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The Commerce News
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Elections
Qualifying
being held
this week
Qualifying for the
Nov. 7 General Elec
tion continues this week
across Jackson County.
Some municipalities
are holding qualifying
from Monday-Wednes-
day, while others are
holding qualifying from
Wednesday-Friday.
Full qualifying results
will be posted on Jack-
sonHeraldTODAY.com
as available after quali
fying closes on Wednes
day and Friday. A com
plete list will be in next
week’s paper.
Qualifying closes
Wednesday for Arcade,
Commerce, Jefferson,
Maysville, Nicholson
and Pendergrass. Qual
ifying is set Wednes
day-Friday in Braselton,
Hoschton and Talmo.
Early voting
set for
Pendergrass
special
election
Early voting opens on
Monday for the Pender
grass City Council Sept.
19 special election. Bob
Carter and Mallory
Danner are competing
in that race. See page 5A
of this week’s paper for
Carter’s and Danner’s
responses to a Main-
street News candidate
questionnaire.
Earlier voting is set:
•Monday, Aug. 28,
through Saturday, Sept. 2,
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
•Tuesday, Sept. 5,
through Saturday, Sept. 9,
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
•Monday, Sept. 11,
through Friday, Sept. 15,
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Early voting will take
place at the county elec
tions center, located at 441
Gordon Street in Jefferson.
Absentee ballots are also
available. The deadline to
request an absentee bal
lot is Sept. 8. Visit https://
www.jacksoncountygov.
com/195/Current-Ele
chon-hiformahon for in
formation on absentee
ballots.
MAILING LABEL
Jackson BOC
Local governments may appeal state tax ruling
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
Six major government
entities in Jackson County
may jointly appeal a Geor
gia Department of Audits
& Accounts tax digest ratio
study that showed Jackson
County property valua
tions are lower than they
should be.
The county was recently
notified by the state that
its tax digest was at 31%,
below the 38% minimum
threshold. The data was
based on 2022 property
sales in the county that
compared a selected num
ber of property sales in the
county to what that prop
erty was valued at on the
county’s tax digest.
This is the second year
in a row the county has
been below the minimum
threshold. The previous ra
tio study from 2021 led to
this year’s large increase
in property values. Those
2023 increases aren’t re
flected in the 2022 ratio
study, however.
POSSIBLE APPEAL
This week, the Jackson
County Board of Com
missioners, the Commerce
City Council, the Jefferson
City Council, the Jackson
County School System,
the Commerce City School
System and the Jefferson
City School System agreed
to jointly retain a tax ap
praisal expert to help the
county figure out if the
state made errors in its cal
culations and to possibly
draft an appeal to the state.
The county has until Sept.
7 to file an appeal. The six
groups met last week to
discuss the issue and how
to respond.
The state department
of audits uses a different
formula than the coun
ty to calculate the ratio, a
formula it only recently
implemented under a new
director, officials said.
“(The consultant) agreed
to review our data and get
back with me by the mid
dle of next week,” said
Commerce School System
superintendent Joy Tolbert,
who is helping coordinate
the county’s response. “If
he sees that our issue is
methodology and he be
lieves that he can make
a good appeal for a flaw
with the methodology, he
will do the appeal. If he
does not find an issue with
the methodology to make
a good appeal, he will not
attempt the appeal.”
Having the right sales
ratio is critical to the coun
ty’s school systems since it
See Appeal, page 2A
Tigers on the Town
Photos by Amy Flint
Football season has begun for high schools across Jackson County.
The season kicked off on Friday (Aug. 18). Commerce High School
hosted its annual Tigers on the Town pep rally on Thursday (Aug.17) to
celebrate the opening of the season and cheer on the Tigers.
Commerce High
School hosted its an
nual Tigers on the
Town pep rally on
Thursday (Aug.17) to
celebrate the open
ing of the season and
cheer on the Tigers.
See more photos from
Tigers on the Town on
page12B.
Commerce High School hosted its annual Ti
gers on the Town pep rally on Thursday (Aug.
17) in Spencer Park in downtown Commerce.
Pendergrass
Garage sales, grass height and noise among
items Pendergrass looking to regulate
The City of Pender
grass is looking to im
plement a series of new
city ordinances that
mostly revolve around
regulating city “quality
of life” issues.
The city plans to
train its police officers
in code enforcement to
respond to complaints.
That will be done in a
professional and low
keyed manner, officials
said.
If a property owner
refuses to comply with
the provisions of the
nuisance code, the prop
erty owner will be cited
with a police citation
and will be required to
appear in city court.
The town’s council
recently held a work
session to go through
the ordinance propos
als. Among the items
discussed were:
Garage Sales: The
council discussed the
limit garage sales to
two per year per prop
erty owner; time to be
See Pendergrass, page 2A
Public safety
GBI, JPD probing
Jefferson murder
Authorities are investigating a murder that reportedly
happened Friday evening, Aug. 18, in Jefferson.
Mateo Gomez, no age or address given, was reported
ly found shot around 10:50 p.m. near the intersection of
Business Hwy. 129 and Storey Porter Rd. Gomez was
taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville,
where he died from his injuries.
The GBI has been called in by the Jefferson Police
Department to assist with the investigation.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact
the Jefferson Police Department at 706-367-5231 or
the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Athens at 706-
542-7901.
Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling
1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.
gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See
Something, Send Something mobile app.
Banks Crossing
Work has begun on constructing a median along
Hwy. 441 at Banks Crossing near Commerce.
Banks Crossing-
Commerce area facing a
slew of DOT road work
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
The Commerce-Banks
County area has four ma
jor road and bridge proj
ects taking place with
three of those four in the
Banks Crossing corridor
near Commerce.
In addition to the on
going widening of 1-85
through the area, Banks
Crossing is also dealing
with two other projects.
The first is the exten
sion Faulkner Rd. and
realignment of Steven B.
Tanger Blvd. That work is
ongoing with tons of dirt
being graded on the hill
just north of East Ridge
way Rd. (near the Home
Depot). (That realignment
may eliminate left turns off
of Hwy. 441 north at the
RaceTrac.)
MEDIAN WORK
The largest project in the
area, however, is that work
has begun on a long-an
ticipated median on Hwy.
441 at Banks Crossing.
The median will limit left
turns along the area and
See Roads, page 2A
piggly wiggly
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