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Thursday, September 1, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 20 | Jasper, Georgia | 22 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00 Schools and county to cut tax rates as property values rise across area County to use $1.5M in new revenue for public safety salaries By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Pickens County commissioners and the Pickens County Board of Education have proposed millage/tax rates that are lower than the 2021 rates. Leaders credit an in crease in the tax digest for the reduc tion. Despite a lower millage rate for both entities, the increase to the tax digest in 2022 means they will still collect more tax revenue than in 2021 if approved. Pickens County will use their additional revenue for first responders’ salaries. Leaders with fire and EMS and the sheriff’s office blame low pay for making it difficult for them to attract and retain employees. At a called meeting Monday, Aug. 29, the Pickens County Board of Commissioners recommended their millage rate be reduced slightly by 0.051 mils, down to 7.438 from the 2021 rate of 7.489. If commis sioners ultimately approve the pro posal, this will be at least the fifth consecutive year the county has rolled-back the rate. Commissioners will vote to ap prove the rate at a called meeting Friday, Sept. 9 The Pickens County Board of Ed ucation held a called meeting on Au gust 26 in which Superintendent Tony Young recommended a millage rate of 12.9. If approved the rate would be a 1.4 mil decrease from last year’s rate of 14.3, and will be the seventh year in a row the rate has been rolled back. According to Chief Financial Officer Amy Smith the proposed rate is the lowest since 1999, which is as far back as her records go. The school board voted for tenta tive approval with finalization likely to come at their regular September 8 meeting. The gross digest for 2022 is up over $218 million. It includes real and personal property, motor vehi cles, mobile homes, timber, and heavy duty equipment. (See full five-year digest and tax levies on pages 5A, 6A and 8A). This is the most significant increase to the di gest for at least the last five years. Pickens County’s lower millage rate of 7.438 in 2022 will produce over $1.5 million in additional taxes revenue, or an additional 12.65 per cent over last year. In a later interview, Pickens Com mission Chair Kris Stancil said of the additional revenue, “We are committed to allocating every bit of the $1.5 million to public safety salaries.” Commissioners had discussions about using the additional revenue for those salaries in recent planning retreats, but at that time they were not certain what the dollar amount would be because the digest was not complete. This approach will allow the salaries to be funded in a regular budget with no tax increase. The county has a target of $50,000 for an entry-level position in both fire and EMS and the sher iff’s office, which is “a little below our neighbors to the north, not trying to compete with metro.” Stancil said this would not make Pickens leaders, but would get them “way, way closer.” The announcement was not made See Tax Rates on 8A Bus driver to be terminated after wreck, DUI Second bus driver charged with DUI suspended as investigation continues By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com One Pickens County school bus driver will be ter minated and another sus pended after both were arrested for DUIs directly after running bus routes. One of those drivers, Jef frey Tucker, ran off the road during an afternoon route with students on board on Friday, Aug. 19. He was ad ministered a breathalyzer im mediately following the route and charged with a DUI. According to an August 24 press release from Pick ens County Schools, Super intendent Young said Tucker registered a .03 on the breath test. The system reported that no students were harmed in the crash, which occurred off Fortner Road. The bus slid off the side of the road and into a ditch. The driver in the second incident, Tammy Lynn De- cerbo, was charged with a DUI for narcotics while in her personal vehicle approx imately an hour after finish ing her route. This incident occurred the Monday after the first incident. “There were no indica tions that this driver was im paired while driving her bus that morning,” the release states. “However, notwith standing that, she will be sus pended until the charges pending against her are re solved.” In a later interview, Young said that his position as a su perintendent is that there is an absolute zero tolerance policy for bus drivers. When asked if their policies regard ing drug testing for drivers would change, he said, “We are going to continue to fol low state guidelines, and if we need to do more we can review that and the board can certainly look at increasing those [random drug] tests if we feel it is needed.” Over the years there have been a few isolated, minor incidents with school buses, Young said, but no major crashes, and that overall the system has had a very safe bus fleet with quality drivers. “You can’t control people who make really bad deci- See BUS DRIVERS on 8A Dredging underway at city water source Photo/Angela Reinhardt An excavator clears silt from Long Swamp Creek last Wednesday, Aug. 24. The dredging is part of regular main tenance near the city’s intake. By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com If you’ve driven down Cove Road in the past week you might be wondering if the city has Moses on the payroll, because Long Swamp Creek near the mines is pretty much MIA. But instead of Moses and the Red Sea, there’s just a guy on an excavator in the middle of a muddy creek bed. Where’d the water go? That’s what we asked the city, whose Public Informa tion Officer Kim Goldener told us the scene is part of regular maintenance activity at the creek “that EPD al lows us to perform as a part of our surface water with drawal permit.” The dredging work cleans out silt accumulation around the water intake. The silt gets scooped out by the backhoe, stockpiled, dried out, then See DREDGING on 8A SEPTEMBER 14 • MARBLE HILL, GEORGIA JeepFest back for year 11 Staff Reports Sheriff’s JeepFest opens for its 11th annual event of off roading, concerts and trails this week. It runs Thursday evening through Sunday. More than 1,500 Jeep owners had pre-registered and organizers say that number could double by Sunday with people who register in person. The format is much the same as in past years with a couple of notable excep tions: the Thursday Night Ride, a source of traffic frustration for local mo- See JEEPFEST on 8A The “quiet commissioner” Jerry Barnes passes away Pickens County’s fonner west district commissioner Jerry Barnes passed away on Saturday, August 27. Barnes was known as the county’s “quiet commis sioner” who worked behind the scenes in that role for nearly a decade. He retired from the posi tion at the end of July. Barnes was also in volved in many volunteer activities, and was known as a selfless, hard-worker who had long-reaching im pacts in the community. His obituary is on page 7A. The following is the statement made by Pickens County Government fol lowing his death: “It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the passing of Jerry Barnes. Commis sioner Barnes served the citizens of Pickens County as Post 1 Commissioner from January 1, 2013 to July 21, 2022. He will be deeply missed by all. Not only through his service as commissioner, Photo/Pickens County Gov ernment Jerry Barnes Jerry spent his life serving the citizens of Pickens County. “His quiet and calm de meanor was his trademark in public meetings, but his wisdom and influence helped to shape so much. We would like to ask that everyone remember Jerry’s wife, children, grandchil dren, and so many loved ones in your prayers. Chair man Stancil has ordered that all flags flown at county buildings be low ered to half-mast until the date of his funeral.” ArtWalk Jasper coming to Main Street First event Friday, Sept. 9 Page 9A Community Jam-packed September ahead. See community calendar. Page 6-7B Classes of ‘71/72 and ‘73 hold joint reunion Page 3B Obituaries - 7A • Daniel Ciorrocco • Idella Elliott • Jerry Barnes • Selena Hamrick • Tammy Trippe Contact Us 94 North Main Street Jasper, Ga. 30143 706-253-2457 pickensprogress.com Open for business during these hours: Mon-Thurs, 9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30 $1.00 per copy 4879 08163" o