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PAGE 12A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 28, 2009
Day Spa Opens
Simply Serene Day Spa held a ribbon-cutting and grand-opening ceremony
Tuesday morning at its 32 Pine Street location across from the Commerce
Post Office. Representatives of the city government, Downtown Development
Authority, Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce and Commerce Area
Business Association turned out to help owner Melanie Seagraves-Morris,
shown cutting the ribbon, with the celebration.
Budget Proposal Generates
Flurry Of Email To Benton
School Nurses,
Teachers, Oppose
Perdue's Budget
By Mark Beardsley
Rep. Tommy Benton is
getting a lot more feedback
from voters than normal, a
reflection of what promises
to be a very difficult legisla
tive session.
“Today I got 250 to 300
emails concerning differ
ent parts of the governor’s
budget, mostly from school
nurses," said the District 31
representatives.
The state association
for school nurses alerted
its members to the gover
nor’s recommendation to
cut funding for nurses in
schools. It also provided an
email for members to send
voicing their opposition.
“Ninety-seven percent of
them say exactly the same
thing," Benton pointed out.
He added that after throw
ing out the out-of-district
e-mails, he’s responded to
those from within the 31st
District.
“In a lot of the emails, I’ve
been asking 'what would
you cut?”' he said. “I haven’t
gotten any back that told
me where they would cut
the budget."
The governor also pro
poses dropping the extra
money paid to nationally
certified teachers. Those
professionals are also lob
bying Benton and other leg
islators.
The governor’s budget
proposes almost $2 billion
in cuts — about 10 percent
of last year’s budget. The
House and Senate appro
priations committees heard
testimony on the budget
last Thursday and Friday.
“This is not going to make
any of us popular," Benton
admitted. “I tell people we
heard the governor’s recom
mendations, now we’ll see
what we can do, but we’re
limited by the size of the
budget and the size of the
deficit. Whatever we do,
we’re going to tick some
people off."
Benton said one option
is to scrap the governor’s
budget altogether and start
from scratch.
“We could go back in
and start laying folks off,"
Benton said. “That’s what
we’ve been telling folks
complaining about cutting
(National Board Certified
teachers’ supplements). Is it
better to cut the payroll or
cut jobs?"
As for the school nurses,
Benton expects the state to
put the nurses in the QBE
formula but then reduce the
formula so “if they want the
nurses, they’ll (local school
systems) have to pay for
them themselves."
He admitted some dissatis
faction with that approach.
“To me, that’s just paper
work. Just come out and
say we’re not funding it
anymore," he said. “To me,
that’s just hiding it (the cuts)
a little bit."
The state was spending
about $30 million on nurs
es, with local systems chip
ping in $20 million, Benton
said.
The governor also propos
es to cease the state prop
erty tax credits that have
already shown up on local
tax bills. Typically, they
reduce a tax bill by $200
to $300.
Eliminating the credits
would save the state about
$438 million — a quarter of
the budget cuts — but force
local governments to either
do without the money or
send out supplementary
tax bills. Benton points out
that the Jackson County
Board of Education would
lose more than $1 million
if the credits are eliminated
— unless it sends out a sec
ond round of school tax
bills.
Humane Society Changes Meeting Schedule
The Humane Society
of Jackson County has
changed the day of its board
meetings for 2009, now
meeting Tuesdays instead
of Mondays. Member meet
ings are held every other
month on the second
Tuesday of the month at 7
p.m. in the Jackson EMC
auditorium.
The first member meeting
of the year will be Tuesday,
Feb. 10, and will feature a
panel of veterinarians and
a trainer who will take ques
tions from the audience.
The board will also share a
presentation it has created
for speaking engagements.
The remaining member
meetings of the year will be
April 14, June 9, Aug. 11 and
Oct. 13.
The Humane Society
also announced regular
monthly adoption days at
the Kroger in Jefferson,
beginning in January. They
will be held one Saturday
each month from 11 a.m.-
3 p.m.; all but two of the
months have adoption
days on the third Saturday
of the month.
For the rest of the year,
the adoption days will be
Feb. 21, March 21, April 18,
May 23, June 20, July 18,
Aug. 15, Sept. 19, Oct. 24
and Nov. 21.
For 2009 Humane Society
board members and offi
cers are Angela Gosnell,
president; Roxane Rose,
vice president; Cheryl Iski
and Anne Roberts, co-trea-
surers; and Beverly Jackson,
secretary. The remaining
board members are Teresa
Brown, Diane Mcguire-
Byard, Paige Young, Anne
Holifield, Wayne Adams
and Debbie Adams.
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