Newspaper Page Text
Page 12A, The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, July 2, 2008
School Board Proposes
Property Tax Increase
Photo by Jim Quinn
Leesburg United Methodist Church held a blood drive last Wednesday.
American Red Cross
Urges Eligible Donors To
Save A Life This Summer
Special to the Ledger
The Lee County Board of
Education today announces
its intention to increase the
property tax rate it will levy
this year by 9.09 percentage.
Approximately 72% of the
school system’s general fund
expenditures are funded by
state funds. The additional
28% comes primarily from
local property taxes and
the use of cash funds and
reserves.
The Lee County School
System will relieve over
crowding at Lee County
High School by housing
ninth grade students in the
newly renovated Twin Oaks
campus. The negative to
moving these students to the
renovated campus is that state
funding is based on students
rather than buildings and
additional state revenue will
minimal. This requires the
school system to fund the
overhead associated with the
ninth grade campus locally.
The cost of the ninth grade
school is the primary reason
for this tax increase, but
energy for the new elemen
tary school and increased fuel
prices are also impacting the
2008-09 budget adversely.
In an effort to offset this tax
increase, the Lee County
School system will be rolling
back the millage rate levied
for bond indebtedness. The
net effect is a .65 millage
increase or 4.40 percentage.
Since the Lee County
Board of Education is propos
ing an increase in the millage
rate, state law requires that
three hearings be held to
allow the public an opportu
nity to express their opinions
of this increase before a final
millage rate can be adopted.
All concerned citizens are
invited to the public hear
ings on this tax increase. The
meetings will be held at the
Lee County Board of Educa
tion, 126 Starksville Avenue
North, Leesburg, Georgia
31763 at the times and dates
indicated below:
July 10, 2008- 11:00 a.m.
July 10, 2008 - 6:00 p.m.
July 21,2008 -4:00 p.m.
Lor more information,
contact the LCSS Office at
229-903-2100.
Special to the Ledger
Lor most people, the sum
mer means weeks of fun and
travel. Lor the American
Red Cross and thousands of
hospital patients, however,
this is a time of high anxi
ety. The summer tradition
ally means decreased blood
donations, which result in a
shortage of the blood types
hospitals urgently need to
treat trauma victims and
other patients.
The Red Cross urges
blood donors to make plans
to donate at least once this
summer to help prevent such
shortages.
“Your blood is needed
more than you think,’’ said
Randy Edwards, chief exec
utive officer, American Red
Cross Southern Blood Ser
vices Region. “Only about
38 percent of the population
is eligible to give blood and
only a fraction of those actu
ally donate. When you make
the decision to donate blood
this summer, it could be the
difference between life and
death for area patients.”
The blood supply typically
experiences a drop in the
summer. This drop occurs
when schools and colleges
close; people take vacations
and extended holidays; and
businesses hold smaller
blood drives due to modified
summer operations.
Because blood can be
separated into three compo
nents - blood, platelets and
plasma - one donation can
benefit up to three individu
als. It takes up to three days
for blood to be processed
and made available to hospi
tals, so it is important that a
donation be made ahead of
an emergency.
The American Red Cross
Southern Blood Services Re
gion, which supplies blood
to more than 130 hospitals,
needs 1,200 blood donors
each weekday in order to
meet the blood needs of area
patients.
Blood donors must be
at least 17-years-old and
weigh no less than 110
pounds. Please call 1-
800-GIVE-LILE or visit
www.redcrossblood.org to
make an appointment to
donate blood.
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Palmyra Files Letter of
Intent for Obstetric Services
Monday - Thursday
11 am to 9 pm
Friday and Saturday
11 am to 10 pm
Special to the Ledger
Palmyra Medical Center
announced today it has filed
a Letter of Intent with the
Department of Commu
nity Health (DCH) to seek
approval to provide Level
One Obstetric Services to
the people of Albany and
southwest Georgia.
“We have heard loud and
clear our community’s call
for choice in obstetrics,”
said Bud Wethington, CEO
of Palmyra Medical Center.
“There are fewer and fewer
hospitals in our region
offering birthing options.
“EXPERIENCE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE”
Elect Norma G. Smith
We are pleased to take this
step.”
Basic Level One Ob
stetric Services would
include basic inpatient
care for pregnant women
and newborns without
complications, managing
perinatal emergencies, con
sulting with and referring
to specialty and subspe
cialty hospitals, identify
ing high-risk pregnancies,
providing follow-up care for
new mothers and infants,
and providing public/
community education on
perinatal health.
Wethington added that
Palmyra is also excited
about what this opportunity
means to physicians and
businesses in the com
munity who for years have
sought an alternative.
“We look forward to
meeting this vital healthcare
need,” said Wethington.
“The people of our commu
nity deserve a choice.”
Palmyra officials said the
formal application would
be filed once DCH releases
new Certificate of Need
(CON) guidelines directing
them how to proceed.
Revenue Department
Initiating Three
Technological Advances
Lee County Tax Commissioner
Republican Primary July 15,2008
Experience:
• Seven years in tax collection
• Five years property appraiser
Taxpayer Accountability:
• After hours drop box
• Debit or credit card payments
• Online taxpaying service
• Work with car dealers, insurance companies
and closing attorneys
Make The Taxpaying Experience As Painless
As Possible
6 • normasmith2008@gmail.com
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I24778-V1-0070] A1179-U09
Specicd to the Ledger
During Liscal Year 2009,
the Georgia Department of
Revenue plans to initiate
three programs designed to
improve customer service,
increase tax compliance by
businesses and reduce costs
associated with processing
bank deposits.
The Department recently
signed contracts with Last
Enterprises, a Denver based
company, and RSI Solutions
located in Pembroke, Mass.,
that addresses two of the
three areas.
Last Enterprises is tasked
to work with DOR personnel
to develop an integrated tax
solution, which will provide
more comprehensive service
to taxpayers when they need
to interact with the Depart
ment.
Initially, the program
will focus on sales and use
tax. It will allow DOR
personnel to view simul
taneously all sales and use
tax accounts a taxpayer has
with the Department. Cur
rently, DOR agents have to
search several segregated
data bases to retrieve this
information, which is time
consuming and oftentimes
information is overlooked,
which requires additional
follow-up with the taxpayer.
Withholding and corporate
tax will be added to the
integrated system during
LY 2009 and other accounts
will be incorporated as the
program matures. Ulti-
River Cleanup Planned
Special to the Ledger
River’s Alive is a time to
allow concerned citizens a
time to help clean up area
waterways. This year’s
event will be held July 26.
The Rivers Alive event has
gained in popularity and the
number of volunteers has
increased to an estimated
one hundred. This increase
in participation will allow
for three waterways to be
cleaned. The targeted areas
will include portions of the
Llint River, Kinchafoonee
and Muckalee Creek located
in Lee County.
Anyone who is interested
in volunteering can contact
Lee County Code Enforce
ment Officer Jim Wright
at 759-6000 or by e-mail
at jwright@lee.ga.us. Lor
information on participat
ing in the Llint River event,
contact Jim Quinn at 759-
2413. The Kinchafoonee
Creek team leader is Rick
Wheeler at 869-1176. The
event will be held Saturday
July 26th.
mately, the Department plans
to have a fully integrated
system, which will allow
DOR personnel to view
all the taxpayer’s accounts
simultaneously. This will
result in more economical
and comprehensive service
to taxpayers when they need
to interact with the Depart
ment.
RSI Solutions is contracted
to develop a program that
will greatly enhance the
Department’s compliance
effort. It will centralize data
from various sources and
allow Department personnel
to cross check information
that is currently located in
isolated data bases.
Additionally, the Depart
ment is preparing to issue
early in LY 2009 a Request
for Proposal to implement
Check 21 operations, which
will handle check processing
in a faster, more efficient and
economical manner.
Check 21 refers to a federal
law that allows banks to
handle checks electronically.
DOR’s processing center will
make an electronic image of
the front and back of a check
and electronically transmit
those images to the bank for
deposit. This eliminates the
necessity of physically trans
porting the checks to the
bank and the costs associated
with the transportation.