About Fayette County news. (Fayetteville, GA) 2009-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2025)
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 Fayette County News A5 Fayetteville, Continued from Front Ubom for Post 5. Panelists included com munity leaders and business owners Joe Domaleski, Leo nardo McClarty, and Nora Pullen. Beginning with in troductions, each candidate was provided with two mi nutes to share insight on backgrounds and campaign initiatives. Stacy and Spurlock both detailed their military serv ice and community connec tions. Hoffman reflected on his 40-plus-year tire busi ness in Fayetteville and his long-time residency and roots. Ubom stated he was a local entrepreneur and a de vout Christian. Moultrie spoke about her experience in law practice and mother hood. Glover was absent from the meeting. Topics overviewed af fordability, diversity, strate gic planning, data centers, and growth management. “How will you prioritize or support affordable hous ing initiatives, because I hear from the young people, ‘We love to live here but we cannot afford to’,” ques tioned Domaleski. “We have looked at tiny homes,” said Stacy, citing tiny home projects that council is currently devel oping along Highway 54 and in the Main Street Dis trict. “We are looking in our pocket areas to be able to look at the affordability of our homes.” Hoffman suggested rental options like apart ments would help young adults and older citizens looking to downsize, stating, “Not only is it the young generation, we do not have housing for anybody... that wants to downsize. They want to stay in Fayette County or Fayetteville, but they can’t because there is no place for them to go.” “We have to meet people where they are,” said Moul trie. “Multi-tier, income- Ludwig, Continued from A4 a patient in Al’s office com plaining of headaches and blurred vision. Al conducted a thorough eye examination and discovered a “pressure of unknown origin on the optic nerves” in both of the young man’s eyes. Al referred him to a specialist. Immediately. Long story short, the boy went to a specialist right away. The specialist, in turn, discovered a tumor growing inside the boy’s head. It was brain cancer. A surgical procedure was quickly scheduled. The operation to remove the tumor was a success, al beit with one caveat: The boy lost sight in both of his eyes. Flash forward to the present: The boy is now a young man whose job is working with the blind. He is now happy, healthy, and eternally grateful to an optometrist who has spent his entire adult life perform ing eye examinations exactly like the one that saved his life. That morning, 10 years based housing has to be an option. We have to be able to negotiate with builders that are willing to bet on our citizens.” Spurlock stated con tinued economic devel opment efforts would lead to affordability. “Bring some of those higher paying jobs back to Fayetteville, so that families can actually afford to pay for rent,” said Spurlock. In transition, candidates were asked questions about general integrity. “If you vote on a deci sion, on a controversial issue that risked costing you political support or reelec tion, but you believed it was the right decision for the community, how would you respond?” asked Nora Pullen. All candidates agreed that citizens would come first. “Fayetteville has re cently adopted a five-year economic development with key recommendations to guide growth and invest ment. how do you plan to support and implementa tion of this strategy?” asked McClarty. Ubom centered on mixed-use development and highlighted unincorporated land that could potentially be annexed into the city. “We have a 53-acre property, actually on Vet erans Parkway, and it’s two minutes from Trilith devel opment,” said Ubom. “It used to be an old junk yard back in the bos. Annexing this property to the Trilith surrounding area would be a benefit to Fayette County.” McClarty reclarified his question for candidates to focus on implementation plans for the recently adopted, five-year economic strategy. “I understand the move ment of business and will bring that to council,” said Moultrie, elaborating on her professional background and how it could benefit cit izens. “My job is not sitting later, when the young man whose life he had saved walked into Al’s office, he presented Al with a card. It read as follows: “My family and I would like to say thank you so much for saving my life. Even though I lost my vision, you gave me a chance to live life in a different way. Again, thank you Dr. Albert Barker. You are amazing.” The card was written in his mother’s handwriting; the signature was all his. Al called it his “capstone moment” - in other words, the culmination of his body of work over the course of a lifetime - and was a sign that perhaps the time had arrived for his illustrious and re warding career to come to an end. It was a moment, Al says, that was beyond words. *** Since this was originally written, Al has retired from NOTICE The Fayette County Board of Education does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting to be held at the Fayette County Board of Education building located at 205 LaFayette Ave., Fayetteville, GA on October 20, 2025 at 7:00 P.M. and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A. § 48-5-32 does hereby publish the following presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the history of the tax digest and levy for the past five years. behind a desk and touting about things - it is about ac tion.” Incumbents Hoffman and Stacy conveyed current plans found in the five-year comprehensive plan aiming to target four industries, in cluding sports tourism, cre ative services, retail and hospitality, and technology and professional services. “With the planned growth, how do you plan to address the traffic prob lems?” asked Vaught, di rected to Stacy. “Most of the traffic that we have that go through Fayetteville don’t work in Fayetteville... They don’t even live in Fayette County... So, our traffic is sues are not issues that are Fayetteville centric,” Stacy responded. A resident asked candi dates about Georgia Power’s current substation and power line projects and how they were able to move for ward. “Burying [powerlines] underground verses having them erected the way they are is certainly a better op tion,” said Moultrie. Ubom agreed. He ex plained his personal experi ences with the projects. “It is up to the property owner at their discretion if they wanted to put the power line on their property and if they chose do to that, then it is all up to them,” said Ubom. Another resident asked, “What will you do to build in conjunction with the char acter and nature of Fayette County?” “In the 51 years I have lived here... Everyone that you talk to, regardless of what year they came to Fay ette County... they say, ‘I don’t want to see change’,” said Hoffman. “It has changed, and it has grown six times since 1974. We do the best we can, but you can’t stop people from sell ing their property.” “It has to work within the confines of the planning practicing and has relocated to Thompson’s Station, Tenn., to be near his daugh ter Ashley and her family. Al asked me to promise not to publish this piece until after he’d moved, a promise that I can now say I’ve kept. The reason Al asked me to wait is because he didn’t want any accolades or con gratulations for simply “doing his job.” He did, however, ask me to stress one very important point: The importance of regularly getting an eye ex amination. Because, Al re minds us, eye exams are a whole lot more than just de termining whether you have 20/20 vision or need to be wearing glasses. Eye exams are also there to evaluate the health of your eyes. And every once in a while, an eye exam just might save a life. and zoning ordinances,” Stacy stated, citing QTS Data Center reportedly re planting thousands of trees post construction as an ex ample of how to deal with deforestation. Stacy sug gested there would only be one data center in Fayette ville. “We are very diligent about what happens as far as data centers. They are not our worst enemy,” said Hoffman, who cited a bit- coin mining datacenter pre viously rejected by council. Ubom reiterated “im portances” of restrictive measures in place that would call for burying power lines. He also indi cated potential economic benefits. “It has to make sense where we build the data centers,” said Ubom. “Data centers bring jobs and eco nomic growth.” A resident recalled being a victim of a gunshot, an in cident that he said prompted him to relocate his family to Fayetteville. He NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE (Updated 10/3/2025) The Fayette County Board of Education has tentatively adopted a 2025 millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 4.15 percent. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax increase to be held at the Fayette County Board of Education building located at 205 La- Fayette Ave., Fayetteville, GA on Oc tober 20, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 19.600 mills, an increase of 0.781 mill. Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 18.819 mills. The proposed tax in crease for a home with a fair market value of $525,000 is approximately $162.45 and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $550,000 is approx imately $171.82. then asked candidates how they would address issues of law and order. Stacy shared details about current city initiatives such as the Flock security camera system and its bene fits. “Our police department is top notch,” said Hoffman. “Fayetteville has one of the lowest crime rates.” “The cameras... That is great, but that is for after the fact. You don’t want to know who shot you, you just don’t want to be shot at in the first place,” Spurlock added, noting intent of “working with the com munity to try and discour age anyone who has ill intentions for coming here.” Moultrie explained she is a single mother of two and how that allows her to empathize for public safety needs. “I moved to Fayetteville for the schools and the safety as well as a single mother, so I understand that,” said Moultrie. “How can we bring more developers here, or how can I do more in the City of Fay etteville?” asked business owners Winchel Elibert. “I am actually a developer here in Fayetteville, I devel oped the Kingdom Corners located right here on (High way) 314 and New Hope Road.” Elibert stated it has been a little difficult to overcome initial procedures that es tablish development, such as “impact fees.” “It is making sure that we have the skillset to nego tiate, communicate, and work with developers who will bet on the City of Fay etteville the way the citizens have been betting on the city with their taxes,” re sponded Moultrie. Candidates gave closing statements and the forum concluded with a prayer led by Mayor Ed Johnson. Election Day is Nov. 4. For more information visit, https://fayettecountyga.gov /elections/. Bernard, Continued from A4 priorities, such as the EPA. Against all common sense, and the multitude of scien tific research, Trump has decided there is no environ mental crisis or problem. Trump has been looking forward to the shutdown to further his unilateral re making of America. Demo cratic leadership wants a say in restoring vital healthcare programs recently cut by the GOP. I do not see an easy compromise; even tually the Democrats will cave in when they have made their PR statement to their base. In short, this is a lose/lose situation for the nation caused by lack of co- operation between our po litical parties. CURRENT 2025 PROPERTY TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY BOARD OF EDUCATION 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 V A L U E Real & Personal 6,967,532,050 7,478,217,442 8,728,907,267 9,835,827,566 10,675,916,891 11,496,273,355 Motor Vehicles 64,266,750 52,387,510 47,767,920 47,826,250 44,771,670 41,024,410 Mobile Homes 3,538,585 4,259,768 4,738,316 5,640,735 13,719,410 16,265,621 Timber - 100% 34,130 74,979 0 0 0 0 Heavy Duty Equipment 1,200,161 636,602 475,216 381,081 360,477 525,046 Gross Digest 7,036,571,676 7,535,576,301 8,781,888,719 9,889,675,632 10,734,768,448 11,554,088,432 Less Exemptions 1,366,719,583 1,999,540,190 2,712,603,233 3,238,871,447 3,561,779,576 4,007,645,885 NET DIGEST VALUE 5,669,852,093 5,536,036,111 6,069,285,486 6,650,804,185 7,172,98 22 7,546,442,547 M & O MILLAGE RATE (Maintenance & Operation) 19.1500 19.3340 19.1500 19.2500 19.6000 19.6000 TOTAL M&O TAXES LEVIED $108,577,668 $107,033,722 $116,226,817 $128,027,981 $140,590,582 $147,910,274 Net Tax $ Increase $108,577,668 ($1,543,945) $9,193,095 $11,801,164 $12,562,601 $7,319,692 Net Tax % Increase -1.42% 8.59% 10.15% 9.81% 5.21% B O N D Less Bond Exemptions 1,331,987,583 1,506,953,048 1,785,123,129 2,081,073,582 2,249,807,841 2,537,636,209 NET BOND DIGEST VALUE 5,704,584,093 6,028,623,253 6,996,765,590 7,808,602,050 8,484,960,607 9,016,452,223 MILLAGE RATE (School Bond) 1.1800 1.1000 0.8500 0.8000 0.0000 0.0000 TOTAL BOND TAXES LEVIED $6,731,409 $6,631,486 $5,947,251 $6,246,882 $0 $0 > TOTAL MILLAGE RATE 20.3300 20.4340 20.0000 20.0500 19.6000 19.6000 TOTAL TAXES LEVIED $115,309,077 $113,665,208 $122,174,068 $134,274,862 $140,590,582 $147,910,274
