Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 5A
School district anticipates budget surplus
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
IF THE numbers hold in
the Jackson County School
System's favor, the district
could end the 2010 fiscal year
with a surplus.
“Where’d that come from?”
a stunned Kathy Wilbanks,
chairperson of the board of
education, said about the lat
est estimates on the district’s
finances.
The news comes a month
after the board was warned
that it was slated to finish
the 2010 fiscal year — which
ends on June 30 — with a
potential $266,300 shortfall.
Last year, the school system
ended the 2009 fiscal year
with a $908,600 deficit and
had to submit a deficit elimi
nation plan with the state.
The proposed 2011 fis
cal year budget anticipates a
$765,670 surplus at the end of
the 2010 fiscal year.
Revenue next fiscal year for
the general fund budget is
slated to drop 4.2 percent to
$86.2 million and expenses
will be cut by 6.7 percent to
$83.3 million.
It’s estimated that the
Jackson County School
System could end the 2011
fiscal year with a potential $3
million surplus.
The board of education is
expected to adopt a tentative
2011 fiscal year budget on
Monday, June 14, at 6 p.m.
It’s also slated to ask
for RFPs — Requests for
Proposals — for a short-term
loan to fund the budget until it
is finalized.
That Tax Anticipation Note
(TAN) will be $14.5 million
— the same amount the school
system got for the 2010 fiscal
year.
However, the district esti
mates it’ll only need to use
$9.6 million of that TAN,
according to Betty Varnadore,
director of the school sys
tem’s business office.
Jeff Sanchez, assistant
superintendent for finance and
information services, was sick
on Tuesday and was unavail
able to answer the board’s
questions about the tentative
budget.
Also on Tuesday, the board
met in a closed-door meeting
for an hour and 10 minutes to
discuss personnel and poten
tial litigation. The board took
no action when the meeting
was opened to the public.
OTHER ITEMS
The Jackson County Board
of Education is expected to
vote on the following items
during its regular meeting on
Monday, June 14, at 6 p.m.:
•a request to spend up to
$300,000 to upgrade the
Staefa energy management
controls in all of the schools
in the district. Josh Patton,
a maintenance employee for
the school system, said the
investment could save the dis
trict an estimated 10 percent
on its initial monthly energy
bills and potentially up to 20
percent of those costs. The
system would allow mainte
nance employees to regulate
temperatures at a consistent
level for all schools. It could
also allow the district to tar
get particular classrooms or
sections of a school when
the remainder of the facility
isn’t in use. Patton said the
upgrades — through monthly
energy bill savings — could
return the school system’s
investment within two years.
School district officials are
expected to discuss the pro
gram and potential rate
change with Jackson EMC.
The upgrades, if approved,
would be financed by Special
Purpose Local Option Sales
Tax (SPLOST) funds ear
marked for maintenance.
•a request to spend $450 of
SPLOST funds for an electri
cal hookup to operate lights
in a new message sign at East
Jackson Middle School.
•a request to spend up to
$4,550 to remove carpet and
replace it with tile in three
classrooms at West Jackson
Middle School.
•a contract renewal with
Liberty Mutual through
Arthur J. Gallagher Risk
Management Services for the
district’s worker’s compen
sation policy. A representa
tive with the company, Kirby
Ingram, explained policy
options with the school board
on Tuesday. The district has
seen an increase in worker’s
compensation claims since it
has trimmed employee posi
tions due to budget cuts. The
board is expected to stick with
its zero deductible policy.
•a request to approve the
leadership and special assign
ment supplement schedules
for the 2010-2011 school year.
There are no changes to the
supplements and no pay raises
included in the proposal.
•requests to approve the
personnel list, which includes
employees recommended for
hire, transfer, resignation/ter
mination and retirement.
Nicholson water projects ranked first
BY SHARON HOGAN
THE NICHOLSON Water Authority
learned Tuesday night, June 1, it is ranked
first on a list of proposed projects seeking
funding through the Georgia Environmental
Facilities Authority (GEFA).
Engineer Christopher D. Quigley, Peoples
& Quigley, Inc., Sandy Springs, reported the
water authority is applying for a $700,000
GEFA loan and a $300,000 GEFA grant to
fund water projects in the city.
Quigley advised the authority that a facili
ties agreement from the city is needed by
GEFA. The facilities agreement is a letter
from the city saying if the water authority
goes away, the city will take over the water
authority, Quigley said.
Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell said
this would need to be discussed with the
city council before a decision is made.
Quigley asked to be placed on the agenda
for the council’s work session meeting at 7
p.m. on Thursday, June 17, at the Nicholson
Jefferson raises out-of-district tuition rate
BY BEN MUNRO
FAMILIES LIVING out-
of-district will have to pay
a little more out of pocket
to continue sending their
children to either Jefferson
Elementary School or
Jefferson Academy.
During a Tuesday night
meeting, the Jefferson Board
of Education (BOE) raised
the rate $ 100 per year per out-
of-district student, upping the
annual total cost to $700.
The reason for the tuition
hike is to help offset general
fund budget hits.
“The justification for this
is just simply due to the bud
getary issues we’re having
to deal with,” superintendent
John Jackson said.
Jefferson Elementary and
Jefferson Academy are the
only two campuses in the
school system where tuition
fees apply.
In another financial mat
ter, the BOE approved a July
spending resolution that will
allow it to run the school sys
tem next month despite the
2010-2011 budget not being
set.
The spending resolution
will allow the system to spend
up to one twelfth of last year’s
budget next month.
Jefferson City Schools have
yet to receive their state allot
ment sheets, and the BOE
can’t set a budget until it has
those financial figures.
School leaders hope to
receive those allotment sheets
by the end of this week,
meaning the BOE could pass
the 2010-2011 budget some
time next month.
In other news, the Jefferson
BOE extended a dress code
policy to the Jefferson
Elementary School. Students
at Jefferson Academy -
grades 3-5 - already wear
uniforms to class.
Changing the blame game rules
Community Center.
Quigley also said that if the city approves
the facilities agreement, the interest rate on
the loan could possibly be three percent or
lower. However, if the city does not agree
to the facilities agreement, the interest rate
could be 4 Vi to 5 percent.
NWA member Walter Barnett said, “We
(the authority and the city) need to all
work together on this, we are all in this
together.”
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at Tuesday's meeting:
•NWA chairman Tully Westmoreland
reported the water lines on Antioch Church
Road and Old Athens Drive have been tied
in.
•NWA member Tom Graham asked that
once all the two-inch lines have been
upgraded whether the ISO be lowered even
more. There is a lot more involved in getting
the ISO lowered than just replacing the two-
inch water lines, Graham was advised.
IN A little while,
in a roundabout
way. I’ll get around
to changes I’d like
to make in the
blame game. But
first, I want to tell
you what it was like
in the good oF days
in McLemoresville,
Tenn. (population
311 if you count
dogs, cats and chick
ens), when and where it was
not a good idea to blame
anybody for anything, but
step up to the plate and say
“my fault” and I’m sorry.”
Blaming others, if you did
it and they didn’t, could be
injurious to your health.
During the Great
Depression, we had cow
pasture baseball, Nature's
old swimming hole, trees to
climb, dirt to dig in, hogs to
feed (then slaughter), rabbit
traps to check every morn
ing, and farm and garden
chores to do every after
noon. And chapel.
Chapel: “a service or
assembly at a school or col
lege.”
Ours was an assembly, all
right. All of us (students
and teachers) gathered in the
auditorium (I can still smell
that old oily floor) at the
start of every school day.
It wasn’t exactly a service.
It was more like Sunday
school.
Professor Harrell, our prin
cipal, opened with prayer,
led us in a religious or patri
otic song, and then put the
fear of God in the kids who
came to chapel unprepared.
Preparation included mem
orizing a Bible verse and
being ready to recite it if
“Fesser” Harrell called on
you. “Jesus Wept” was the
most quoted verse of the
first kid he pointed to. After
that, John 3:16 was a popu
lar choice.
From first grade in 1929
until I dropped out of high
school in 1941,1 don't recall
anyone objecting to chapel.
And there was no such thing
as a protest. In fact, nobody
found fault - or blame -
with anything that went on
at school. School was almost
as sacrosanct as church.
Outside of school and
church, there wasn’t a whole
lot to do in McLemoresville
“back in the day.” (Whoever
started that cliche?)
Of course, that athe
ist who started the school
prayer protest hadn't been
born, and the ACLU hadn’t
been, either. And the schools
were years away from inte
gration.
I don't think there were
any foreigners or foreign
religions in the communi
ty. As far as I know, there
were no Buddhists, Hindus,
Muslims, Catholics or Jews
PUBLIC NOTICE
As required by Georgia DRE Rule 183-1-IP-
OP, a PUBLIC LOGIC AND ACCURACY TEST
of the Accuvote TS Units, Accouvote OS Units,
and Express Poll Locators will begin on June 3,
P010, at 9:00 a.m. and continue until 5:00 p.m.
daily until completion in the Probate Court of
Jackson County, Jackson County Courthouse,
5000 Jackson Parkway, Suite 140, Jefferson.
This test is open to the public.
By: Margaret Deadwyler
Probate Judge/Election Superintendent
437 Lee Street
Jefferson, GA 30549
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PEST CONTROL
and we’ll be RAT there!
in McLemoresville.
If you were not
a Methodist or
Baptist, you defi
nitely were in the
minority.
Am I suggest
ing we go back
to those “good
'ol days,” which
really weren’t all
that good. Would
I like to go back?
No way! However, I wonder
what it’d be like if we could
press the reverse button on
the time machine and relive
the Great Depression. We
might not be so uptight over
the recession.
I reminisce here merely to
make a point. The point is
this: Change happens - all
the time. Change, change
- the constancy of change.
Sometimes it is good.
Sometimes it is bad.
Oh, oh, here comes the
blame game.
We are quick to take credit
for change that is good. We
are quick to blame others for
change that is bad.
I blame politicians for
that. (I can play the blame
game as well as the next
guy; no one is immune.)
Have you noticed that
over the years the rules
have changed? Like base
ball, football, basketball and
other sports (yes, blame can
be considered a sport; we
enjoy it so much), the rules
are not what they used to
be.
I’m old enough to remem
ber when the blame game
began after the fact. Now, it
often begins before the fact.
In fact, the blame game now
breaks out past, present and
future.
We ought to limit it to
past offensives. That way,
we may not know who we
are blaming (they did it),
but we’d know what we are
blaming them for.
It's all right to blame me
for what I did yesterday.
But please, don't blame me
for what I am going to do
tomorrow.
That kind of blame is like
worry. Worry hasn't hap
pened yet. It’s always in the
future. Let’s wait until what
we are worrying about hap
pens (chances are it never
will) and then worry about
it.
Let's wait until Tom, Dick,
Harry, Obama, Nancy and
that other Harry do some
thing stupid before blaming
them for doing it. Surely we
can wait that long.
There is one other change
I’d like to make. Let’s insert
a statue of limitation. I’m
tired of people blaming Bill
Clinton for the demise of
family values in America
(like he was the only one to
do it) and George Bush for
the recession (like he made
all those bad economic deci
sions).
Obama hasn't turned the
United States into a Socialist,
Communist or Muslim coun
try. Not yet. Let’s wait until
he does and then blame
him. That would be too late,
wouldn’t it? According to
some folks who don't like
the president’s policies, it
could happen any day.
As of right now, our coun
try is still here. It hasn't
gone anywhere. So why are
some people yelling, “take
our country back” when it
ain’t been nowhere? That's
a good example of blame
before the fact.
And I believe we should
insert a double jeopardy
clause in the rule book. It's
bad enough to blame some
body for something before
they do it. It's even worse
to keep blaming them over
and over and over. Ten or 12
blames ought to be enough.
Then we should move on to
another target.
Finally, we need to quit
calling the blame game a
game. It’s not a game. It's
not funny or entertaining.
It is a worthless, useless
waste of time. And it makes
us look bad. We don't grow
up by bringing others down.
There's a better way. And
it's close to home.
You get in from work tired
and hungry and looking for a
little recognition and respect.
The house is a mess, dinner
hasn't even been started, and
she’s watching Dr. Phil on
TV. She barely recognizes
your arrival and doesn’t
seem the least bit interested
in how your day went. You
are hurt.
Don’t. Don’t start blam
ing her for your sad state of
affairs. Look for something
to compliment her on. Surely
you can think of something.
It doesn't have to be any
great thing. The fact that she
married you should be suf
ficient. Just show her a little
recognition, respect and love
and see if you don’t receive
recognition, respect and love
in return. She'll turn off the
TV, get up off that couch,
give you a big hug and kiss,
prepare your favorite din
ner, and have you looking
forward to an evening you'll
never forget.
Works every time. Beats
th’ heck out of the blame
game.
Don’t make me out a liar,
ladies.
Virgil Adams is a former
owner/editor of The Jackson
Herald.
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