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THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. TANUARY 23.2008 - PAGE 5A
Plenty Of Water,
But Not A Drop
For Use Outside
Reservoirs Full, But Don't
Look For Loosened Restrictions
The Bear Creek Reservoir is
full. The Commerce reservoir
is more than full. But don’t look
for freedom to wash your car or
water your landscape anytime
soon.
In fact, although the drought
emergency is over for now,
Jackson County and Commerce
officials are very leery of even
restoring the exceptions to the
state’s level four restrictions.
“We are considering it (relaxing
the restrictions),’’ advised Bryan
Harbin, Commerce’s director of
water and sewer operations. “But
I don’t want to be a yo-yo, chang
ing one month and going back.
We’re waiting to see if we get
any directions from the EPD.’’
Eric Klerk, manager of the
Jackson County water system,
expressed similar concerns.
“My fear is if we go back (relax
ing restrictions) too far and run
into trouble again in the spring,
it will be almost impossible to
control,’’ said Klerk.
Both water systems eliminated
almost all of the exemptions in
the EPD’s restrictions, includ
ing those for some construction
uses, watering of newly-installed
landscapes, compacting soil for
construction and power wash
ing as they struggled to meet
a demand from Gov. Sonny
Perdue to trim water sales by
10 percent during the winter
months.
Now, with full reservoirs,
there is a sense that enough is
enough.
“Our contention the whole
time has been that our system
is in the Broad River watershed
and the Broad River doesn’t real
ly have a problem,’’ Harbin said.
Commerce officials have often
noted pointedly that the city’s
300-acre reservoir in Banks
County never got low enough
to trigger the city’s drought con
tingency plan. Had the EPD not
banned it, Commerce water
customers could have watered
their lawns and landscapes all
fall under the city contingency
plan.
According to Klerk, the Upper
Oconee Basin Water Authority,
which owns the regional Bear
Creek Reservoir, plans to ask
the EPD to “relax the level four.’’
The feeling, said Klerk, is that
“if the reservoir is full, and the
water is going down the river
and they can’t put anymore in,
why not sell it?’’
At the same time, Klerk con
ceded, levels in rivers to the
south continue to be low, creat
ing some concerns downstream
that could keep EPD from free
ing up more water for sale from
Bear Creek.
And, he says, an abundance of
water in January is no guarantee
of sufficient water in May.
“For the short-term, there is no
emergency,’’ he says. “We may
have an emergency in May.’’
State Climatologist David
Stooksbury is predicting a dry
winter and spring. He predicted
that the Bear Creek Reservoir,
which was 14 feet low in
October, might well recover over
winter and spring, but cautioned
that local streams and rivers are
likely to be in peril next summer
and fall, putting the reservoir at
risk again.
While Harbin believes that
the Commerce system is not
as affected by the drought as
the rest of North Georgia, Klerk
points out that it’s the levels of
lakes Allatoona and Lanier that
are driving EPD policy.
“If the state is going to base
this on Lake Lanier, we’re going
to be caught by our shorts here,’’
he lamented.
The city reservoir and Bear
Creek may have recovered, but
lakes Allatoona and Lanier are
still critically low, with the recent
rains having had minimal effect
on their levels.
Volunteers Sought For
Anne Frank Exhibits
An exhibit “Anne Frank: A
History for Today’’ is coming
to the Athens-Clarke County
Library and the Oconee
County Library in March
2008. Volunteers are needed
to help conduct tours of the
exhibit and to monitor the
exhibit.
The exhibit will be at the
Oconee County Library from
Sunday, March 2, to Friday,
March 14. Then, it will move
to the Athens-Clarke County
Library, opening Sunday,
March 16, and closing
Thursday, March 27.
Volunteers who wish to
conduct tours of the exhibit
must attend a training ses
sion Saturday, March 1, from
2:30-4:30 p.m., at the Oconee
County Library, located at
1080 Experiment Station
Road, Watkinsville. Volunteers
who prefer to monitor the
exhibit do not need to attend
the training session.
Volunteer forms may be
picked up at the Athens-
Clarke County Library, 2025
Baxter Street.
For more information, con
tact Sarah Hoskins at 706-613-
3650, ext. 342 or shoskins@
athenslibrary.org.
Nurses Capped And Pinned
LanierTechnical College’s Commerce campus Trippeter, Felix Nsabiyunva, Natalie Langford,
held a capping and pinning ceremony recently Helen Turner, Christina Foushi, Nancy Widner
to celebrate the graduation of nurses from its and Rosalind Mobley,
licensed practical nursing (LPN) class. Left
to right are Roycia Ross, Cahti Book, Regina
Advance Voting
Available
All Next Week
Advance voting for the Feb. 5
presidential preference prima
ry will be held Jan. 28 through
Feb. 1.
For this type of voting, there
is no reason required to vote
— only that the voter wants to
vote early.
Advance voting will be in
the Administrative Building in
Jefferson. Hours will be from 9
a.m. to 7 p.m.
Local issues on the ballot
will be a proposed $15 million
referendum for recreation pur
poses and alcohol by the drink
sales Sundays.
Voters must select a
Republican or Democrat bal
lot to make a selection in the
presidential primary.
Budget Expert Says Eliminating
Property Taxes A Risky Eiideavor
By Zach Mitcham
DANIELSVILLE - A “diver
sified portfolio’’ is always the
advice for investors looking for
long-term market gains and gen
eral stability. And a heralded
Georgia public policy expert
offers similar advice regarding
the state’s tax structure.
Thomas Lauth, Dean of the
University of Georgia’s School
of Public and International
Affairs, said House Speaker
Glenn Richardson’s proposal
to eliminate property taxes is
a move away from a diversi
fied, and more stable, tax sys
tem, where revenue is generated
off property, income and sales
taxes.
“A diversified tax system is
a better system,’’ said Lauth at
the Madison County library last
Wednesday as snowflakes fell
outside. “Various revenue sys
tems react differently to a down
economy. Having multiple ways
to collect revenue gives us a
better opportunity to weather a
downturn.’’
Lauth did not offer any
endorsements for a drastic over
haul of the state tax structure.
“I think the current system is
pretty good,’’ said Lauth, who
has authored or co-authored
more than 30 journal articles on
state budgeting. “It’s a diversi
fied revenue claiming arrange
ment. It works reasonably well.
But there are some changes to
look at, such as the issue of
property assessments.’’
Lauth said he believes
Richardson’s property tax pro
posal, the GREAT (Georgia
Repealing Every Ad-valorem
Tax) plan, was a reaction to
the wide dismay over prop
erty assessments. And a cou
ple of people in the audience
Wednesday noted how drasti
cally their own property values
and tax bills had increased in
recent years.
Lauth said reforming the prop
erty assessment system would
be a more direct way to address
public discontent than simply
eliminating property taxes.
“It wouldn’t be unreasonable to
set a cap on just how fast assess
ments can rise,’’ said Lauth.
Richardson backed out of his
speaking engagement before the
Madison County Democratic
Party in December. But local
Democrats asked Lauth to speak
at the library last Wednesday,
noting that they wanted an
objective assessment of the
proposal from a public policy
expert. A sparse crowd of about
15 — no elected officials were on
hand — listened as Lauth spoke
of the evolving nature of the
Richardson proposal.
The speaker’s original plan
was to eliminate all property
taxes. Lauth noted that there
was also talk initially of eliminat
ing income taxes, with the state
relying solely on sales taxes.
But Richardson has now
reduced the plan to the elim
ination of property taxes for
schools, with further property
tax cuts possibly coming later.
Lauth said there is no clear
answer about how local rev
enues would be redistributed
to local schools. It’s possible
that some counties bringing in
considerable sales tax money
might see their revenues shrink
as their funds are reallocated
to poorer counties. Lauth also
noted that there’s even been
talk of counties issuing property
tax bills to citizens, who would
then give those bills to the state
to pay. This possible paper shuf
fling drew some chuckles in the
audience Wednesday.
“How these revenues that
would come to the state gov
ernment through an expanded
sales tax would get back to local
school district is just unclear at
this point,’’ said Lauth.
The public policy expert
addressed the common rallying
cry against the GREAT plan, the
elimination of local control. He
noted that the Republican Party
has long spoken of the need
to keep decisions local, but
Richardson’s proposal would
do just the opposite, giving the
state the purse strings on school
decision-making.
Likewise, Lauth said the sales
tax is attractive because it
offers the illusion of fairness.
But he noted that the sales tax
is actually a “regressive’’ tax,
meaning poorer families carry a
heavier burden than richer ones,
because they must use a higher
percentage of their disposable
income on necessities. He illus
trated the point with a chart,
showing the effect of a five-
percent tax rate on two families,
one with an annual income of
$35,000 and the other with an
income of $85,000. In the end,
the effective tax rate was higher
on the lower income family.
Lauth also noted that the pro
posed elimination of sales tax
exemptions on food for home
consumption would add to the
regressive nature of the tax,
since poorer families would
have to spend even more of
their money on food.
“In order to find additional rev
enue sources, taking the exemp
tion off of food would prove a
mixed blessing,’’ he said. “You
would collect more (money), but
you increase the regressivity.’’
Not all were impressed.
“Do you have a chart for the
renter not paying any proper
ty taxes who has six kids in
school?’’ an audience member
asked, echoing the common sen
timent that many poor families
don’t pay property taxes, even
though their children receive
school services, which are fund
ed by those taxes.
Lauth was applauded at the
end of the speech and asked if
the state legislature has sought
his advice on the GREAT plan.
He smiled.
“That’s the question my
wife has,’’ he said. “No, they
haven’t.’’
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