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THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 29. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A
“We have experienced the heart of Americans” says resettled Ukrainian family
Rotary recognizes International Day of Peace with ceremony at Roper Park
Submitted by
Jasper Rotary
Hearts were touched as
Dima and Svetlana Brovko
shared their story of fleeing
war tom Ukraine to resettle
their family of five in Young
Harris. Their story is amaz
ing.
The Brovko’s were native
missionaries to Ukraine and
when the war increased they
were told to leave. One of
their sponsoring congrega
tions was in Young Harris.
They provided the family a
mission house where they
could live.
A Jasper connection came
next through Pickens native
Diane Langford and the First
Baptist Church. Diane knew
the family from doing mis
sion trips to Ukraine and they
made contact about being re
settled in Young Harris.
Diane’s mother, Rebecca
Forrester, asked her Sunday
school class to help with
items to furnish the house
and soon it became a whole
church project. Even the
Thrift Store gave them a
table and six chairs.
The Brovko family had
no place to live and suddenly
they have a home and a con
gregation helping them fur
nish their new residence.
One day while vacuuming,
Svetlana broke down in tears
reflecting on how blessed
they have been.
Dima told the group “I
was raised being taught
Americans were our enemies
and now we are experiencing
an out pouring of love from
the American people.”
Although the Brovko
family has been blessed with
resettling they are under
emotional stress. The oldest
daughter Anna has a college
scholarship but can not enroll
because she is waiting on
processing through immigra
tion paperwork. Also, dad
Dima an engineer by trade, is
doing day jobs needing the
same paperwork as Anna.
Son Lev and youngest
daughter Olivia are both in a
private Christian school
where the paperwork is not
needed. Lev wanted to stay
and fight the Russians and
now wants to be ROTC.
The Brovko family had
no place to live and suddenly
they have a home and two
congregations helping them
furnish their new residence.
“One day while I was vac
uuming I just started crying
reflecting on how we have
blessed,” related Svetlana.
Learn more about the
Jasper Rotary Club at www-
jaspegarrotary.org.
A “Peace Dove” takes flight after being released by Svetlanna and Dima Brovko, a re
settled Ukrainian family. The release and program was led by The Rotary Cub of Jasper
in observance of the United Nations “International Day of Peace” last week at the Peace
Pole in Roper Park.
Ground broken on Pickens Habitat for Humanity home
Submitted by Pickens
Habitat for Humanity
The Leann Hughes family
broke ground last week for
their new Pickens Habitat for
Humanity home.
The happy shovelers are:
Alex Hughes, Monica
Hughes, Leann Hughes,
Monica Vinelli, Habitat
board president, and Ray
mond Champitto, construc
tion manager.
The Hughes family will
work 200 hours in the build
ing of their new home and
occupancy is expected in the
Spring of 2023. Community
volunteers can sign-up by
visiting habitatpickensga.org
or calling 706.253.2393. photo/Max Caylor
The Hughes family breaks ground at their new home along with Pickens Habitat lead
ers.
Habitat
for Humanity
Future
Home of
The Hughes
Family
www.habitatpickensga.org
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Good-government measure aimed at suspended
elected officials tops proposals on statewide ballot
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By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - After Gov.
Brian Kemp suspended then-
state Insurance Commis
sioner Jim Beck in 2019
following Beck’s indictment
for fraud and money launder
ing, he continued collecting
his annual taxpayer-funded
salary of $195,000.
Those dismaying political
optics would be avoided in
the future if Georgia voters
approve a constitutional
amendment on the November
ballot prohibiting statewide
elected officials and mem
bers of the General Assembly
from being paid after they
have been indicted for a
felony and suspended from
office.
The proposal is one of
four voters will decide Nov.
8 along with the fates of a
myriad of candidates for fed
eral, state, and local offices.
A second constitutional
amendment would allow
cities, counties and local
school districts to temporar
ily exempt disaster victims
from paying property taxes.
Two other ballot questions
contain tax exemptions for
farmers and foresters.
Supporters say amending
the state Constitution to pre
vent indicted elected officials
from collecting salaries while
awaiting trial would close a
glaring loophole in state law.
Georgia Sen. Larry
Walker III, R-Perry, the
amendment’s chief sponsor,
called it a “common-sense
measure” when it was de
bated on the Senate floor.
“As elected officials, we
have a duty to be good stew
ards of the taxpayers’
money,” Walker said. “In the
business world ... you
wouldn’t pay someone con
victed of a felony to do a
job.”
With bipartisan support,
the amendment passed the
Senate unanimously, then
cleared the state House of
Representatives overwhelm
ingly.
The constitutional amend
ment aimed at helping disas
ter victims was prompted by
a strong tornado that hit
Heard, Coweta, and Fayette
counties in March of last
year.
“We had so many homes
and properties destroyed,”
said state Rep. Lynn Smith,
R-Newnan, the amendment’s
chief sponsor. “We’re still re
covering from the storm.”
Smith said property own
ers who lost everything that
spring still were hit with
property tax bills last fall,
forcing some to pay taxes on
homes and businesses that es
sentially didn’t exist.
“The cities, counties, and
school systems had no way to
waive what was due from
these homeowners who were
devastated,” she said.
The amendment would let
local governments and school
boards grant temporary tax
relief to owners of properties
that have been severely dam
aged or destroyed by a disas
ter and are located within a
nationally declared disaster
area.
Details such as how long
temporary that tax forgive
ness would last are yet to be
worked out. Smith said if vot
ers approve the constitutional
change, lawmakers will take
up an “enabling bill” during
the 2023 General Assembly
session specifying how the
tax exemption would work.
The third proposal Geor
gia voters will decide is a bal
lot question that would
exempt from state property
taxes equipment used in the
timber industry.
Georgia ranks as the No.-
1 forestry state in the nation,
tops in commercially avail
able timberland with 22 mil
lion acres, tops in the volume
of timber harvested each
year, and tops in forest prod
uct exports with an estimated
annual trade value of $3.9
billion, according to the
Georgia Forestry Associa
tion.
The tax exemption would
include not only the heavy
equipment used to harvest
timber but also the tractors
used in planting trees for re
forestation, said Matt Hestad,
vice president of engagement
for the forestry association.
“Some of these pieces of
equipment can run into the
hundreds of thousands of dol
lars,” Hestad said.
The fourth and final ques
tion on the ballot would ex
pand an existing property tax
exemption for agricultural
equipment by applying it to
equipment shared by two or
more family farms.
“The intense amount of
capital required to farm
makes neighbors share equip
ment sometimes,” Walker,
chairman of the Senate Agri
culture Committee, said dur
ing a recent summit on
agricultural issues in Perry.
“Becoming as efficient as we
can in how we use technol
ogy is one part of solving the
equation.”
The ballot question also
would add dairy products and
unfertilized poultry eggs to
the tax exemption.
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News Serv
ice, a project of the Georgia
Press Educational Founda
tion.
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NOTICE
The Talking Rock Council does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting
held at the Talking Rock Town Hall on October 6, 2022 at 7:00pm and pursuant to the requirements of C
48-5-32 does hereby publish the following presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with t
digest and levy for the past five years.
CURRENT 2022 TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF L
to be
J.C.G.A. Section
he history of the tax
EVY
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Real & Personal
4,794,226
4,581,717
4,903,306
4,882,894
5,967,943
6,804,379
Motor Vehicles
175,930
136,000
112,970
130,930
118,690
126,190
Mobile Homes
8,334
8,334
8,334
8,334
8,334
8,334
Timber - 100%
0
0
0
0
0
0
Heavy Duty Equipment
0
0
0
0
0
0
Gross Diqest
4,976,490
4,726,051
5,024,610
5,022,158
6,094,967
6,938,903
Less M& O Exemptions
98,145
98,145
98,145
98,135
98,145
98,145
Net M & O Diqest
4,878,345
4,627,906
4,926,465
4,924,023
5,996,822
6,840,758
State Forest Land Assistance Grant Value
Adjusted Net M&O Diqest
4,878,345
4,627,906
4,926,465
4,924,023
5,996,822
6,840,758
Gross M&O Millaqe
3.000
3.000
3.000
3.000
4.000
17.658
Less Rollback (LOST)
2.000
2.000
2.000
2.000
2.000
15.656
Net M&O Millaqe
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
2.000
2.002
Total County Taxes Levied
$4,878
$4,628
$4,926
$4,924
$11,994
$13,695
Net Taxes $ Increase
$255
-$250
$299
-$2
$7,070
$1,702
Net Taxes % Increase
5.52%
-5.13%
6.45%
-0.05%
143.57%
14.19%
FIGURES TAKEN FROM THE CONSOLIDATION AND EVALUATION REPORT