Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 133
No. 27
20 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
AUGUST 20, 2008
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
DDA To Show
'Shrek The Third'
Friday In Park
The Commerce Downtown
Development Authority will
hold its second annual back-
to-school movie event Friday
night.
The DDA will show “Shrek
the Third" at dusk (about 8:30
p.m.) in Spencer Park. There
is no admission charge, and
free concessions will also be
available.
“Make a night of it," encour
ages Hasco Craver, the DDA’s
executive director. “Stop by
one of our downtown restau
rants and grab a bite to eat,
visit one of our downtown’s
specialty shops, or simply
walk along the sidewalks and
admire the currently under
way or recently completed
property rehabilitations."
Downtown Pep
Rally Set Aug. 28
The Commerce Downtown
Development Authority hopes
to kick the fall high school ath
letic season Thursday night,
Aug. 28.
The Tigers on the Town
Downtown Pep Rally will rec
ognize the Commerce High
School football team, cheer
leaders, band, dance line,
majorettes, cross country team
and softball team.
The DDA and the Commerce
Area Business Association will
also recognize the 2007-08
teachers of the year for the
city school system.
In addition, a drawing will be
held at the event for four sets
of two CHS season tickets and
parking passes for all home
athletic events. Registration
slips are available at participat
ing downtown businesses.
W
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Mostly sunny: Isolated T-storms:
Low, 68; high, 88; Low, 68; high, 85;
10% chance rain 30% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Isolated T-storms: Isolated T-storms:
Low, 66; high, 85; Low, 65; high, 84;
30% chance rain 30% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 697.1 (.5 feet below full)
Bear Creek: 690.6 (4.4 feet below full)
Rainfall this month
.5 inches
Rainfall This Year
25.05 Inches
INDEX
Births 6B
Church News 7B
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7-8A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 3B
Opinions 4-5 A
School News 8B
Sports 1-2B
Social News 6B
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 70G3 87-5435
E-mail:
news@mainstreetnews.com
ma rk@ma i n streetnews. com
brandon@mainstreetnews.com
teresa@mainstreetnews.com
Mail: P.O. Box 459,
Commerce, GA, 30529
City Schools: State Budget Cuts A 'Moving Target'
System Will Have To Dip Into Reserves
To Meet Governor's Budget Proposals
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce City School
System has finalized its budget,
but that doesn’t mean spending
for the 2008-09 school year is set
in stone.
Far from it. With a state in a fis
cal crisis and Gov. Sonny Perdue
calling for budget cuts in numer
ous areas, the man who is respon
sible for making it all work is still
sweating.
Perdue has called for cuts in
K-12 spending of two percent in
the current fiscal year and three
percent in the next. In addition
(see separate story), he wants to
eliminate the Homeowners Tax
Relief Grant, much of which goes
to school systems.
“Needless to say, we’re still fight
ing a moving target," commented
James E. “Mac" McCoy,
superintendent of the
Commerce system.
The two-percent/three-
percent cuts are the “lat
est we’ve got," McCoy
said. They just happen
to come on top of an
austerity cut that has
already cost the system
$250,000.
“Add all that together
and you’ve got trouble,"
he said.
The Commerce Board of
Education is fortunate
to have a $1.5 million
fund balance (reserves)
at present. Based on just
the “austerity" reduction,
the current budget proj
ects having reserves of
$738,000 at the end of
the year.
“With a kind of fore
sight, we cut a little bit
more than the two per
cent, not knowing what
to cut," said McCoy.
If the further cuts occur, it’ll take
a lot more cutting — more than
some school systems can handle,
according to McCoy.
He points to Oglethorpe County,
where the reserves are “already
depleted" and the system is at the
maximum millage rate.
“I know for a fact that a number
of school systems in our RESA
(Regional Education Services
Agency) can’t raise any more
taxes and their reserves are on
empty," McCoy says.
Please Turn to Page 3A
Mac McCoy
The Department of Corrections’ decision to cost the city of Commerce a number of low-cost
close the I.W. Davis Probation Detention Center maintenance workers,
in Jefferson as a budget-trimming measure will
Closing Of Detention Center
Could Be Costly For Commerce
Another Request
For Sign Variance
Coming Before City
By Mark Beardsley
The Department of Corrections’
decision to close the I.W. Davis
Probation Detention Center has
Commerce scrambling to deter
mine the effect on its operations.
“I just heard about it Thursday
or Friday. This is something we’re
going to have to discuss," noted
City Manager Clarence Bryant.
The city gets one to two full-time
workers for its recreation depart
ment and another detainee each
for its civic center and police
department, according to Bryant.
“If we’ve got to replace them
manpower-wise, we’re going to be
hurting," he said, pointing out that
for the recreation maintenance
worker, the city might require the
equivalent of a full-time employee
— which means the cost of salary
and benefits.
The city pays nothing for the
I.W. Davis detainees, who are
required to work as part of their
The BJC Medical Center is
using a multi-prong approach to
finding a new general surgeon.
Administrator Jim Yarborough
reported to the medical center’s
governing authority Monday
afternoon that the medical cen
ter has engaged several firms to
assist in the search.
“We’re getting (resumes), but
there is not a candidate at this
time we feel we want to inter
view," he said, calling the search
“a shotgun approach."
The hospital hopes to replace
Dr. Keith Ash, who resigned
in June to relocate to a larger
practice.
Yarborough also told the
authority that Dr. Fareha Rahim
is working on getting an associ-
sentences. The city picks them up
in the mornings and takes them
back in the evenings, but with no
guard required, the expense is
minimal.
Commerce also has a crew from
the Jackson County Correctional
Institute, for which it pays about
$45,000 a year, Bryant said. That
crew does right of way main
tenance, and the cost is basi
cally the salary and benefits of
the guard, and the cost of the
vehicle.
“We’ll have to sit down, see
how many positions we have and
see if we can refill them through
the county’s organization," said
Bryant Monday. “I’m not sure we
can. They want a certified guard,
and we’re not going to send some
body to school for eight weeks to
get certified.”
The closure is expected to help
the Department of Corrections
meet a six-percent budget cut
ate, a doctor now in Pakistan
who has worked in the United
States.
“Both have a comfort level that
they’re going to enjoy working
together," said Yarborough, who
added that it may be some time
before the potential associate is
able to get a visa worked out.
According to Yarborough, the
doctor moved from a U.S. prac
tice back to Pakistan to care
for his aging parents, who have
since died.
In other business at the authori
ty’s August meeting, Yarborough
announced that the Joint
Commission on Accreditation
conducted a surprise survey of
the medical center’s lab and
respiratory services depart-
proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue
in light of declining state rev
enue due to the economic
slowdown. Closing I.W. Davis
is expected to save DOC $2.4
million annually.
The probation detention cen
ter has been a handy source of
labor and expertise for the city.
It provided a construction crew
to renovate the Commerce Civic
Center, at no charge to the city,
and another crew that provided
outside maintenance for a few
years.
Future plans for the state-owned
facility have not been determined
but Jackson County leaders have
expressed an interesting in leas
ing the building. County Manager
Darrell Hampton said Monday
that the county has sent the state
a letter stating its interest in the
building. He said the county
doesn’t yet have any definite
plans for the facility.
ments, recording only minor
suggestions for improvement.
He also told the authority that
the hospital has received a grant
for a Georgia Tech to imple
ment “lean methodology" at
the medical center. Training for
senior management will begin in
September.
“We’ll pick one or two areas,"
said Yarborough. “This would
have cost us a lot of money
if we’d had to hire a consul
tant."
Also, through its emergency
services provider, Yarborough
said, the hospital has been
offered the “Disney model" for
customer service at no cost. The
idea, he said, is to begin treating
patients more like guests.
Having finally disposed of the
Walgreens’ request for a variance
in the sign ordinance, another
business has requested a similar
variance.
Pinnacle Bank, which pur
chased the Athens First Bank
& Trust office on North Broad
Street, seeks a variance as it
changes the sign to reflect the
new ownership.
“They want to reface the sign
out there," explains Commerce
planner David Zellner.
The Commerce Planning
Commission will hear the request
Monday night at 7:00 in the
Peach Room of the Commerce
Civic Center. The Commerce
City Council will act on the plan
ning commission’s recommen
dation at its Sept. 8 meeting.
That current sign, 72 square
feet, like many others in the
downtown, was erected before
BOC To Tap Reserves To
The Tune Of $2 Million
By Angela Gary
Jackson County plans to dip
into its $8.6 million in reserves
to the tune of $2 million to meet
a 19 percent hike in spending
in 2009.
The Jackson County Board of
Commissioners gave tentative
approval Monday night for the
2009 budget. Final action on the
budget is scheduled for Sept. 4
at 10 a.m.
Although the county is increas
ing spending in its general fund
by $6.6 million, the property
tax millage rate is set to drop
slightly to 9.49 mills in incor
porated areas and to 8.61 mills
in unincorporated areas. Fast
year’s rates were 9.59 and 8.73
respectively.
The county’s general fund
spending is slated to increase
from $34.7 million to $41.4
million in 2009. Much of the
increase is to meet debt service
payments and to fill 57 new posi
tions to man the new jail.
The county’s debt service
payments will jump 89 percent
in 2009, from $4.4 million to
$8.3 million. The majority of the
county’s debt service payments
will be on bonds for the new jail
and for bonds used to build eco
nomic development roads for
industrial growth.
The county’s overall budget for
all funds is $67 million in 2009,
the sign ordinance was adopt
ed. Under the ordinance, the
new sign must comply, Zellner
explains.
The existing sign is three times
the maximum square footage
allowed under the ordinance.
The only other item on the
agenda is a request by Danny
Allen for a zoning change for a
1.6-acre lot on Harmony Street
so he can get the power turned
back on in a nonconforming
mobile home.
According to the city zoning
ordinance, nonconforming prop
erty unoccupied for six months
or longer must be brought into
conformance before it is reoc
cupied.
Allen, who lives in South
Carolina, seeks to have the lot
re-zoned from R-3 (residential
single-family) to R-5 (mobile
homes).
up 22 percent over 2008.
Among the highlights of the
2009 proposed budget:
• The county is doubling its
support to the health depart
ment to $230,800. The county
said there’s been a “dramatic
increase in patient care" at the
department because of the eco
nomic downturn.
• In capital outlay for 2009,
the budget calls for $428,000
in fleet vehicle replacements,
patrol car replacements at
$575,000 and two new ambu
lances at $400,000.
• The county plans to subsi
dize the planning and zoning
department with an additional
$370,500.
• The county recreation depart
ment is receiving an increase of
$205,600 in part to create a new
maintenance position for the
new East Jackson Park and due
to repositioning mowing costs
directly to the department out
of the budgets of other depart
ments.
• Overall county salaries are
up nearly 13 percent in 2009,
$1.5 million, mostly to pay for 57
additional jail positions. Other
new positions included in the
budget are six paramedics for
the new South Jackson EMS; a
correctional officer for the East
Jackson Park; a full-time EMA
director; a solid waste correc
tions officer; a buildings and
grounds maintenance position;
and two solid waste part-time
attendants.
Medical Center Uses Multi-Prong
Approach To Finding New Surgeon
County Budget To
Grow By 19% But
Tax Rates To Dip