About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2020)
4A Weekend Edition - June 27-28, 2020 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com LOCAL DEFUND ■ Continued from 1A police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While that’s still a drum beat, much of the issue has morphed into how much is spent on departments and how the money’s spent — as well as if it could be spent more effectively. “When you start talking about the idea of defund ing, it quickly becomes an issue of the number of offi cers that are on the road,” Oakwood Police Chief Tim Hatch said. “(Oak- wood Police Department) already is at what I would consider a minimum staff ing level for safe operations of a police department. “If you were to address the idea of defunding a por tion of the operation, the balance would be quickly shifted away from the abil ity to provide safe police services. I’m talking about safety all around. I don’t think anybody wants to see that happen.” “Our community needs to have a conversation about (police funding),” said the Rev. Rose Johnson, executive director of New town Florist Club, an activ ist group that sponsored a two-part open-air conver sation with members of law enforcement and the judiciary. Part 2 will be held Thursday, July 2. “We know our law enforcement agencies are strapped with responding to mental health issues, social service agencies, and we know that it has an impact on the capacity of their officers and deputies to do the job and do it well. ” In a report on police spending in Georgia, the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute found that from 1977 to 2017, Georgia saw a 122 percent increase in spending on police. “This increase coin cided with an 81 percent decrease in spending on cash assistance for low- income families, a critical safety net program to help families make ends meet,” the report states. “Dispa rate policing practices have also led to the overin carceration of Black Geor gians, and there has been an increase in spending on the policing and detention of immigrants.” In this year’s local spend ing, personnel salaries, as one might expect, makes up about $28.6 million countywide, or nearly half of the overall total. Add in benefits, such as insur ance, and that cost is much higher. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office has 372 sworn per sonnel, such as deputies, spread among its six divi sions: jail, patrol, opera tions, investigations, court services and special opera tions (such as SWAT). As for other agencies, Gainesville Police Depart ment has 102 sworn employees, including offi cers and administration; Oakwood Police Depart ment, 20; and Flowery Branch Police Depart ment, 16. Each department has civilian employees, as well. Among the key budget components, equipment, ranging from guns and bul lets to tasers, are estimated to cost the departments some $543,000. Also, some $236,200 has been bud geted for training and edu cation — an issue that’s at the heart of national calls for police reform — which Local police funding Here are amounts in fiscal 2021, Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31. which begins July 1 at these law enforcement agencies. The dollars for Oakwood represent fiscal 2020, which began Gainesville Police Department Total spending: $10 Million Salaries $6 Million Hall County Police Department Total spending: $43 Million Salaries $20.8 Million Oakwood Police Department Training $55,700 Uniforms $52,000 Vehicle Maintenance $255,000 Retirement $798,773 Equipment $96,100 Overtime, other pay $132,100 Benefits $1.1 Million Other $1.5 Million Total spending: $2 Million Salaries $876,470 Vehicle Maintenance $1 Million Flowery Branch Police Department Vehicle Maintenance $20,000 Overtime, other pay $30,000 Benefits $496,523 Other $239,517 Overtime, other pay $2.6 Million Benefits $6.7 Million Prisoner medical care $1.36 Million Other $6.4 Million Total spending: $1.5 Million Salaries $880,824 Training $10,000 Uniforms $10,000 Vehicle Maintenance $30,000 Retirement $53,215 Equipment $12,800 Overtime, other pay $22,719 Benefits $273,577 Other $206, 865 is less than 1% of total spending countywide. Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch said he hopes departments can get more money for training, maybe through grants or “federal dol lars will be turned loose on that.” “I know a lot of the smaller agencies would definitely depend upon that,” he said. Otherwise, “our officers have a diversity of train ing, from use of force to de-escalation, and more,” Couch said. “That has been ongoing and will con tinue to be. I think that the majority of law enforce ment agencies should try to focus much more on com munity policing, per se, as opposed to militarization of operations.” Congress has been debat ing police reform, with training a key piece. A Senate bill encour aged state and local police departments to make changes to standards for training and for when force is acceptable and would penalize departments that don’t mandate the use of body cameras. House Democrats’ bill would also create national accredita tion standards for police, including setting a national standard for the use of force. “People need to feel safe and secure when they are at home, at work, shop ping or simply out enjoying themselves,” Couch said. “As with any profession, we have those that tarnish our badges and abuse their authority, so let’s deal with the problem. “As for funding or defunding, I don’t know of al ~ Related Local departments have not acquired any surplus military equipment since the late 2000s, 5A Couch Parrish Spillers Darragh a single law enforcement agency that’s fully funded or staffed that can accom plish everything that a community truly needs.” Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said, “I think there will be changes. I’m not against police reform. Long before any of these current events were going on ... we were getting into the business of embedding mental health workers in our department. He added: “I see in the future that, from a federal, state and local level, we’re going to have to figure out how to fund more dollars for more programs like those. The credentialing of the people who do those jobs cost a lot more than a police officer.” Flowery Branch Police Chief David Spillers said that “as far as budget and services go, our (spending) is pretty lean.” “Some agencies have more (spending) discretion than we do, because we don’t do a lot of asset for feiture,” or confiscation of property related to crimes, which can help supplement budgets, he said. The struggle for Flow ery Branch is making sure funding law enforcement keeps up with growth, as the city could add thou sands of residents over the next few years based on housing development trends. “Those people will have an expectation of service ... and when they call, they expect an officer to get there pretty quick,” Spill ers said. “That puts me in position of asking (council members) for more police officers, and this is the absolute worst time in this nation to ask for that.” Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh, who works with law enforce ment as part of his prose cution efforts in Hall and Dawson counties, said he believes that “as we go forward in protecting our community from crime and ensuring justice for all of the residents ... it will continue to be important to fully fund our law enforce ment agencies.” That is “so that the best people available will want to work in them, and that programs that will foster even better relationships between law enforcement agencies and the people they serve can be devel oped and expanded for the benefit of all of us.” Northeastern Judicial Circuit Public Defender Brad Morris, whose office deals with police in crimi nal prosecutions, said, “Police are people, and there are some you like better than others. Some thing bad may happen by one person, but that doesn’t mean the whole group is going to do that.” As to the funding debate in the country, he said, “I don’t know to what extent people want to give up hav ing police around or not. If you don’t (have police), you may have anarchy. There’s a reason they’re there. As to police methodology, that should always be looked at.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. NOTICE OF ADDITION OF BOARD MEETING FY21 BUDGET WORKSHOP THE HALL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION WILL HAVE A CALLED BOARD MEETING FOR BOARD MEMBERS AT 5:00 PM ON MONDAY, JULY 6TH, 2020 FOR A FY21 BUDGET WORKSHOP. THE MEETING WILL BE AT THE HALL COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT CENTRAL OFFICE 711 GREEN STREET, GAINESVILLE, GA. 30501. Chicopee July Fourth events canceled BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Independence Day festivi ties in the Chicopee commu nity of Gainesville, including the parade and Honoring Freedom event, have been canceled. “With the rise of COVID- 19 and other venues having already canceled their July Fourth celebrations, we will be doing the same for 2020,” Clyde Self, pastor of Chi copee First Baptist, said. The church had planned to host live music and a firework show from 8 to 9:45 p.m. Saturday, on its field. Mallory Pendleton, presi dent of the Association of Chicopee Village Residents, said the cancelation of the July 4 evening parade was also pandemic related. “After we (association’s board) thought about it, we don’t want to encourage a gathering at this time,” Pendleton said. “We’re try ing to be sensitive to the situation. In Chicopee Vil lage we have quite a large amount of elderly commu nity members.” Northeast Georgia cities and locations with canceled July Fourth events include Oakwood, Braselton, Helen, Demorest, Vogel Park and the Mall of Georgia in Buford. Both downtown Braselton and the American Legion Post 7 in Gainesville have decided to postpone their July Fourth events to Labor Day weekend. THE TOWN OF CLERMONT GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES THE MILLAGE RATE FOR 2020 WILL BE SET AT THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2020 PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF O.C.G.A 48-5-32, DOES HEREBY PUBLISH THE FOLLOWING PRESENTATION OF THE CURRENT YEAR'S DIGEST ALONG WITH THE HISTORY OF THE TAX DIGEST AND LEVY FOR THE PAST FIVE (5) YEARS. 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 Real & Personal $ 41,506,594.00 $ 36,595,037.00 $ 32,888,478.00 $ 30,948,003.00 $ 28,586,957.00 Motor Vehicles $ 714,010.00 $ 685,620.00 $ 784,980.00 $ 935,670.00 $ 1,220,550.00 Mobile Homes $ 104,565.00 $ 104,565.00 $ 112,654.00 $ 112,654.00 $ 114,788.00 Utility $ 1,832,419.00 $ 1,742,953.00 $ 1,697,114.00 $ 1,625,553.00 $ 1,315,360.00 Timber 100 % $ 7,648.00 $ 4,103.00 Gross Digest $ 44,165,236.00 $ 39,132,278.00 $ 35,483,226.00 $ 33,621,880.00 $ 31,237,655.00 Less M & O Exemptions $ 3,524,203.00 $ 3,793,394.00 $ 3,268,685.00 $ 3,553,896.00 $ 4,207,841.00 Net M & 0 Digest $ 40,641,033.00 $ 35,338,884.00 $ 32,214,541.00 $ 30,067,984.00 $ 27,029,814.00 Gross M & 0 Millage 4.00 4.4 4.6 4.5 4.9 Less Rollbacks 4.00 4.4 4.6 4.5 4.9 Net M & 0 Millage $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Net Taxes Levied $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Net Taxes & Increase $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Net Taxes % Increase $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
