About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2020)
LOCA^STATE The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Wednesday, February 19, 2020 5A Council to discuss terms of $5.4 million bond issue BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The terms of a $5.4 million bond issue Flowery Branch plans to use to pay for downtown public improvements are set to be discussed Thursday, Feb. 20. Officials are looking at an interest rate no higher than 5 percent and a maximum annual debt payment of $450,000, with bonds maturing April 1, 2039, according to a city document. An underwriter from Raymond James is set to present final terms at the meeting, which is set for 6 p.m. at City Hall, 5410 W. Pine St. Council is scheduled to vote on a reso lution setting an installment plan for the bonds. The city hopes to have the parking area built, along with a farmer’s market pavilion and a park off Pine Street across from City Hall, by the end of 2020, Andrew said. Plans call for the Gainesville and Hall County Development Authority to issue the bonds on behalf of the city. The city then would use tax allocation district funding to repay the debt. A tax allocation district is an area where, when property is developed, property taxes go up, but amounts go into a TAD account and reinvested in public improvements. The TAD funding was approved by the City Council in November 2018 in an appli cation between the city and Atlanta-based The Residential Group, which is building 15 Flowery Branch City Council What: Financing for downtown improvements When: 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20 Where: City Hall, 5410 W. Pine St. apartments and 7,700 square feet of ground level retail on Main Street. The Residential Group project could wrap up by Oct. 31, Andrew said. Bells Mill Bridge lane closures set for Thursday Single-lane closures are set for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Thurs day, Feb. 20, at the Bells Mill Bridge replacement project on Cleveland High way/U.S. 129. Weather permitting, crews will be working on the bridge’s substructure, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation. The project calls for replac ing the old structure with a 661-foot bridge over East Fork Little River. The replacement is being done in tandem with the new Longstreet Bridge, which opened to traffic in January farther south on U.S. 129. DOT is tearing down the old bridge. The $34 million bridge replacements have an over all official completion date of September 2020. Jeff Gill scon ROGERS I The Times Motorists along Highway 129 at the new Bells Mill Bridge currently under construction will have to negotiate single-lane closures set for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20. MARIETTA Man charged with stepmother’s murder Georgia police have charged an 18-year-old man in the death of his stepmother, accusing him of push ing her down a flight of stairs. Austin Perot faces one count of murder after a Feb. 8 domestic altercation at a Marietta home, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Arrest warrants accuse Perot of assaulting his stepmother, Mal- gorzata Bozek, by shoving her down the stairs. Bozek suffered multiple skull fractures from the fall and was pronounced dead Feb. 9, according to Cobb County police. Perot was initially charged with aggravated battery, but the charge was upgraded to murder after Bozek’s death. It wasn’t immediately clear if Perot had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. FORT VALLEY Student’s body found; last spoke to dad Feb. 14 The body of a 23-year-old uni versity student who had been missing since Feb. 14 was found Tuesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. Anitra Gunn’s body was found in Crawford County, near the Peach County line, the agency told news outlets. Police had checked Gunn’s apartment after she failed to answer friends’ calls and texts Feb. 14. Authorities said there were no signs of a struggle, but her car was found in a neighbor’s yard with its bumper missing. Anitra Gunn was an agricul ture student at Fort Valley State University. Her father, Christopher Gunn, has told news outlets that he last spoke with his daughter to wish her a happy Valentine’s day. Associated Press JEFF AMY I Associated Press House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England speaks to reporters Tuesday, Feb. 18, at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, after his committee passed an amended midyear budget. The spending plan shifts tens of millions to lawmakers’ priorities from Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan. Our loss is Gainesuille’s GAUM! OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK! Financing Available! Come in today! ROCKING RECLINERS startiixjg'atI TWO PIECE LIVIN6 ROOM CROUPS ™>m®47 7 QUEEIM 7 PC FULL OR QUEEN BUDGET ■ Continued from 1A Committee Chairman Terry England, an Auburn Republican. The amended document makes midyear changes to Georgia’s current state bud get, which will spend more than $27 billion in state money and billions more in federal money by June 30. The full House is scheduled to debate the spending plan Wednesday. Lawmakers grabbed money from other places to shore up their priori ties, including $11 mil lion meant to implement electronic health records in the state prison system and $2.7 million more cut from the Department Public Safety. The spending plan wraps up weeks of debate, includ ing a timeout that House Speaker David Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, called amid concerns over cuts and a lack of communi cation with Kemp adminis tration officials. Democrats have been seeking to showcase the budget cuts as an election issue, months before all 236 seats in the General Assembly are up for elec tion. However, there was no opposition voiced in com mittee to the spending plan on Tuesday. Kemp proposed more than $200 million in mid year reductions in state spending, citing a shortfall in projected state tax rev enues that has been driven in part by a state income tax cut passed in 2018. The $200 million is not a very large slice of Georgia’s total spending. But most K-12, col lege, university and Medic aid spending was exempted from the cuts, meaning they will fall harder on remain ing agencies. Many of Kemp’s proposed savings would come from eliminating more than 1,200 employee positions that are vacant but funded. Kemp wants to cut more than $300 million from agencies next year while also funding pay raises for teachers and low-paid state employees. One particular focus of lawmakers has been pro tecting money for mental health and developmental disabilities. The House ver sion would add a total of $7.5 million back to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmen tal Disabilities. That would increase treatment beds for substance abuse, give more money to train adults with developmental disabilities for jobs, increase funding for mental health crisis beds, increase funding for core mental health service and preserve funding for autism services. “We were able to take some steps toward return ing toward the original numbers,” said Rep. Katie Dempsey, a Rome Repub lican who chairs an appro priations subcommittee that oversees human services spending. Lawmakers also added back more than $3 million for educating physicians and other medical professionals, put $2.8 million back into agricultural research and extension, lessened cuts to county health boards by $2.75 million, and gave an additional $1.75 million to public defenders. House budget writers also restored money for account ability courts that divert peo ple from regular criminal SCHOOLS ■ Continued from 1A She then told the board that Parents Rebuilding the Village will hold them accountable for those cho sen to lead and teach chil dren in the district. Bush asked them to revisit the system’s bullying policy. She said her organization expects that situations like bullying and behavior concerns are addressed promptly and according to guidelines set forth by the Department of Education and the school board. “All of our students deserve to be successful,” Bush said. “No stone should be left unturned... Our fami lies are counting on you. Com municate with us as we have dedicated and committed ourselves to rebuilding the village, one brick at a time.” proceedings, rejected cuts to state grants to buy library materials. In many cases, money was restored for the last quarter of the budget year, beginning April 1. England said that in most cases the House intends to keep that money in place in the 2021 budget beginning July 1. mam FURNITURE (470) 208-9466 2307 B BROWNS BRIDGE RD, GAINESVILLE, GA 30504 Business EXPO 2020 • Open to the Public • No Admission Fee • 60+ Exhibitors • Networking • Door Prizes Presented by Thursday, February 20 1 -6 pm | LanierTechnical College Ramsey Conference Center Business Expo Exhibitors 3DTeen Recovery AccessWDUN ADP Alliant Health Plans American Pest Control Americas Benefit LLC Bermac, Inc. 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