Newspaper Page Text
THE
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ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 38 32 PACES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<t COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Three homes dam
aged in storm, one fun
nel cloud reported
page 5A
•Mangum to run for
sheriff page 11A
Op/Ed:
•'Time to bust public
sector unions'.. .page 4A
Sports:
•JHS wins 10th con
secutive state duals title
page 1B
Features:
•Church at work ren
ovating old Dixieland
Motel page 1 C
•Renovated senior
center opens .page 11A
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 7-8C
•Church News
page 9B
•Obituaries
page 10 A
•School News
. . . .pages 8-10A, 12A
O -S
BOE to review local supplements
THE JACKSON County
Board of Education plans to
review the amount of the school
system’s local salary supple
ments next month to see how
the system compares to other
districts.
With nearly half of its $39
million in personnel expenses
being paid by local property taxes, the
BOE will discuss local salary supplements
during its annual retreat March 14-15.
The move is “just to review in com
parison to school systems the same size in
the area to see how we really fit in,” said
superintendent Shannon Adams.
The action comes amid continuing
financial pressure on the school system
as it faces both state cuts and a drop
in the local property tax digest. The
cost of local supplements and to
hire personnel that don’t get state
funding cost the JCSS around $17.8
million per year, around 45 percent
of the system’s total salaries of $39.2
million.
The school system pays all cer
tified personnel a local supplement of
between 5.5 percent and 6.3 percent of
their base salary. But in addition, the sys
tem also provides multiple other local sup
plements to administrators and coaches.
Administrative supplements range from
a low of $3,000 extra per year to $47,500
extra for Adams. The system finance
director gets a $20,000 local administra
tive supplement while assistant superin
tendents Rise Hawley and Kathy Elrod
get an $18,000 local supplement.
A third local supplement is also added
to administrative pay for either 11-month
or 12-month work year. Adams gets a
$24,30012-month supplement while other
12-month supplements range from $6,600
to $19,000. The system’s 11-month sup
plements are lower.
Adams is the highest paid person in
the system with a total compensation of
$163,600, 57 percent of which comes
from local tax dollars as supplements.
But the total cost of all the system’s sup
plements has leaders rethinking the pay
plan. Those supplements are all funded by
local taxpayers and have historically been
I See page 3A for a
breakdown of local
school supplements
per administrator.
viewed as necessary to attract and keep
key personnel.
“We have lost people to higher supple
ments,” notes Adams, who pointed out
that the Jackson County general supple
ment is “about a third less” than that of
Gwinnett County next door.
But staff that once might have jumped
to another system for a better supplement
are more cautious in an economy in which
school systems have laid off staff and left
continued on page 3A
ADAMS
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MAKES NATIONAL NEWS
A former Jefferson High School student, Taft Stephens, did the airbrush artwork on
this vintage military jet. The jet crashed into the Hudson River Saturday and made
national news. See the full story on page 2A.
Local school officials await state
word on potential pre-k changes
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
UNTIL LAWMAKERS make
some final decisions on Georgia’s
pre-kindergarten program, area
school system leaders say there
are unanswered questions for the
lottery-funded venture.
Georgia funds its popular
pre-K program — along with
the HOPE Scholarship and Hope
Grant — from money raised by
the lottery. But with dwindling
revenue, the lottery programs are
facing bankruptcy in 2013.
Gov. Nathan Deal proposed a
plan last week that includes new
requirements for students to get
full college tuition scholarships
for HOPE scholars, along with
changes in the pre-k program.
Those pre-k changes include
trimming the school day from six
and half hours to four hours, and
increasing transportation funds
and money targeting at-risk stu
dents. Deal also said his proposal
would include 5,000 additional
slots to address the current 9,000
students on waiting lists across
the state for the voluntary pre-k
program.
But, local school system offi
cials don’t know any other details
about the proposed changes
beyond that.
“We’re still up in the air.” said
Shannon Adams, superintendent
of the Jackson County School
System. “We feel like there’s
going to be more guidance from
the state. We’d like to think it’s not
a done deal yet. but if it is, we’ll
just have to take a good hard look
to see if we can do anything with
transportation or teachers’ hours.
There are going to be some real
serious issues to try to solve, if it
stays like it is now.”
And for now. the Jackson
County School System isn’t
taking applications for its pre-k
program — which has 180 slots
among nine classrooms in the
district.
The Jefferson City School
System, however, is accepting
applications for its 80 pre-k slots.
Both school systems typically
have a waiting list each year for
pre-k slots, which is later deter
mined by a lottery system.
The Commerce City School
System — which typically sends
out notices about pre-k applica
tions on March 2 — is holding
onto them until the district figures
out the potential changes, accord
ing to superintendent James
“Mac” McCoy.
The Georgia pre-k program
also distributes money to private
daycare centers, which may par
ticipate in the program.
John Jackson, superintendent
of Jefferson City School System,
said he suggested to the state that
it consider avoid cutting ftmds
tied to instruction for the pre-k
program and look at other areas
— such as supplies.
The state gives the Jefferson
City School System $10,000 per
a class for supplies for its pre-k
program, according to Jackson.
The district, however, only bud
gets $1,500 a year in supplies for
kindergarten classes.
Jackson said he favors align
ing the pre-k program with its
supply costs for a kindergarten
classroom.
“In times like this, I’d be in
bringing the numbers closer
together,” he said.
He also suggested that the state
allow school systems to roll over
its unused pre-k supply costs to
the following fiscal year. So far,
the Jefferson City School System
has $25,000 of such funds avail
able — which must currently be
spent by June 30.
Shifting that money to the next
fiscal year — which starts July 1
— could save the district about a
quarter of its full-time costs for
continued on page 5A
Question property appraisals before April 1
ARE YOU paying too much in local property
taxes? Do you think your property is overvalued
by the county government?
You can challenge your assessment if you act
soon.
The deadline for all Georgians to challenge
their local property tax appraisal is April 1.
By filling out a Georgia property tax return
(Form PT50-R), you can have local coun
ty appraisers reevaluate your property value.
Forms can be downloaded online or gotten from
your local appraiser office.
Officials suggest that you also set up a meet
ing with your local appraiser to go over how
they have valued your property to look for errors
and to understand better how the system works.
Because of the recession, many property
values have fallen dramatically, but that doesn’t
mean your property valuation by the county
government has been adjusted. If you have
evidence of property sales near your property,
including foreclosures, that are lower than your
own valuation, you may need to seek a reap
praisal.
Form PT50-R can be found on Page 2A of
this week’s newspaper.
Sen. Ginn co-signs
economic secrecy bill
SEN. FRANK GINN
is on of the co-signers
on a bill that would
close all records and
meetings of local gov
ernments when dis
cussing an “economic
development project.”
SB 159 was intro
duced this week. If
passed, the bill would allow
local governments to negotiate
in secret with individuals or
companies, giving tax breaks
or making other commitments
outside public oversight. It
would also allow chambers
of commerce and economic
development councils that
received a third of their fund
ing from government to also
deal in secret with such proj
ects.
The bill does not define
what constitutes an “econom
ic development project” and
allows local governments to
designate what those would
be.
The legislation would also
allow the business to decide
the timetable of announcing
to the public its plans. Only
after that would government
records related to the project
be open to the public.
Those who support
more secrecy in eco
nomic development
talks say it’s needed to
keep other states from
knowing what incen
tives Georgia gives to
prospective industries.
Critics of more secre
cy say allowing governments
to negotiate deals in secret
would permit local cities and
counties to give away thou
sands of dollars in tax breaks
and infrastructure projects to
a private business without any
public input before the deal
was done.
Sen. Ginn said Wednesday
that he signed on the bill after
being asked to support it by
people in the economic devel
opment community.
“I had several people in
economic development, such
as Barrow County’s Linda
Moore, call and ask me to
support it,” Sen. Ginn said. “If
it will help get jobs back into
the community. I support it.”
But Sen. Ginn also indicated
he was open to changes in the
bill from those who have prob
lems with it.
GINN
Sales taxes up for 2010
LOCAL OPTION Sales Taxes in Jackson County were up in
2010 by 4.25 percent over 2009. an increase of $213,600.
That amount was about one-percent above the county’s budget
and totaled $5.25 million on the year.
In addition, SPLOST taxes were also up in 2010 over 2009 at
$8.4 million compared to $8.08 million.
Sales taxes are a key source of revenue for many local govern
ments and they are also watched as a general economic indicator
of the local economy. In 2009, both LOST and SPLOST were at
their lowest levels in years due to the overall economic downturn.
Growth in the taxes indicates more consumer spending took place
in 2010 than in 2009.
But the 2010 totals are still far below their peak. In 2007, the
county took in $6.32 million in LOST, some 20.5 percent more than
last year’s total.
Likewise, SPLOST is down over 20 percent from its peak of
$10.1 million in 2007.
SPLOST dollars are restricted since they can only be used to fund
capital projects approved by voters.
The following is a breakdown showing how SPLOST was allo
cated in 2010:
2010 SPLOST allocation
JCWSA Water
$1.26 million
Commerce Water
$592,700
Commerce Roads
$186,300
Commerce Rec
$33,900
Commerce Library
$33,900
Jefferson Water
$244,700
Jefferson Roads
$235,500
Jefferson Rec
$122,400
Jefferson Pub. Safety
$9,177
Arcade Roads
$23,700
Arcade Pub. Safety
$68,400
Arcade Admin. Facilities $170,900
Nicholson Water
$29,900
Nicholson Roads
$89,800
TalmoAdmin./Libr.
$34,400
Talmo Roads
$22,900
Talmo Rec.
$11,500
Talmo Pub. Safety
$7,600
Hoschton Water
$128,400
Hoschton Roads
$34,200
Hoschton Rec.
$8,600
Pendergrass Roads
$13,800
Pendergrass Rec.
$55,100
Braselton Roads
$112,100
Maysville Roads
$13,800
Maysville Rec
$4,600
County Roads
$1.36 million
County Rec.
$842,600
County Pub. Safety
$589,800
County Jail
$1.68 million
Health Dept.
$84,200
Libraries
$42,100
TOTAL $8.42 million