Newspaper Page Text
Weekend Edition-December 16-17,2022
6A | FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS | ForsythNews.com
Volunteer indicted in church fund theft case
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i re@f o rsyth n ews.com
A former volunteer has been
indicted on two theft counts
after allegedly taking money
from a south Forsyth County
church.
In December, Peggy Coker
Hicks was indicted on two
counts of theft by taking after
allegedly taking currency from
Union Hill Church, located at
4250 McGinnis Ferry Road,
between October 2012 and April
2019.
In a statement to the
Forsyth County News on
Wednesday, Dec. 14, the
Rev. Stephen Harmon
said Hicks was a former
volunteer at the church
and expressed “sadness
and disappointment”
from church leadership.
“Approximately three years
ago, Union Hill Church became
aware of a possible theft of
funds by a volunteer worker,”
Harmon said. “After extensive
internal investigation
and further investigation
by the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office, the theft
of funds was unfortu
nately confirmed. The
investigation was com
plicated by the former
volunteer using multiple
bank accounts along
with misrepresentation of use of
funds to the church.
“The volunteer was dis
charged in 2019 and has recent
ly been indicted. Due to the
ongoing nature of the criminal
proceedings and the possibility
of civil proceedings to recover
funds, the Church is limited in
its ability to comment, other
than to express its deep sadness
and disappointment that a trust
ed volunteer abused the church’s
trust and caused significant
financial harm to the church.
The church and its leadership
are appreciative of your prayers
for both the church and the for
mer volunteer and her family.”
Harmon said the amount
taken was over six figures.
According to the indictment,
Hicks “did unlawfully and in
breach of her fiduciary obliga
tion” by taking the money,
which was listed as being valued
greater than $25,000.
In a 2019 Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office incident report,
the responding officer was
reportedly told by church offi
cials “that the previous financial
treasurer has stolen several hun
dred thousand dollars of church
savings over the past 10 years.”
Hicks
City talks ’23
budget, local
sales taxes
By Ashlyn Yule
ayule@forsythnews.com
The Cumming City
Council discussed its
2023 budget Tuesday
that calls for a cost-of-
living hike for city
employees and an
increase in spending for
the water and sewer
fund.
City Administrator
Phil Higgins presented
the proposed $47.5 mil
lion budget at a special
called meeting on
Tuesday, Dec. 13.
The total is the sum of
the general, water and
sewer, downtown devel
opment authority and
capital projects funds.
According to Higgins,
the general fund would
have a 2 percent increase
from last year to $15.8
million from $15.5 mil
lion. The capital projects
fund would be lower
than last year’s, taking
the projected expendi
tures from over $1 mil
lion to $880,818.
The downtown devel
opment authority is pro
jected to earn more than
it will spend, with
$2,808,600 in expected
revenue and $2,220,455
in expenditures.
The water and sewer
fund would have the
largest increase — 9 per
cent — from 2022’s
$25,841,600 to
$28,607,600.
Included in the budget
is also a 4 percent cost
of living adjustment for
city employees. Other
capital items Higgins
said include paving at
the Cumming
Fairgrounds and pur
chasing new police cars.
Councilmembers did
not take action on the
budget. A public hearing
will be held at the next
meeting on Tuesday,
Dec. 20
In other business,
councilmembers voted to
send a certificate of dis
tribution to the state rev-
enue commissioner
regarding a local option
sales tax, or LOST, for
2023 to 2032.
Both the county com
missioners and city
councilmembers voted to
approve a distribution of
funds, and under the pro
posal, Forsyth County
will receive 87% of
funds while the city of
Cumming will receive
13%.
The proposal also
includes rules for annex
ations from the city to
the county and sets a
plan for possibly de-
annexing Mary Alice
Park from the city to the
county.
The motion to send the
certificate to the state
was passed with a 4-0
vote with Councilman
Chad Crane absent from
the meeting.
Cooking grease
causes sewer spill
in Cumming
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i re@f o rsyth n ews. c o m
Officials with the city of Cumming announced a
sewer spill occurred in the Cumming Utilities service
area on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
According to the report, the spill occurred near 935
Dahlonega Highway due to cooking grease causing a
block in the line.
About 350 gallons were spilled before crews could
jet the grease blockage to clear the line, the report said.
Per the report, Sawnee Creek is listed as the receiv
ing waters, and the spill is not considered major.
Sen. Dolezal of Forsyth named
to Committee on Assignments
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i re@f o rsyt hnews.com
A Forsyth County state Senator
will be part of a high-ranking com-
mittee in the
upcoming legisla
tive session of the
Georgia General
Assembly
District 27 state
Sen. Greg Dolezal,
who represents the
Dolezal majority of Forsyth
County, and
District 21 state Sen. Brandon
Beach were recently appointed by
Lt. Gov.-elect Burt Jones as mem
bers of the state Senate Committee
on Assignments for the 2022-2023
legislative session.
The assignments committee is in tenant governor.
charge of appointing other state
Senators to committees, and “shall
have such duties as the Lt.
Governor may assign at his discre
tion,” according to a news release.
“I am incredibly honored to be
appointed by Lt. Governor-elect
Burt Jones to serve on the Senate
Committee on Assignments for the
upcoming legislative session,”
Dolezal said in the release. “We
anticipate that the approaching leg
islative session will be a significant
one, as there will be new leaders in
both chambers.”
Under state rules, the committee
is composed of the lieutenant gov
ernor, the president pro tempore of
the state Senate, the majority leader
and two appointees from the lieu-
“I am both humbled and honored
to be appointed by Lt. Governor-
elect Burt Jones to serve on the
Senate Committee on Assignments
for the upcoming legislative ses
sion,” Beach said in the release. “In
recent years, the General Assembly
has made great strides towards
improving our workforce, strength
ening our economy, and prioritizing
the accessibility of numerous
resources across the state of
Georgia.
“However, these accomplish
ments could not have been possible
without the hard work of our Senate
committees. I want to thank Lt.
Governor-elect Burt Jones for trust
ing me with this important respon
sibility.”
Federal Reserve raises key rate
half point, signals more to come
By CHRISTOPHER
RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON —
The Federal Reserve
reinforced its inflation
fight Wednesday by
raising its key interest
rate for the seventh
time this year and sig
naling more hikes to
come. But it announced
a smaller hike than it
had in its past four
meetings at a time
when inflation is show
ing signs of easing.
The Fed made clear,
in a statement and a
news conference by
Chair Jerome Powell,
that it thinks sharply
higher rates are still
needed to fully tame
the worst inflation bout
to strike the economy
in four decades.
The central bank
boosted its benchmark
rate a half-point to a
range of 4.25% to
4.5%, its highest level
in 15 years. Though
lower than its previous
three-quarter-point
hikes, the latest move
will further increase the
costs of many consumer
and business loans and
the risk of a recession.
More surprisingly,
the policymakers fore
cast that their key short
term rate will reach a
range of 5% to 5.25%
by the end of 2023.
That suggests that the
Fed is poised to raise its
Ga. taxpayers to pay $1M for
training at cosmetics plant
ByT.A. DeFeo
The Center Square
Georgia taxpayers are
on the hook to cover
more than $1 million in
workforce training for a
global beauty company
opening a Savannah-area
facility.
On Wednesday, state
officials confirmed KISS
USA, a global beauty
company, will spend
$121 million on a Bryan
County facility. Company
officials said they plan to
create more than 395 new
jobs at the facility at The
Cubes at Interstate
Centre II.
“The only discretionary
incentive involved in this
project is Georgia Quick
Start, which will provide
training support valued at
approximately
$1,085,395,” a Georgia
Department of Economic
Development spokesper
son told The Center
Square via email.
According to its web
page, Georgia Quick
Start “is a division of the
Technical College
System of Georgia, pro
viding customized work
force training for compa
nies creating jobs in
Georgia.”
In an announcement,
Peter Won, senior direc
tor and head of human
rate by an additional three-
quarters of a point and
leave it there through next
year. Some economists
had expected that the Fed
would project only an
additional half-point
increase.
The latest rate hike was
announced one day after
an encouraging report
showed that inflation in
the United States slowed
in November for a fifth
straight month. The year-
over-year increase of
7.1%, though still high,
was sharply below a recent
peak of 9.1 % in June.
“The inflation data in
October and November
show a welcome reduc
tion,” Powell said at his
news conference. “But it
will take substantially
more evidence to give
confidence that inflation is
on a sustained downward
path.”
In its updated forecasts,
the Fed’s policymakers
predicted slower growth
and higher unemployment
for next year and 2024.
The unemployment rate is
envisioned to jump to
4.6% by the end of 2023,
from 3.7% today. That
would mark a significant
increase in joblessness
that typically would
reflect a recession.
Consistent with a sharp
slowdown, the officials
also projected that the
economy will barely grow
next year, expanding just
0.5%, less than half the
forecast it had made in
September.
“The Fed is not done —
it sees a prolonged slow
down and a rise in unem
ployment as the only way
to fully derail inflation,”
Diane Swonk, chief econ
omist at KPMG, said in a
research note.
Though Powell said he
thought the economy
could still avoid a reces
sion, the Fed’s economic
forecasts show the policy
makers expect job losses
to result from its higher
rates.
“They really need the
unemployment rate to go
higher and wages to start
coming down,” said
Subadra Rajappa, an
investment strategist at
Societe Generale. Powell
has said that slower wage
growth would reduce
inflation pressures.
Powell said Wednesday,
“I just don’t think anyone
knows whether we’re
going to have a recession
or not. ... I wish there
were a completely pain
less way to restore price
stability. There isn’t.”
In recent weeks, Fed
officials have indicated
that they see some evi
dence of progress in their
drive to bring inflation
back down to their 2%
annual target. The national
average for a gallon of
regular gas, for example,
has tumbled from $5 in
June to $3.21.
Many supply chains are
no longer clogged, thereby
helping reduce goods pric
es. The better-than-expect-
ed November inflation
data showed that the pric
es of used cars, furniture
and toys all declined last
month.
So did the costs of ser
vices from hotels to air
fares to car rentals. Rental
and home prices are fall
ing, too, though those
declines have yet to feed
into the government’s
data.
And one measure the
Fed tracks closely —
“core” prices, which
exclude volatile food and
energy costs for a clearer
snapshot of underlying
inflation — rose only
slightly for a second
straight month.
Inflation has also eased
slightly in Europe and the
United Kingdom, leading
analysts to expect the
European Central Bank
and the Bank of England
to slow their pace of rate
hikes at their meetings
Thursday. Both are
expected to raise rates by
half a point to target still
painfully high prices
spikes after big three-
quarter-point increases.
resources at KISS, said
the company is “actively
preparing” to start its
business in Savannah
“sometime in March of
next year.”
“With the establish
ment of a logistics center
in the Savannah area, one
of the United State’s
leading container termi
nals; we are confident
that a more smooth prod
uct supply to the eastern
region, excellent man
power in the region, and
active cooperation and
help from local and state
governments will lead to
upgraded business opera
tions,” Won said in an
announcement.
OUR SERVICES
Roof Inspections
Free Replacement Estimates
General Roofing & Installation
Additions
Storm Restoration
Inspections
Consultations
Insurance Claims Specialists
Repairs & Restoration
Ventilation
678-771-5372
Chimney Caps
Siding and Painting
Gutters, Downspouts
Leaf Protection
Soffit and Fascia Repair
Attic Insulation
Storm damage assessment
Quick weather-related response
Debris removal and related repair
Extended warranties
Fully bonded and insured
Standing Seam Metal Roofing
WE ARE DEDICATED TO EXCELLENT SERVICE, QUALITY WORK & CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY AND SERVICE GUIDE