Newspaper Page Text
THE
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H Wednesday, September 22, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 15 54 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•County gets new
map books
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'Can BOE just say
"NO!"'
page 4A
BOC cuts 17 county jobs
But budget will still fall short by $1.7 million in 2011
BYANGELA GARY
A PROJECTED shortfall of $4 million
in the proposed 2011 budget led Jackson
County officials to cut 17 positions last
week, as well as implement 12 furlough
days for county employees next year.
The proposed 2011 budget also does not
include a raise for county employees.
But even with those actions, the county
will likely have to dip into its reserves for
around $1.7 million to make ends meet
in next year's spending.
County manager Darrell Hampton,
who noted that this budget process has
been the most difficult in his many years
in government, notified the 17 employ
ees on Friday that their positions had
been eliminated as part of a “reduction
in force.” Three full-time positions were
also changed to part-time.
The proposed $35.7 million budget
for 2011 is up $610,266 over the current
budget. Plans do not call for a millage
rate increase.
The board of commissioners gave ten
tative approval to the budget and mill-
age rate Monday night. Commissioner
Dwain Smith voted against the motion,
but commissioners Bruce Yates, Tom
Crow and Chas Hardy and chairman
Hunter Bicknell voted in favor of the
budget and millage rate.
A public hearing on the proposed bud
get and millage rate is set for 8:30 a.m.
on Friday, Oct. 8.
Finance director John Hulsey said the
budget deficit is due to the county tax
digest being down five percent, the slow
ing economy and the county's $8 million
in debt payment.
“It has been a challenge for us given
the decline of the digest,” Hulsey said.
“We have had to make some difficult
decisions to balance this budget.”
In 2011, a hiring freeze will be in place
with positions that become vacant not
being filled. The 21 vacant positions that
the county already has will not be filled.
“The first thing we did was look at the
vacant positions,” Hampton said. “It was
our decision that those vacant positions
not be funded for 2011.”
The 17 positions that were eliminated
will save the county $875,456. The posi
tions were cut from the following depart
ments: clerk of courts, code compliance,
correctional institute, county manager’s
office, EMS, finance, fleet maintenance,
information technology, Keep Jackson
County Beautiful, parks and recreation,
probate court, project management,
protective inspection, purchasing, road
department and tax commissioner's
office.
Sports:
•Strong junior class
has JHS volleyball team
rolling page 1B
Features:
Y,l
•Gravemarkers reflect
county history, page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Legals
pages 7-27C
•Church News
pages 10-11B
•Obituaries
pages 12-13A
•School News
pages 9-11A
BLUEGRASS ON THE PORCH
The Blue Billy Grit Bluegrass Band performed on the porch of the grist mill Saturday during Art in
the Park at Hurricane Shoals Park. See 14Afor more photographs from the 20th annual event.
Photo by Mark Beardsley
Mixed results for area SAT scores
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
SCHOOLS IN Jackson
Area SAT Scores
County saw mixed results
for students taking the SAT
School
Readina
Math
Writina
‘lOAveraae
‘09 Averaae
in 2010, compared to those
EJCHS
478
470
454
1402
1451
taking the college entrance
JCCHS
518
519
488
1525
1475
exam in 2009.
JHS
519
541
506
1566
1562
The average SAT score
CHS
478
453
465
1396
1478
dropped at East Jackson
State*
484
487
471
1442
1450
Comprehensive High
School and Commerce
High School from 2009
to 2010, according to data
from the state department
of education.
However, SAT average
scores rose at Jackson
County Comprehensive
High School and Jefferson
High School to surpass the
national average.
The SAT is a college
entrance exam designed to
test how well high school
students learn subject mat
ter and use critical thinking
skills. The test has three
sections — reading, math
*State numbers include public school students, not private school students.
**The SAT has three sections — reading, math and writing
— each worth 800 points, for a highest possible score of 2,400.
and writing — each worth 800
points, for a highest possible score
of 2,400.
Statewide, public school students
scored an average SAT score of
1,442. while the national average was
1,497.
At EJCHS, the SAT average score
dropped from 1,451 in 2009 to 1402,
according to data posted by the
Georgia Department of Education last
week. The average at CHS fell from
1,478 last year to 1.396 this year.
For JCCHS, the average SAT score
jumped from 1,475 in 2009 to 1,525.
The average rose slightly at JHS from
1,562 to 1,566.
The average SAT score for public
school students in Georgia, however,
fell slightly from 1,450 in 2009 to
1,442 in 2010. A total of 74 per
cent of graduating seniors took the
SAT this year, according to the state
department of education.
State officials said in a press release
that students who take more demand
ing honors or AP courses also tend to
have higher SAT scores.
Jefferson officer fired; on leave since bar fight
JEFFERSON Police Department
officer Stephen Taylor, who got
into a bar fight while off duty, was
fired Thursday following an inter
nal investigation. He was charged
earlier with one count of misde
meanor battery in connection with
the incident.
Taylor had been on administra
tive leave without pay after being
involved in an altercation at Mike's
Down Under bar. Taylor and James
Tyler Beck, 22, reportedly got into
a shoving contest at the bar around
midnight on Aug. 24 over com
ments about the color of Taylor’s
shirt.
In Beck’s version of events to
JPD officers who responded to the
incident, he said he had made a
comment to a third party in the
bar about Taylor’s pink shirt. The
comment was not made in Taylor’s
presence, he said, but someone told
Taylor about it.
Beck said he stood up to leave
the bar when Taylor confronted
him about the pink shirt com
ments. Beck said he put his hand
on Taylor’s shoulder and told him
he didn't want any problems, but
that Taylor responded by pushing
him in the chest and then hitting
him with a closed fist on the left
side of the face.
Taylor told officers that Beck had
pushed him and that he acted in
self-defense. He said the incident
had stemmed from a verbal alter
cation he blamed on Beck, saying
Beck was upset over a woman who
was “hanging out” with him.
A blood alcohol test of both men
taken by the JPD reportedly showed
Taylor at .183 while Beck was .00.
School system
tax rate to stay
same for FY11
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE JACKSON County Board of Education
will hold a public hearing in October to set
its tax millage rate — which will remain
unchanged.
The hearing will be held on Thursday, Oct. 7,
at 6 p.m. — the same time that its monthly work
session meeting will start at the Gordon Street
Center, Jefferson.
For the fifth year in a row. the maintenance
and operation (M&O) tax rate for the Jackson
County School System will remain at 18.9
mills. A mill equals a tax liability of one dollar
per every $1,000 of assessed value.
But unlike many recent years when the
county’s climbing tax digest had brought addi
tional revenue to the school system, this year’s
digest forecasts a $2.1 million drop in taxes
— compared to 2009, when the digest fell just
$120,600.
“The key, I think, is continuing to be able to
manage because I don't see (that) the digest is
going to increase for the next couple of years,”
said board chairperson Kathy Wilbanks at its
Sept. 9 work session. “So, we’re going to have
to get used to doing more with less — for a
while, anyway.”
Setting the tax millage rate is one of the last
steps before the board of education adopts
its final 2011 fiscal year budget, possibly in
October.
The school system had received a $11.5 mil
lion Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) in July to
keep the 2011 budget, which started on July 1,
afloat until the district starts to receive tax rev
enue in December. As of a week ago. the school
system had not tapped into the short-term loan,
continued on page 5A
State Court to
continue on
part-time basis
BOC rejects request
to change to full-time
BYANGELA GARY
A PUSH BY State Court officials to
change to a full-time operation was rejected
in a 4-1 vote of the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners Tuesday night.
Commissioner Dwain Smith cast the only
vote to approve the request. Voting to continue
to operate State Court on a part-time basis were
commissioners Bruce Yates. Tom Crow and
Chas Hardy and chairman Hunter Bicknell.
Judge Jerry Gray and solicitor Don Moore
have been pushing for the State Court system
to move to full-time, but county staff recom
mended that it continue to operate as a part-
time court.
County manager Darrell Hampton said he
has reviewed the State Court’s operation and
believes it should continue to be part-time.
“In reviewing case load information pro
vided by the State Court, for the years 2005
continued on page 5A