Newspaper Page Text
^0 A salute to 4-H ^0
Inside this week
™e Wiregrass Farmer
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008
ASHBURN, GA, 31714
VOL 106 - No. 41 • 500
/Around Town \
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Farmer
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Call 567-3655 for
information.
Love Offering
Colony Bank has a love
offering set up for Eddie
Joe & Triscilla Bryan, who
were involved in a car acci
dent, you can contact Jean
Daniel or Diane Wideman
if you are interested in
helping.
Case of Cokes
Turner Co. Special
Services is selling cases of
cokes. $20 per case.
Fest Yard Sale
November Fest will be
on Nov. 1 10 a.m.-l p.m.
The Yard Sale is in con
junction with the November
Fest will be from 7 a.m. - 1
p.m.
Ribbon Cutting
Thursday, Oct. 9 - 4:00
p.m. there will be a Ribbon
Cutting and Open House
for GreenTree Teaming
Center, located at 767
Teresa Ave. Building B.
Community Band
Starting up a communi
ty band under the direction
Philip Fyons. Need all
band type instrument play
ers. For more info contact
Nancy Stevenson @ 567-
3706 or email
fancy64 @ alltel .net
Cow patty bingo
Cow Patty Bingo, pro
ceeds to benefit the Turner
Co. Chamber, tickets $10,
cash prize is $500,drawing
Oct. 10th directly after the
TCHS football game. Buy
tickets from any Chamber
board member or at the
Chamber office.
Legion meeting
The American Fegion
Post 98 will hold its month
ly meeting at 7 pm on Oct.
14 in the Bubba Akins
Memorial Building. All
veterans are invited.
Story time
The Victoria Evans
Memorial Fibrary hosts a
Community Story Time the
third Friday of each month
from 10-11 a.m. Children
of all ages are invited to
attend. Sessions include a
variety of stories, songs and
crafts. The next Story Time
is Oct. 17.
For more info call 567-
4027.
Obituaries
Cora Lee R. Pate, 84
Ashburn
Perelee Wynn Ferrell, 90,
Sycamore
Clarence A. Cleghorn, Sr.,
90, Ocilla
Alvin Junior Scoggins, 83,
Chula
Complete obituary
\information is on Page 5
; Serving Turner County Since 1902 —
Digest jumps $44 million
DIGEST
County
08 - 220,438,495
07 - 176,463,431
24.9 percent increase
School Board
08 - 219,870,110
07 - 176,087,142
24.8 percent increase
Ashburn
08- 61,716,182
07 -47,155,618
30.8 percent increase
Sycamore
08 - 12,027,890
07 - 10,091,042
19.1 percent increase
Rebecca
08 - 3,956,287
07 - 3,438,220
15% percent increase
by Ben Baker, editor
The net tax digest across Turner County rose $43,975,064, a
jump of 25 percent, according to figures released by the Tax
Assessor’s office.
This is the net digest, or 40 percent of the gross digest. Taxes
are computed in Georgia using the net digest.
A mil is one-tenth of one percent, or in property values terms,
$1 for every $1,000 of taxable value. Various exemptions can
lower a property’s taxable value.
The digest is not what will be collected in taxes.
Taxes have not been set by the County Commission, School
Board and the three cities.
This digest is also not 100 percent complete as some appeals
are still pending, said Tax Assessor Sylvia Famb. But the number
of appeals is less than 5 percent of the total number of parcels.
Mrs. Famb said since there are only a few appeals still pending,
the Tax Assessor’s office felt comfortable in sending the digest to
Atlanta for review and approval from state officials.
“We’re getting close value-wise,” she said.
The re-assessment was done according to state law which
required the Assessor’s office to review past property sales end
ing Jan. 1, 2008. Sales after Jan. 1 of this year were not consid
ered for setting property values
“Sales right now are crazy,” Mrs. Famb said. “This Digest is
for ‘07 sales which is what we had to compare to. Things were
(See DIGEST Page 3)
TAX AND MILLAGE Q&A
Q. What does this mean for my taxes?
A. No one knows. The County, School Board and the
Cities must set the mill rate. This will decide what your
taxes will be.
Q. Are my taxes going up?
A. No one knows. Until the final millage is set, there’s
no way to know if your taxes will go up.
Q. Are my taxes going down?
A. No one knows. Until the final millage is set, there’s
no way to know if your taxes will go down.
Q. Has anyone set a final millage rate?
A. No. The County, School Board and Cities are still
discussing this.
Q. Is my appeal still valid?
A. If you filed an appeal on time and it has not been
settled, your appeal is still valid and active.
Q. Will my appeal affect my taxes?
A. It can. It depends on if your appeal sees your prop
erty value changed from the original assessment.
Q. Can I still file an appeal?
A. No. The deadline is long past.
Ashburn
10 mills
by Ben Baker
Editor
The Ashburn City Council
set a tentative 10 mil rate at the
Council meeting last week.
That is a one mil rollback from
last year’s millage
The final mil rate will be
set at a meeting Oct. 23.
Before making the millage
final, the City must hold public
hearings to gather input from
citizens.
WILL MY TAXES GO
UP?
For purposes of this article,
taxes are the amount of money
you pay in ad valorem taxes.
This millage is over the
rollback rate. This means the
taxes collected by the City will
be more than last year.
However, whether or not
your taxes will go up depends
on the value of your property.
If your property value
stayed the same or went down,
you will pay less taxes.
If your property value rose
only slightly, you may pay
about the same or less taxes
than last year.
If your property value rose
a good bit, you likely will pay
more in taxes this year.
WHEN WILL I KNOW
WHAT MY TAXES WILL
BE?
When the final millage is
set later this month, City Hall
will be able to tell you what
your taxes will be.
Public hearings are planned
at City Hall: 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Oct. 16. and Oct. 23 at 10a.m.
The millage-setting meeting is
7 p.m. Oct. 23.
REBEL ROYALTY
2008 HOMECOMING QUEEN JENNA KICKLIGHTER receives her crowning tiara
from last year’s queen Marley Myers. Homecoming salute inside. Photos Trish Mathes
No mil
change
for BoE
by Ben Baker
Editor
The Board of Education is
planning to leave the millage at
14.
Several public hearings are
planned before the Board offi
cially sets the mil rate.
This means if your property
value stayed the same during
the recent re-assessment, your
School Board taxes will be the
same as last year. If your prop
erty value dropped, your taxes
will go down. If your property
value went up, your taxes will
go up.
“The issue with leaving the
millage rate where it is, is a
combination of several things,”
said Superintendent Ray
Jordan.
First is a lack of reserves.
“In past years, we used the
fund balance to avoid raising
the tax rate. That fund balance
is depleted. We no longer have
a large enough fund balance to
continue that. We've had to do
a balanced budget,” he said.
Add to that lower reserves,
a lack of money from the state
level and the School Board had
to borrow money this year to
meet operating expenses until
property tax money starts com
ing in.
A reduction in state funding
is another reason the School
Board is looking at leaving the
millage at 14. Over the past
few years the General
Assembly has reduced money
it gives to school systems
(See BOE Page 3)
QUEEN JENNA KICKLIGHTER (c) and her court Breanna Hall, Ashley Whiddon, Jessica Holton, Sydney Saylor, T'Keyah Chevers, Marlena
Smith, Heather McGuire, Sara Day, Jasmine Bateman, Kenyota Carithers, Mallory Myers, Ashley Wheeler and Diamond Green.
When you come back for Homecoming, you get an incredible feeling. The game is really something you miss and can't wait to be a part of. Corey Chambers,
