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Page 2 — Wednesday, December 9, 2009, TheTrue Citizen
CHANCE &HYDRICK
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Commissioners get Vogtle update
Members of the Burke
and the property value assessment process. According to Georgia Power’s Stanley Warren, Burke County will
begin to see benefits from the construction of units three and four at Plant Vogtle long before their anticipated
completion in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Additional property tax revenue will go to Burke County as the
project progresses.The new construction provided about $24,000 in additional property taxes in 2009 and that
figure will continue to increase. Above, Georgia Power area manager Lisa Smith, center, stands with Commis
sioners Abrams and DeLaigle on a deck overlooking the excavation site for the new reactors.
Tax rates to remain steady for ’09
BURKE COUNTY
County Board of Com
missioners spentTues-
day morning at Plant
Vogtle talking progress
and tax revenue and
braving the rain for a
look at the excavation
site. Commissioners
Alphonso Andrews,
Lucious Abrams and
Allen DeLaigle and ad
ministrator Merv
Waldrop heard from
representatives of
Shaw, Plant Vogtle and
Georgia Power’s tax de-
partment about the
construction status,
timelines for activities
By Roy F. Chalker
Editor
An increase in the utilities di
gest enabled the Burke County
Commission to forego a prop
erty tax hike for the 2010 bud
get year. The 3 percent growth
in the digest, which includes
Plant Vogtle, was unexpected
good news for the panel, which
had gone through several weeks
of budget cutting sessions.
A drop-off in sales tax revenue
and state funding had forced the
commission to scrutinize every
county operation, cutting ser
vices in some areas and elimi
nating almost all capital im
provement items. The senior
citizen center and Burke Tran
sit were reduced to operating
three days per week, needed
equipment and vehicle pur
chases have been postponed,
and a hiring freeze was imple
mented. Commissioners had
feared an expected reduction in
the utilities budget would force
them to implement a millage in
crease to balance the budget.
According to County Adminis
trator Merv Waldrop, the news
of the utilities digest increase
was a welcome surprise to the
commissioners and himself.
Historically, depreciation at
Plant Vogtle usually resulted in
a decrease in the utilities digest.
Of the county’s total 2010
budget of $17,063,433 approxi
mately $ 10,360,000 will be gen
erated by property taxes. The
millage rate for the unincorpo
rated areas of the county will re
main at 6.264 mills while the fire
district millage is set at 3.562.
Both figures are unchanged
from last year.
Homeowners will see an in
crease in their overall property
tax bill because the state has
eliminated its tax relief grant
which saved taxpayers about
$180 per year.
BURKE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
CITY OF WAYNESBORO
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
There will be no raises and no
big ticket items. Nor will there be
utility hikes or tax increases.
Monday night, Waynesboro
City Council sailed through the
first reading of a bare-boned 2010
budget designed to do little more
than keep the city afloat for the
next 12 months.
The $8,000,070 plan comes in
4.7 percent lower than 2009’s and
passed with little talk and the ap
proval of all councilmen but Wilhe
Roy Williams, who was absent.
“It’s cut to the bone pretty
much,” city administrator Jerry
Coalson said, listing off patrol cars
and equipment that didn’t make
the short list for next year’s pur
chases. “These are things we need
but they are not things we can af
ford.”
City officials had hoped a tax
digest fattened with the recent con
struction of CVS, Walgreens and
Burger King would help carry the
load of a budget already pulled
down by weakened local spend
ing and unpredictable fuel prices.
However, that digest will only
be up about $57,000 from last year
due to lower assessments on the
bulk of Waynesboro’s homes and
businesses.
“It would have been up
$ 157,000 in better times," ’ Coalson
said, noting that while residents
will still get a few dollars off from
reassessments, they’ll see a $180
increase since the state tax relief
has been phased out by the gover
nor.
While the Dec. 21 meeting will
be canceled because of the holi
day, city council is expected to pass
the final reading of the budget in
January.
OTHER MUNICIPALITIES
Other municipalities are ad
vertising tentative millage rates
that will be officially adopted at
hearings later this month.
Sardis City Council plans to
leave the millage rate at 12 mils
and will hold a meeting at 7:15
p.m. on Dec. 22 to officially set
the rate. The meeting will be
held in the court room at the
police station.
Midville’s tentative rate is
advertised at 16 and will be
adopted at a meeting set for 6:30
p.m. on Dec. 11 at city hall.
Keysville’s rate has been ad
vertised at 12.025 and will be
officially set at a meeting sched
uled for 6 p.m. on Dec. 23 at
the municipal services building.
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
In a move that will require the
school system to pinch more pen
nies so taxpayers won’t have to,
the Burke County Board of Edu
cation voted unanimously not to
raise the school tax rate this year.
Following a motion from vice
chairman Wilhe Latimore and a
second from Lynn Crews, BOE
members tentatively approved the
2009 millage rate at 12.75, the
same as it has been for 10 years,
because they said residents can
not afford a hike at this time.
“Thinking about it and about
the condition Burke County resi
dents are in now..Latimore said.
“To me, there’s no way. We’re just
going to have to squeeze it out and
not raise the millage as far as I’m
concerned.”
Though board member Willie
Jordan acknowledged the rate will
have to increase one day due to
rising costs, he said this was not
the right time.
“Talking to residents in my dis
trict and looking at the economy,
I just can’t see putting that added
burden on the people,” he said.
“We have to do more with less.”
Chairman Johnny Jenkins,
Greg Chandler and Crews were
also hesitant to raise taxes.
“It’s going to be tight,” Jenkins
said, but referenced the school
system’s trend of ending the year
under budget. "If we do like we
did last year, we’ll be alright.”
Chandler said he could agree
with leaving the rate the same as
long as the system continued to
cut costs and kept from borrow
ing money next fiscal year.
For the past four years, the sys
tem has operated in the red and
opted to pull money from its re
serves to cover the shortfalls
rather than increase taxes. Several
construction and renovation
projects have also been paid for
with reserve funds.
The school system needs to
keep around $15 million in re
serve to cover expenses for the
first half of each fiscal year until
tax revenues begin to come in af
ter January. If the school system
can’t cover those expenses, the
money would have to be bor
rowed and result in costly interest
charges.
Leaving the millage rate the
same and relying on reserves to
cover this year’s potential deficit
could mean the school system
would only have around $12 mil
lion left.
Board members and Superin
tendent Linda Bailey agreed that
additional cuts must be made to
the budget to avoid drawing down
the reserves further.
The BOE plans to officially
adopt the millage rate at a meet
ing set for 10 a.m. on Dec. 23 at
the central office.
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■9 III