special needs herself, mentioned Creative Enterprises, he and his team knew that was what they wanted to focus this year’s RED Day on. “We’re always trying to branch out, and this is just such a special thing that we couldn’t turn this away,” he said. “And par ticipation this year was incredible.” Over the past few months, the group of realtors has been fund raising to purchase sever al needed items for Creative Enterprises, including a commercial freezer for the program’s Forsyth campus. But they wanted to also do some thing on a more personal level with the clients, so they decided to put on a day of fun at both the Forsyth campus and the Dawson campus. On May 9, the group brought a magic show, sand art and other festi val-style activities to the Dawson campus, as well as pizza, ice cream, cot ton candy and popcorn. And in the end, ALC council member and KW agent Shari Martin said, she and her fellow agents ended up getting just as much out of the event as the clients did. City of Dawsonville FY 2024-2025 Budget Notice The City of Dawsonville hereby gives public notice that the proposed FY 2024-2025 City of Dawsonville budget will be presented to the Mayor and City Council at the May 20, 2024 regular City Council Meeting and Work Session. Once presented to City Council, interested persons may receive a copy of the proposed FY 2024-2025 budget at City Hall, 415 Highway 53 E, Dawsonville, Georgia, during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM. In addition, the proposed budget will be placed on the City’s website: www.dawsonville-ga.gov The Mayor and City Council will hold a Public Hearing to receive public comments on the proposed FY 2024-2025 Budget at 5:00 PM on Monday, June 3,2024 in the G.L. Gilleland Council Chambers on the 2nd Floor of Dawsonville City Hall, 415 Highway 53 E, Dawsonville, Georgia, at the regular City Council Meeting. Adoption of the budget will be considered at the regular City Council Meeting and Work Session on June 17,2024 at 5:00 PM, in the G.L. Gilleland Council Chambers on the 2nd Floor of Dawsonville City Hall, 415 Highway 53, Dawsonville, Georgia. “We chose the program because we felt very con nected and it touched our heart,” Martin said. “We gained as much as the clients and it brought us as much joy as it did them. If anybody has the opportunity to work with this program they should, because the feedback from our agents has been incredible.” The next fundraiser event that Creative Enterprises is planning is a pickleball social, which will raise money for the program through a pick leball tournament and will also include a cake walk, door prizes, 50/50 raffle and concessions. For more information or to sign up for the social, go to forms.gle/ ukZzEqDVX ApnxUxH9. For more information about Creative Enterprises Dawson, go to dawson.creativeenter- prises.org or follow the nonprofit on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pro- file.php?id = 100070469490394. DAWSON COUNTY SCHOOLS FY25 TENTATIVE BUDGETS DEBT CAPTIAL SPECIAL GENERAL SERVICE PROJECTS REVENUE FUND FUND FUND FUND ESTIMATED REVENUES: LOCAL TAXES $ 30,230,612 OTHER LOCAL SOURCES $ 580,010 $ 316,885 $ 989,090 SPECIAL LOCAL OPTION SAT.F.S tax $ 13,827,840 STATE SOURCES $ 23,416,982 $ 86,000 FEDERAL SOURCES $ 580,680 $ 2,091,149 TRANSFER FROM OTHER FUNDS $ 2,595,685 $ TOTAL ESTIMATED $ 54,808,284 $ 2,595,685 $ 14,144,725 $ 3,166,239 ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES: INSTRUCTION $ 39,122,250 $ 330,000 PUPIL SERVICES $ 2,692,327 IMPROVEMENT OF $3,581,429 INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF $51,900 EDUCATIONAL MEDIA $ 893,428 $ 30,000 FEDERAL GRANT GENERAL ADMINISTRATION $ 653,325 SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION $ 3,475,oo8 BUSINESS SERVICES $ 626,072 $ 2,000 MAINTENANCE & $ 6,080,653 STUDENT TRANSPORTATION $3,891,929 CENTRAL SUPPORT $ 509,704 SCHOOL NUTRITION $ 49,000 $ 3,581,671 COMJUNITY SERVICES $ 63,500 FACILITIES ACQU & $ 55436 OTHER USES (TRANSFERS) $ 514,301 $ 2,595,685 $ DEBT SERVICES $ 2,593,685 TOTAL EST. EXPENDITURES $ 62,204,827 $ 2,595,685 $ 3,010,821 $ 3,581,671 EXCESS REVENUE OVER ($ 7,396,543) $ $ 11,133,904 ($ 415,432) (UNDER) EXPENDITURES EST. FUND BALANCE JULY 1, $ 14,538,535 $ $ 12,595,216 $ 659,098 EST. FUND BALANCE JUNE $ 7,141,992 $ - $ 23,729,120 $ 243,667 1 1 1 1 FY25 Budget Hearings will be held on May 14, 2024 and June 11, 2024 at 5:00pm in the Board Room. To view this budget online please visit www.dawsoncountyschools.org under Departments-Finance-Budget This budget will be considered for final adoption by the board at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, June 11th, at the board office on 28 Main Street.
