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THURSDAY. JANUARY 29. 2015 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A
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Report from the Georgia Senate
By State Senator Steve Gooch
Governor Deal made it clear
during his annual “State of the
State” address that Georgia’s
economy continues to grow in
the aftermath of the worst eco
nomic collapse of the 21st cen
tury. Thousands of jobs are
consistently being created every
month, home values are on the
rise, and Georgia remains the
number one state in the nation to
do business. Georgia’s Constitu
tional requirement that our state
operates on a balanced budget re
mains one of the most - if not
THE most - important factor to
our economic recovery.
While the recession forced
lawmakers to make very difficult
budgetary decisions and spend
ing cuts, after years of responsi
ble budgeting on the state level,
Georgia’s economic landscape is
showing improvement. The in
crease in state funds from $20.8
billion in FY 2015 to $21.7 bil
lion in FY 2016 is proof of a
growing economy and allows our
state to reinvest in the areas hurt
most by the recession.
Georgia’s education programs
continue to see the benefits of an
improving economy. Governor
Deal’s FY 2016 budget recom
mendations include $239 billion
to fund enrollment growth and
training for over 1.72 million K-
12 students and 121,000 teachers
and administrators. An additional
$280 million has been included
to increase instructional days and
properly compensate our best ed
ucators.
The HOPE scholarship pro
gram allows Georgia college stu
dents to receive a quality,
affordable education in their
home state, but the program has
seen a sharp decrease in funding
in recent years. I am pleased that
Governor Deal has recom
mended, for the second year
straight, a 3 percent increase in
the award amount for HOPE
scholarships and grants. This will
be funded through $16.7 million
in additional lottery funds.
Nearly $19.7 million in bonds
has been recommended for new
capital projects, as well as reno
vations and new equipment,
throughout the Technical College
System of Georgia (TCSG).
Improving Georgia’s trans
portation infrastructure remains a
top priority for both the Gover
nor and the General Assembly.
Approximately $17.5 million in
additional motor fuel funds have
been allotted for road and bridge
projects, based on anticipated
coliections.
Every year, the Georgia Gen
eral Assembly must also revise
the current fiscal year budget to
account for unexpected expenses
or revenue shortfalls. The Gover
nor has recommended that the
Amended FY 2015 Budget in
clude an additional $134 million
to cover school enrollment
growth, $4.8 million for Georgia
Regents University to conduct
clinical trials for the use of
cannabidiol oil to treat children
with severe seizure disorders,
and $15.4 million for the im
provement and expansion of
child welfare services. Addition
ally, $20 million is slated for
strategic economic development
project grants and loans for local
communities.
Next week, I will share infor
mation about several bills mov
ing through the committee
process. Please stay in touch with
me and share your thoughts as
we work through the legislative
session. As always, I am honored
to represent you in the 51st Sen
ate District.
Nelson council looks at property
issues around town
Benefit for man injured in car wreck
brings together community for support
By Ralph O. Dennis
Contributing Writer
Saturday, January 17,
brought a large crowd to the
Ryan Williamson Benefit.
Williamson was injured in a
car wreck on June 7, 2014,
which resulted in him being
airlifted to Grady Hospital
and then being hospitalized
for over 6 consecutive
months.
Tim Cavender served as
MC for the event which in
cluded gospel singing, food
sales, cake auctions, a multi
tude of items in the silent auc
tion and drawings for raffles
on a gun and porch swing.
Three gospel groups per
formed: Don and Annette
Williams, The Joymasters and
Daily Bread. Pleasant Union
Baptist Church of Cherokee
County, Ryan’s home church,
wishes to express sincere ap
preciation to all those who
donated toward the event in
cluding the gospel singers for
the entertainment and First
Christian Church of Jasper
for the use of their wonderful
facility.
Due to the generosity and
outpouring of love and sup
port from all, the event was
very successful. Anyone
wishing to still make a dona
tion may do so at any Wells
Fargo bank to the Ryan
Williamson Fund or at
www. letshelpryan. com
Ryan Williamson ami family
at the benefit.
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The Nelson City council
held a work session on Janu
ary 20. The council wanted to
establish some strategy on
certain issues prior to the Feb
ruary meeting.
The first topic of discussion
was the burned house on Bar
rel Way. After hearing some
comments, it was decided that
the council would give the
resident and property owner
until the February meeting to
bring in their plan for removal
and rebuilding and their re
sults from contacting the in
surance company.
Several items were de
ferred until an actual action
plan can be developed for
each project. These projects
center are the baseball field
restrooms and the repairs to
the Community Center and
the construction of the park
ing lot.
The council agreed that it is
better to do the projects right
the first time rather than
piecemeal. The suggested
plan for the community center
was to lay gravel in the grassy
The burned house on Barrel Way. The Nelson Council is giving the property owner until their Feb
ruary meeting to present plans for removal and rebuilding.
area and thereby making it a
parking lot. The majority of
the council wants to have it
properly paved.
Other areas discussed and
referred for more research
were: delinquent taxes, main
tenance and repairs to private
residences, closing of Church
Street, zoning variances, recy
cling, and updating and revis
ing the employee handbook.
United Community Bank ranked 14th
on Forbes list of America’s Best Banks
United Community Banks,
Inc. (NASDAQ: UCBI)
(“United”) was recently recog
nized as one of America’s best
performing banks by Forbes
magazine.
“America’s Best and Worst
Banks,” an article written by
Kurt Badenhausen, ranked 100
of the largest publicly traded
banks and thrifts nationwide.
United ranked 14th on the
2015 list. United is the top
ranked Georgia-based bank on
the Forbes annual list.
“We are pleased to be rec
ognized as one of the best
banks in the country,” said
Lynn Harton, president and
COO of the Bank. “This rank
ing reflects our focus on the
fundamentals of growing a
strong bank. We are particu
larly proud of achieving this
recognition of our financial
performance during the same
time that we have been recog
nized as the Southeast Region
Winner of the JD Power Award
for customer satisfaction. This
reflects the outstanding job our
bankers do of both taking care
of our customers and running
a sound and profitable bank.”
For six years, Forbes has
ranked the nation’s 100 largest
publicly-traded banks on nine
measures of financial health
including return on average
equity, net interest margin,
nonperforming loans (NPLs)
as a percentage of loans, non
performing assets as percent
age of assets, reserves as a
percentage of NPLs, two capi
tal ratios (Tier 1 and risk-
based), leverage ratio and
one-year sales growth.
“Banking is a ‘people busi
ness’ and United is fortunate to
have dedicated, results-ori-
ented employees with a true
passion to serve its customers
with our golden rule of bank
ing: serving our customers the
way we would want to be
treated,” said Jimmy Tallent,
CEO of the Bank. “At the end
of the day, that drives the fi
nancial results of our com
pany. I’m very proud of our
United Team.”
Data for the ranking was
provided by SNL Financial
based on regulatory filings
through September 30, 2014.
About United Community
Bank - United Community
Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:
UCBI) is a registered bank
holding company based in
Blairsville, Ga., with $7.5 bil
lion in assets. The company's
banking subsidiary, United
Community Bank, is one of
the Southeast region’s largest
full-service banks, operating
more than 100 offices in Geor
gia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Tennessee. The
bank specializes in providing
personalized community bank
ing services to individuals,
small businesses and corpora
tions. Services include a full
range of consumer and com
mercial banking products, in
cluding mortgage, advisory
and treasury management.
United Community Bank is
consistently recognized for its
outstanding customer service
by respected national research
firms. Additional information
about the company and the
bank’s full line of products and
services can be found at
ucbi.com
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