Newspaper Page Text
Forsvth Count
JL- CJ y A IV *01F006130 12/31/20
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 • :%?S^. s T E l PRDJECT
Vol. 93, No. 091
County facing $7.3 million budget shortfall
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Due to the recession and econom
ic fallout from Sept. 11, county offi
cials are predicting there could be as
much as a $7.3 million budget short
fall this year. Preliminary budget
numbers for 2002 project expendi
tures of $51.98 million and revenues
of $44.71 million.
A possible increase in property
tax collections spurred by an increase
in the value of taxable property in the
county, coupled with a rebound in
sales tax collections, could reduce
the anticipated shortfall to about $4
million, county officials said.
The potential shortfall and related
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Family Fun
Festival is
holiday treat
The second annual Family Fun
Festival on May 25 brought
families together to celebrate
America this past Memorial
Day weekend. Also on hand
were local political candidates
who answered questions.
Events included games for chil
dren, prizes, a dunking
machine and pony rides.
Photos/David McGregor
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‘Green Power’ facility slated for Forsyth
By Phillip Hermann
News Editor
Forsyth County could be the site
for a state-of-the-art “Green Power”
generation facility that converts recy
clable materials to natural gas to
power a turbine that can create elec
tricity to service up to 25,000 house
holds.
Greenleaf Environmental Ser
vices has applied for a Conditional
Missed paper policy:
For a replacement paper, call
8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1
p.m. on Sunday - (770) 887-3126.
Copyright ® 2002 Forsyth County News
111
90994*0400 "
declining revenues
were the subject of
a Wednesday
afternoon meeting
between the
Forsyth County
Board of
Commissioners
and county finance
officials.
The deficit
could translate
into a 1 mill increase in property
taxes next year, said District 3
Commissioner Michael Bennett.
If the increase were approved, it
would mean the owner of a SIOO,OOO
home would pay $34 more in proper
ty taxes.
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Use Permit to allow for construction
of the facility and related service
buildings on seven acres adjoining
the Greenleaf Recycling Inc. landfill
on Hwy. 306 near Leland Drive in
north Forsyth County.
At a public hearing before the
county’s planning commission on
Tuesday night, GES officials briefly
outlined how the process works and
how it will be of benefit to the coun-
INDEX
Abby
Church directory 7A
Classifieds NeeiMMMtHiHMMeew 5B
Deaths ••••••a•••»•••••••••••••••••••• ...2A
Pood 8A
Horoscope 4B
Opinion 9A
Spot Is .h...w....«................w.... 1B
FRIDAY May 31,2002
Kreager
Forsyth County department heads
also likely will be called on to trim
their budgets because of the deficit,
officials said.
The bottom line is people are
spending less money than anticipat
ed, according to County Finance
Director Dick Russell.
The county has received less
money than expected this year from
the Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax. SPLOST revenues gener
ated $1.48 million in March, roughly
$700,000 less than the expected
$2.18 million.
The money the county receives
from SPLOST, in fact, has consis
tently been below budgeted projec
tions, and has declined steadily the
i ty in terms of environmental tech
: nologies.
; GES President Glenn Farris told
I the commissioners that the company
i will take recyclable materials, such
as wood and yard waste, from the
s nearby landfill. The items are burned
i at high heat and converted into natu
r ral gas which is then used to power a
I
See GREEN, Page 2A
Where’s
the
beef?
PageSA
last four months.
The county is
down about $4.3
million in
SPLOST money in
the past 18
months, Russell
said.
Some commis
sioners questioned
whether the coun-
ty is receiving its
fair share of taxes from the Georgia
Department of Revenue.
Commission Chairman John
Kieffer suggested sales tax revenues
should be higher with the recent
opening of large retailers like
Super Target and B.J.’s Wholesale
Lake residents
raise concerns
on water issues
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Concern over Lake Lanier’s
future drew a crowd of about 200
members of the Lake Lanier
Association to the group’s annual
meeting on Tuesday night at the
Sawnee Cultural Arts Center in
Cumming.
They came to discuss their con
cerns with U.S. Reps. Nathan Deal,
Bob Barr and John Linder.
The LLA formed in 1960 from a
dispute with the Corps of Engineers
over the use of federal lands. Today
the association has grown to more
than 6,000 members who pay dues to
preserve and protect the lake.
One of the issues discussed was
the LLA’s ongoing legal fight to have
an Atlanta Administrative Court
judge overturn the Georgia
Environmental Protection Division’s
granting of an application to
Gwinnett County government to
pump up to 40 million gallons of
treated wastewater per day into the
lake.
The Upper Chattahoochee
Riverkeepers, Atlanta chapter of the
Sierra Club and Terry Hughey are
GBI decides against
complaint investigation
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation has chosen not to
launch an investigation into a court
room confrontation between political
activist David Milum and Magistrate
Court Clerk Hope Moore.
Sheriff Ted Paxton recently
turned over information to the GBI
regarding the confrontation.
“After getting the facts of the case
and discussing it with the district
attorney, we declined to open an
investigation,” Jim Hallman, head of
the GBI regional office in
Gainesville, said Wednesday.
He said the facts did not “rise to
the level” to warrant an investigation.
Paxton asked the GBI to handle
the case because of the nature of the
allegations involving the political
activist and county employee. The
sheriff said he wanted to avoid any
appearance of a conflict of interest
by his agency.
In a complaint filed last month
with the sheriff’s office, Moore
accused Milum of touching her while
Dear Abby
dishes out
good advice.
Page IB
Bennett
Partly Cloudy
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
May 26 1065.78 ft
% May 27 1065.77 ft
dL'to 4 May 28 1065.77 ft
May 29 1065.76 ft
Rill 1071.00 ft
High in the mid-80s.
Low in the low 60s.
SPORTS, 1B
rsyth anglers hit the water
Club.
“We’re still going down. It does
n’t make sense,” Kieffer said.
District 4 Commissioner Marcie
Kreager expressed concern, too. She
noted restaurants and businesses in
the county stay busy but are not gen
erating enough for county coffers.
“We are going deeper and deeper
in the hole. [But] If you try to go out
to eat on a Friday night in Forsyth
County, it takes an hour,” she said.
Kieffer inquired whether the
county could obtain and review sales
tax records from the state, but other
county officials said they do not
See COUNTY, Page 2A
J
Barr Linder
also plaintiffs in the suit.
LLA official Vai Perry reported
that a ruling in the case is expected
late summer from Judge Jessie
Altman.
“They [the EPD] admitted they
would not swim in the water next to
the outage,” Perry said. “I feel that
the judge will deny some portion of
the permit.”
He added the judge could rule to
let Gwinnett use the lake, but man
date that the county treat the water
twice before dumping it into the lake.
Perry said $200,000 has been
spent by the LLA on the case and
projected that between $50,000 and
See LAKE, Page 2A
attempting to make a citizen’s arrest
of her following a May 8 hearing in
Forsyth County Superior Court. She
said another political activist,
Terence Sweeney, was hopping up
and down and pointing his finger at
her while saying, “Citizen’s arrest.
Citizen’s arrest.”
The complaint listed Chief
Magistrate Barbara Cole and
Assistant Magistrate Randall
Meincke as witnesses.
Milum said he attempted to make
a citizen’s arrest of Moore for violat
ing the state’s open records laws. He
admitted to possibly touching Moore
in a “friendly manner” but said he
never threatened or detained her.
The encounter was the latest in a
series of disputes between the two
political activists and county offi
cials.
Cole on April 18 ordered sheriff’s
deputies to arrest Milum in connec
tion with a verbal confrontation he
had with District 4 Commissioner
Marcie Kreager outside the Forsyth
See GBI, Page 2A