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Automatic Tax Increase For
Georgia Employers Is Ahead
ATLANTA lf no legisla
tion is passed to prevent it,
there will be an automatic
tax increase for Georgia
employers paying into the
state’s unemployment trust
Task Force
CGEMC Met
Wednesday
The CGEMC Directors
were hosts to the represen
tatives of the Women’s Task
Force on July 23rd at 10:30
a.m.
It was a pleasant and
informal gathering. Mr. T. F.
Freeman, president of the
Board of Directors, wel
comed the guests and set the
pace for the discussion that
followed. Of interest to those
assembled was his expla
nation of billing. The con
sumer's bill is always three
months behind. For instance,
the November bill will
probably be higher than
previous months because it
New Church
Was Full To
Overflowing
Members of the First
Baptist Church of Jackson
worshipped for the first time
in the new Sanctuary on July
27th. The sanctuary was
filled to capacity and chairs
were brought in to seat the
overflow. Pastor Donald L.
Folsom brought the message
entitled “What Mean These
Stones”. He challenged the
congregation to become
involved in the ministry of
Homecoming
At Sardis
On Sunday
Sunday, August 3, is
Homecoming day at Sardis
Baptist Church, Keys Ferry
Road, McDonough. This
year, 1975, marks the one
hundred and fifty second
anniversary of the church,
having been organized and
constituted in 1823.
This day will be more than
just a day of Bible study and
preaching; of renewing
friendship and meeting new
friends; it will be the day for
beginning to finish “The
Unfinished Task”. You will
have to be present to fully
appreciate what we mean.
Rev. Jack Bridges of
McDonough will be the guest
speaker. All who know
/JnjD^^RrTIMT)
R66ER.J |
You can always count on full fll
measure when you buy from us.
(Mattel (Builden Supply
BUILDING MATERIALS LUMBER
' 25 Carolina Ave. Jackson, Ga. |
Phone 775-3266
fund, Labor Commissioner
Sam Caldwell warned this
week.
During the past two
regular sessions of the
Georgia General Assembly,
really represents September
consumption of electricity.
Mr. Freeman emphasized
that electricity is our
cheapest commodity and
that you get what you pay
for. He reminded his audi
ence of the CGEMC’s annual
meeting to be held on August
13th and urged that all attend
because a quorum is neces
sary in order to transact
business.
In keeping with the note of
informality each member of
the EMC Task Force present
introduced herself and gave
a resume of the achieve
ments accomplished in her
county. These reports were
incredible accounts of the use
of human resources. The
consensus of opinion result
ing from the round table
discussion was that the
average monthly cost of
rural electrification to its
the church.
. Mr. Folsom presented
Merrell Price, Chairman of
the Building Committee, who
in turn presented the
architect, Charles Jenkins, of
Jenkins, Bothwell, & Slay &
Associates of Atlanta;
George Reddick of Reddick
Construction Cos. of Thomas
ton, along with the building
supervisor, Raymond Davis.
Mr. Price named the
sub-committees and thanked
everyone for their work and
sacrifices to make the
building possible. Baptismal
services were held Sunday
night when seven people
were baptized.
“Brother Jack” will have
their spiritual cups filled to
overflowing by the preaching
of this man of God.
Following the morning
worship hour, there will be a
time of fellowship around the
tables laden with food. Then
at two o’clock, the group will
return to the Lord’s House
for an old fashion hymn
singing.
All members, former
members, and friends of
Sardis are cordially invited
to attend.
. stock
m^menca.
Join the Payroll Savings Plan.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
legislation proposed by Cald
well and the Georgia Depart
ment of Labor’s Advisory
Council twice averted auto
matic tax increases.
Last winter, a bill, quickly
consumers is $35.00
Mrs. Lynwood C. Wrenn,
Co-op chairman, paid tribute
to the efficiency and accom
plishments of Mrs. Elizabeth
Watkins, Member Services
Director. Mrs. Watkins ex
pressed the gratitude of all
present for the support and
devotion to duty of Mr. R. F.
Armstrong and the Board of
Directors.
At the conclusion of
business a delectable lunch
was served.
The Central Georgia Electric
Membership Corporation’s
Annual Meeting
INDIAN SPRINGS STATE PARK
AUGUST 13,1975
Registration 9:00 A.M.
Program 10:00 A.M.
SPEAKER
HE’ ■
M . v
DAVID A. HAMIL
REA Administrator
Washington, D.C
The First 800 Members To Register Will Receive A Bag Of Light Bulbs
LUNCH: A barbecue chicken lunch will be served again this year. Tickets will be available
through August 7 at $2.75 each from the places listed. The Exchange Club of Jackson
will be in charge of the lunch.
CHICKENQUE TICKETS ON SALE: CO-OP OFFICE 923 S. MULBERRY ST., JACKSON PHONE: 775-7857
passed by both houses of the
General Assembly, was just
as quickly signed into law by
Gov. George Busbee. The
action prevented an auto
matic 30 per cent increase in
taxes for employers.
Caldwell has scheduled
meetings with management
groups from across Georgia;
the meetings have a simple
mission, Caldwell said:
“We are hoping to have
legislation to ‘decrease the
increase’ as much as
possible.”
The state’s labor commis
sioner explained that,
“Everyone knows Georgia
has been caught in an
economic crunch the past six
or eight months, a severe
crunch that has forced our
unemployment rate up to 9.6
per cent —and even as high
as 10.2 per cent.
Only a year ago, the rate
was 4.4 per cent. All of this
has resulted in a dramatic
drop in the trust fund that is
used to pay unemployment
benefits.
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1975
We’re still administering a
more than $1 million-a-day
program in payments to
Georgia’s unemployed,”
Caldwell continued. “A year
ago, we were disturbed by
the more than $1 million
dollar-a-week situation in job
benefits.”
Caldwell listed the follow
ing reasons for review of
proposed legislation:
—There are provisions
an in-built “trigger” in the
State Labor unemployment
compensation law that
allows across-the-board in
creases in tax rates . . .
AFTER computation of indi
vidual employers’ tax rates
when the aggregate of
employers’ reserves drops in
relation to total wages paid;
Tax rates for the
upcoming calendar year are
based on employers’ reserve
accounts as of June 30; the
aggregate of these accounts
has decreased from a level of
about $460 million to around
$335 million in a single year’s
time
All economic projections
seem to indicate that these
accounts will continue to
decrease during the next 18
months; in order to protect
the solvency, and in order to
be able to continue paying
benefits, it will be necessary
to allow tax increases for
calendar 1976;
The Unemployment
Insurance System is just
what it says it is ... an
employer pays premiums or
taxes during healthy eco
nomic times, to enable the
fund to pay benefits in hard
economic times to persons
who have lost their jobs
through no fault of their own.
The State Labor Depart
ment, Caldwell said, paid out
$7,550,349 last week. The
weekly amounts had dropped
as low as $5.9 million in
recent weeks, but the
seasonal influx of young
workers into the job market
in addition to many school
workers has pushed
overall unemployment up
wards.
TOP PRIZE:
GENERAL ELECTRIC
FOOD FREEZER
Gerald Davis and First Prize
Donated by Polk Tire Company of Jackson and
and General Electric Company in cooperation
with The Central Georgia EMC.
So far this year, (Wednes
day, July 23rd, marked the
204th day of the year) State
Labor has paid out
$207,300,429 in unemploy
ment compensation, com
pared to SB4 million for all of
1974. However, State Labor
during 1973 and 1972. paid out
only S3O million and 31
million in repective annual
amounts.
The trust fund, still the
nation’s No. 5-ranked fund in
total volume, has dwindled
from the aforementioned
$335 million on June 30 to a
current $319 million reading.
Back during the first week of
January, Caldwell called for
the lowering of the state-wide
reserve ratio to prevent a 30
per cent employer tax
increase.
At that time, the Georgia
Department of Labor-ad
ministered Employment Se
curity Law required that the
state-wide reserve ratio be
computed the following way:
The trust fund balance be
divided by total covered
wages for the Fiscal Year. If
the percentage is less than
4.6 per cent there shall be an
overall increase in the rate.
The percent increase was
determined by the state-wide
reserve ratio table listed in
the law.
Caldwell and the Advisory
Council, made up of Georgia
industry and labor leaders,
recommended that the law
simply be changed to a
calendar year usage rather
than a fiscal year, and also
that the state-wide reserve
ratio table be changed so
that there would be no
overall increase in the tax
rates unless the state-wide
reserve ratio calculated
was less than 4.0 per cent,
rather than 4.6 per cent.
The working people of
Georgia covered by the law
numbered 1,500,000 as of
December 1974. The figure
can fluctuate, however, as
high as 1,800,000. The number
of employers paying into the
trust fund counted December
31, totaled 84,100.
