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About The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
Vol. 140 No. 14 24 Pages 2 Sections Wednesday MAY 25,2016 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Newspaper deadlines moved up Due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 30, all deadlines for the June 1 issue of The Commerce News will be advanced to noon on Friday, May 27. All advertising copy, news items and photographs must be submitted by noon on Friday to assure publica tion in the June 1 edition. All other MainStreet News papers’ publications (The Banks County News, The Braselton News, The Jack- son Herald, The Madison County Journal and The Barrow Journal) will have the same deadlines. In addition, all offices of MainStreet Newspapers will be closed on Monday, May 30, in observation of Memo rial Day. Railroad project to affect crossings Norfolk Southern Rail road has begun replacing railroad ties and tracks along the Lula spur, which runs from Lula south to Ath ens. The work began last week in Lula. All of the railroad cross ings on the line will be reworked. Crews will tear out the crossings ahead of the work, and temporary crossings will be installed, followed by a permanent final surface. “The whole process will take a couple of weeks from when the crossing is taken out until the final surface is put down,” advised an email from Joel Harrell, vice pres ident of Norfolk Southern Corporation. “During this process, the crossing will be rough until the final asphalt surface is installed, but in the end, all the crossings will have a good, smooth final asphalt.” INDEX Church News ....6BA Classified Ads 8-9B Crime News 6-7A Obituaries 7B Opinion 4A School... 8-10A& 4-5B Sports 1-3B Social News 5A MAILING LABEL BELOW General Primary election Incumbents prevail Crow edges Stephens by 8 votes; Hix, Benton re-elected Jackson County incumbents sur vived the reported national anti-in cumbent sentiment in Tuesday’s general primary election. For board of commissioners chairman Tom Crow, however, it was very close. Crow bested chal lenger Ben Stephens by eight votes, 2,739-2,731, in one of the closest local elections in decades. Those results are subject to a recount under Georgia law. Crow won the central area of Jackson County, carrying his home area of Jefferson in addition to North Jackson, South Jackson, Nicholson and the area between Commerce and Jefferson. But Stephens ran strong in his home area of West Jackson and in Commerce. “We appreciate all the words from our supporters in the community,” said Crow. “I am looking forward to the next four years.” Jim Hix, running for re-election in BOC District 1, had an easier time of it, capturing almost 69 percent of the vote in turning back the challenge of Dan Torbett, 792-357. In the District 31 race for the Georgia House of Representatives, incumbent Tommy Benton romped, beating challenger Wes Lewis, 3,648- 1,329. Rep. Doug Collins defeated four other challengers, including former Rep. Paul Broun, to win re-election in the 9th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representa tives. He carried Jackson County with 3,221 votes, compared to 1,494 for Broun, 492 for Roger Fitzpatrick, 109 for Bernie Fontaine and 142 for Mike Scupin. Garnering over 50 percent of the votes district-wide, See “Election” on Page 3A V j Wl V '98r ■. a ■r: If'/ ' A VJ u y, - 1 Y!.. . djifL 101 graduate from Commerce High School Rainy weather last Friday forced the 2016 Commerce High School Graduation Ceremony into the high school gym, but the 101 graduates — the largest graduating class in recent CHS history —who received their diplomas didn’t mind a bit. For more photos, see Page 5B and visit The Commerce News’ Facebook page. Commerce government Proposed city budget total is flat, but use of funds varies widely The proposed 2016-17 Commerce budget is up just a half a percent from last year, but that does not mean the city will use its money just like it has in 2015-16. Total revenue projected in the proposed document is nearly identical, but some departments will see substantially increased expenditures, while others will see significantly less money than the current budget allocates. The Commerce City Council got a brief overview of the 140page spending plan on Monday, May 16, from interim city manager/finance director James Wascher. Wascher asked the council to look over the document and contact him regarding any questions or proposed changes. The council will hold a public hearing on the budget at 6 p.m. on Monday June 6, and will approve a budget two weeks later, June 20, also at 6 p.m. Wascher has indicated that he does not envision any tax increase, and said the rate could go down slightly if the city’s tax digest increases. Total spending is projected at $25.22 million, up from $25.19 million this year. General Fund expenses are actually going down slightly from $6.91 million to $6.86 million. Here’s how the numbers break down in the General Fund: In addition, the city plans $4.38 million in capital projects, compared to $4.7 million in the current budget. Among those are half the cost of the Jefferson Road sidewalk exten sion, the southside water pressure project, a new belt press for the wastewater plant, the resurfacing of parts of 10 city streets, all of which will be funded with SPLOST revenue. Revenue from the General Fund comes from a variety of taxes and fees, fines and forfeitures, plus transfers from its electric and gas funds. For the next fiscal year, the budget projects $557,527 being transferred out of the Electric Fund and $446,519 from the Gas Fund. The current budget called for $484,371 and $420,202 respectively, although it appears that the city will not have to transfer that much into the Gen eral Fund. Some reasons for the variations on each line item: •anticipated increases in health insurance cost of five percent •funding for a part-time employee for the Downtown Development Authority ($9,142) •purchase of a number of chairs for the civic center ($5,000) • the funding of depreciation for the first time Department 15-16 Proposed •a new GPS unit for the Planning and development Garage to a 1.65-acre tract Mayor/council $152,168 $173,948 ($10,000) adjacent to Quality Foods. Police 2,170,998 2,011,469 •a new pumper/tanker tmck for the fire department The property is already Fire 306,479 932,606 ($550,000 financed over 10 years) zoned commercial, but Public Works 1,270,768 1,340,490 • three new police cars ($80,000) they need a variance to Garage 146,934 191,373 •new trucks for Public Works, the garage and Electric operate a tow lot on the Recreation 999,123 502,061 Department ($35,000 each) site. Library 229,056 224,279 • a smoke testing system for the Water & Sewer Depart “We are asking to build Planning & Develop. 293,219 212,838 ment, estimated to cost $130,000-$140,000 a new building directly DDA 129,868 148,677 • no capital expenditures for the recreation department beside Quality Foods,” Civic Center 86,528 109,023 ($500,000 this current year) Mrs. Wood said. The tow Administrative 374,095 343,722 Finance 686,527 672,433 See “Budget” on 3A See “Requests” on 3A Planners OK two requests Two applicants who came before the Com merce Planning Commis sion Monday night went away happy. The planners voted to recommend that Bryan Wood’s request for a con ditional use permit at 0 B Wilson Road be granted and that Stacey and Gina Denton be given a vari ance on their Mount Olive Road property to locate a swimming pool beside their residence. Both issues will go before the Commerce City Council on Monday, June 30, at 6 p.m. for final approval. Wood and his wife, Tawana, explained that they’re relocating Wood’s o
