Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
r ',y
MW.
H Wednesday, August 4, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 8 30 PACES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<J COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Major road changes
proposed for Jefferson
page 12A
Op/Ed:
•'Smith wrong on
employees "milked"'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Former Lady Dragon
hopes to close college
career with title . .page 1B
Features:
•War Stories from the
Pacific .... page 1C
•JCCHS grad, to be
on TV fishing show Fri.
page 9A
•Jefferson bride to
be on 'Say Yes to the
Dress' Fri page 9A
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 5-6C
•Church News
page4B
•Obituaries
page 5B
•School News
pages 6-7B
O -S
Jackson digest drops 5.3 percent
THE JACKSON County tax digest
is expected to drop 5.3 percent or
more this fall. With over 700 property
tax appeals still pending, preliminary
number show the overall net county
tax digest will fall from $2.43 billion in
2009 to $2.30 billion this year.
According to county officials, the
county will see a $1.4 million loss in
tax revenue.
The drop reflects the real estate bust
that has deflated property values in the
county since 2007. It is the first time
in decades that the county has seen
a decline in property values from the
previous year.
While the overall drop in values will
be around five percent, that number
isn’t the same for every taxing district.
Being hit even harder is the Jackson
County School System tax digest,
which is expected to drop 6.2 percent
or more. That digest excludes the cit
ies of Jefferson and Commerce, which
have independent school districts.
For its part, the City of Jefferson will
see a smaller drop in values, projected
to be 2.3 percent down, half of the
overall county drop. That will also
be reflected in the city’s school tax
digest.
It is the unincorporated areas of
Jackson County that saw the largest
decline in values. Property outside the
county’s nine towns fell 7.5 percent
overall, much higher than the overall
incorporated decline of 3.2 percent.
In Braselton and Hoschton, prop
erty values also saw a large decline.
Braselton’s values dropped over $8
million, down 5.1 percent from 2009.
Hoschton’s property values dropped
over $6 million, down 9.5 percent.
Neither town levies a city property tax.
Back to school in Jefferson
BIG DAY
Abbie Kinlaw (left), 2, and Mike Kinlaw (center) drop off Ellie Kinlaw, 7, at Jefferson
Elementary School Monday on the first day of classes. See additional photos on
page 6B. Photo by Ben Munro
County students return to class Thurs.
COUNTY STUDENTS will begin a new
school year on Thursday, Aug. 5.
The Jackson County School System is
expecting a slight increase in enrollment from
last year, with a projection of 7,400 students.
Superintendent Shannon Adams attributes
the stagnant total to the slumping housing
market.
The school system is implementing one
new program at the elementary school level.
It’s called Health Empowers and aims to
keep students active throughout the school
day without taking up instructional time. The
program was implemented at West Jackson
Primary School last year and was a success.
In addition, standard based report cards
will now be issued to students in grades first
through seventh. These report cards help clar
ify whether or not a student is on grade-level,
and the system has added a grade each year.
For renovations, Adams said the major
construction project was at North Jackson
Elementary School, with renovations to its
front office area and cafeteria. The project
overall cost $1,038,142, and was paid for
with SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax) funds. In addition, the gym at
WJPS is undergoing total renovations.
Jefferson in the black for 2009
THE CITY of Jefferson ended 2009 in
the black, according to the town’s recently
released audit.
According to the audit, Jefferson netted
$761,000 in its General Fund on the year,
pushing its reserve funds to over $2.8 mil
lion.
In the city’s water and sewer fund, the
town had a net loss of $260,000 on the year,
however, over $671,000 of expenses were
non-cash outlays.
In the general fund, most of the city’s rev
enue came from taxes with $2.9 million in
property taxes. That was $220,000 more than
originally anticipated. However, city sales tax
income was below budget by $212,400.
Licenses and permit income was also below
budget by $187,800 while fine and forfeiture
income was $80,000 below budget.
On the expense side, the city’s police
department was the town’s largest expense at
$1.69 million, followed by the parks depart
ment at $1.1 million. Both were under bud
get.
Runoff election
coming up Tues.
Ginn-Coley face off in Senate race
BYANGELA GARY
STATE SENATE District
47 candidates Frank Ginn
and Shane Coley will face
off Tuesday in the runoff
election
On election day, Aug. 10,
polls will be open from 7
a.m. to 7 p.m. at all of the
polls in the county.
Other races to be on the
Republican ballot include
the following:
•governor’s race. Karen
Handel and Nathan Deal.
•insurance commissioner,
Ralph Hudgens and Maria
Sheffield.
•public service commis
sioner, Tim Echols and John
Douglas.
•attorney general, Sam
Olens and Preston Smith.
DEMOCRAT BALLOT
•secretary of state, Gail
Buckner and Georganna
Sinkfield.
COLEY GINN
Voters who did not vote
in the earlier election, may
cast either a Democrat or
Republican vote. Those who
did vote in the earlier elec
tion, must vote the same
party ballot.
EARLY VOTING
Voters can cast their bal
lots early for the August 10
runoff election.
Early voting will be held
from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily
this week through Friday,
Aug. 6, at the Administration
Building in Jefferson.
Commissioner Smith calls
for lift on furlough days
BYANGELA GARY
COMMISSIONER Dwain
Smith spoke at the board
of commissioners meeting
Monday night in favor of the
county lifting the furlough
days for county employees.
“I don’t think we are doing
as well as we can do for
our employees,” Smith said.
“They haven’t had a pay
increase since 2007. Medical
insurance has gone up. We’re
not matching the 40IK.
We’ve hit them pretty hard.
I think we can afford to do
away with the furlough days.
Another thing is that it is
an inconvenience to citizens
who go to the courthouse
or administration building on
those days.”
BOC chairman Hunter
Bicknell asked where the
county would get the money
in the budget to cover the
cost of doing away with the
furlough days. He added that
the tax digest has dropped
by five percent, “which is
$1.4 million less” in tax col
lections.
Bicknell said staff is in the
budget process for 2011 and
would address this issue.
“It will all come down
to the money forecast to be
coming in,” he said. “...I
understand. I’ve experienced
the same comments from
people...We, as a group,
made the decision that instead
of terminating employees,
we furlough employees...I
appreciate you bringing the
subject up. It will be a major
part of our budget process.”
Smith said: “We have good
employees. I don’t think
we need to be losing any
employees. We’ve milked
our employees pretty hard.”
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