Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by Georgia HomePLACE, a project of the Georgia Public Library Service.
About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2023)
PAGE 2A THE JACKSON HERALD WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023 Early voting continues for Pendergrass special election Early voting continues for the City of Pendergrass special election. Multiple candidates qual ified to fill the unexpired terms for Post 1 and Post 6 Pendergrass City Council seats. Qualifying for the Post 1 (term ends Dec. 31) seat are: • Gabriel Gomez • Josh Auten • William Ellis For the Post 6 seat (term ends Dec. 31, 2024) are: • Crystal Hendrix • Debra Fermin Those wishing to vote early for the June 20 spe cial election may do so at the county election’s center at 441 Gordon St., Jeffer son, on the following dates: •May 30-June 3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. •June 5-10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. •June 12-16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Braselton and Commerce satellites will not be avail able for the special elec tion. A drop-box will be avail able for absentee ballots at the Election Center (locat ed inside) only during all early voting hours and will close on June 16 at 5 p.m. Ballots may be dropped off on Election Day. June 20. until 7 p.m., to the elec tion staff located at 441 Gordon Street in Jefferson. Absentee ballots will not be received at the polling loca tion on Election Day. Jackson County planning board votes to deny personal care home The Jackson County Plan ning Commission has voted to recommend denial of a personal care home on Mar shall Clark Rd. in Hoschton. The board voted to rec ommend denial to rezone and issue a special use per mit at 799 Marshall Clark Rd. for the home. Iudita Leahu had applied for the use at their home on the property. In their appli cation. Leahu said she and her husband would operate the home and had operated similar facilities in Oregon. The Jackson County plan ning staff had recommended approval for the project. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will have the final say on the plan at it June meeting. Jersey Mike’s opens in Jefferson Jersey Mike’s Subs is now open at 85 Old Farm Road in Jefferson. Franchise owners Travis Sprayberry and Tony Acton hosted a grand opening and fundraiser from Wednesday, May 24, to Sunday, May 28, to support Boys Scout Troops 158 and 5158. Guests can place or ders in-store or for pick up through the website or through the Jersey Mike’s app. Additionally, delivery is available in most areas through the Jersey Mike’s app or through third-party delivery partners. Curbside pickup is available for or ders placed in Jersey Mike’s app. The restaurant’s hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. You can con tact this location directly at 706-708-0055. Exemptions continued from 1A exempt $50,000 off of their assessed value if they have less than $25,000 in earned income. But those amounts aren’t indexed to inflation and given the dra matic jump in local hous ing values, provide less of a break than they did just a few years ago. Because of that, county leaders have come under increasing pressure to raise the exemption amount and/ or adjust the earned in come level. That pressure is being driven in part by a grow ing number of retirement communities in the county that have attracted a larger number of senior citizens. Many of those have moved to Jackson County from neighboring Gwinnett County where senior citi zens are given a very large exemption — most seniors don’t pay any school taxes in Gwinnett unless they earn over $112,000 per year. To change the Jackson County exemption amount or income requirements would require local leg islation to be passed by the Georgia General As sembly. While area leg islators have indicated they’re willing to do that, they have also indicated they won’t take that action without support from local school leaders and county officials. Making that even more complex is that there are three school systems in the county and each may want different exemption mod els for their districts. COUNTY RELUCTANCE So far, county leaders have been reluctant to ag gressively pursue raising senior exemptions for fear of depleting schools of fi nancial resources during a period of high-growth and increasing funding needs. In addition, some local officials note that exempt ing senior citizens from school taxes would only move the tax burden to younger residents — the funding needs don’t go away, they only shift to other taxpayers. “Somebody paid the school tax for us when we were in school and I’m not ready to take the burden off of me just to shift it to the young people,” said Jackson County Board of Commissioners chairman Tom Crow during a recent meeting. Over the years, Crow has defended Jackson County’s tax exemptions from calls to eliminate school taxes for senior cit izens as Gwinnett County has largely done. He notes that Gwinnett County has a much larger and more di verse tax base than Jackson County, which is heavily reliant on residential and agricultural property for taxes with a much smaller industrial and commercial tax base than Gwinnett. While Crow has made his views known, the posi tion of local school leaders remains murky. So far, no local board of education has adopted a position calling for higher senior exemp tions, something that would likely be needed for any leg islation to move forward. At the same time, no BOE has adopted a position in oppo sition to the idea of modify ing senior exemptions. THE STUDY So far, there’s been only guesswork at how higher exemptions might affect local school funding. The current UGA study is an effort to bring some hard data to the table to give lo cal officials more informa tion from which to make a decision. Key among that data will be how much funding do seniors currently contribute to school property tax rev enues and what would the impact be if that is changed and the funding shifted to ward non-senior taxpayers. In addition to that data, the study is also designed to outline the impact of im pact fees on the county bud get and new development; the financial impact on the budget of agricultural land with and without conserva tion use tax exemptions; the impact of housing with and without children on public schools; and the impact of industrial warehouses on the county’s finances. City of Pendergrass, GA Notice of Special Election In accordance with O.C.G.A § 21-2-540, notice is hereby given that the City of Pendergrass will hold a special election on September 19th, 2023, to fill the vacancy in the office of council member for Post 4. Qualifying for the special election shall be held at the Pendergrass City Hall, 65 Smith Bridges Street, Pendergrass, Georgia 30567. The qualifying fee is $35.00 and the qualifying dates and times for candi dates are: Wednesday, June 14th, 8:30 to 4:30 Thursday, June 15th, 8:30 to 4:30 Friday, June 16th, 8:30-12:30 This 24th day of May, 2023 Renee Martinez City of Pendergrass Stratemeyer named JCHS assist, principal Ashley Stratemeyer has been named as a new assistant principal at Jackson County High School. Stratemeyer is the sec ond assistant principal hire at JCHS this month, joining Ryan Lesniak. Stratemeyer currently serves as a Special Education Coordinator within the Jackson County School System. “We are very excited to have Mrs. Stratemeyer join our team at JCHS. Mrs. Stratemeyer has served in a variety of roles in her career — teacher, coach, department chair, assistant principal, and most recently Special Edu cation Coordinator for the Jackson County School Sys tem,” said new JCHS Princi pal Melissa Gillespie. “Her knowledge and experiences will undoubtedly make Mrs. Stratemeyer another amazing addition to our team, and we could not be more excited to have her join Panther Nation.” Stratemeyer has previously served as an assistant princi pal at Peachtree Ridge High School, the same place Le sniak served as athletic direc tor and assistant principal. She was a teacher and department chair at PRHS from 2010-18. Stratemeyer has been in her current role with JCSS since 2021, supporting students across all grade bands and facilitating professional de velopment for all teachers on Special Education strategies. Stratemeyer holds a Bach elor’s Degree in Special Ed ucation from the University of West Georgia, a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Grand Canyon Univer sity and a Specialist Degree Stratemeyer in Health and Physical Ed ucation from Valdosta State University. She also holds a Educational Leadership Tier 1 Certification from the Uni versity of Georgia. Stratemeyer and her hus band Matt, the principal at East Jackson Comprehen sive High School, have two children, Camden and Kait- lyn. Braselton plans budget hearings The Town of Braselton has announced the public hearing schedule for all town govern ment. agency and authority budgets for Fiscal Year 2024: •Braselton Town Council. Thursday, June 8, 4 p.m. The council will hold a called meeting June 28 at 5 p.m. to vote on the proposed budget, which calls for $7.1 million in spending, up 15% from last year, and a projected $10.55 million in revenue, up 20% from last year. The town will have a balance of $3.45 mil lion to go toward debt service and reserves. •Braselton Downtown De velopment Authority (DDA), Thursday, June 8, 11a.m. The DDA will hold a called meeting June 15 at 11 a.m. to vote on a proposed $109,295 budget. •Braselton Visitors Bureau Authority (VBA). Friday, June 9,10 a.m. The VBA will hold a called meeting June 29 at 10 a.m. to vote on a pro posed $3,055 million budget. •Braselton Urban Rede velopment Agency (URA), Wednesday. June 7. 3 p.m. The URA will hold a called meeting June 28 at 1 p.m. to vote on a proposed $611,280 budget. All public meetings will be held at the Braselton Police and Municipal Court Build ing at 5040 Hwy. 53. Varnum continued from 1A Varnum, who attended J. L. Williams school and Bryan High School, left school at 16 years old to work at Harmony Grove Mills and help raise his younger brother following the death of their mother. According to his obitu ary, Varnum was preceded in death by his mother and father, Mary Lizzie and G.W. Varnum; his brothers, Charles, Pete and Wash ington; and sisters, Sarah Nell. JoAnne. Margaret and Mary Frances. Survivors include his daughter, Margaretia Henderson, Commerce; brother, Marshall (Che- rie) Varnum, Jefferson; half-brother and half-sis ters, Keith, Stephanie, Sherry and Jan; two grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews and relatives. Following the shooting, there was an outpouring of posts on social media remembering Varnum. A vigil was held in his mem ory at the site where he was shot and several citizens stood on the sidewalks in Commerce throughout the week, waving at passers- by in Varnum’s memory. A growing memorial was also placed outside Hard ee’s. Skate A-Rama in Commerce hosted a fund raiser for Varnum’s fu neral expenses with over $13,000 raised. The com pany is also raising money for a memorial for Var num. To make a donation, visit www.skatearama.com Now Hiring for Production and Assembly A Family Atmosphere Work Environment in Pendergrass, GA HARRIS DOOR AND MILLWORK Average wage $950.00 paid weekly Monday - Friday 6 a.m. - 4 p.m. Closed Saturday and Sunday • Full Benefits Package • Health Insurance (Starts within 30 days or less) • Dental and Vision (Starts within 30 days or less) • Matching 40IK (Starts Day 1) • 3 weeks paid vacation (Accrual Starts Day 1) • Long Term Disability Insurance (Company Paid) • Short Term Disability Insurance (Company Paid) • 1 hour lunch break and two 15 minute breaks per day (5786 Hwy. 129 N, Suite A) Pendergrass, GA Call 706-693-0060 (Jennifer) or email HR@harrisdm.com
