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PAGE 2A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 12, 2009
Schools .cont’dfrom 1A
Sheriff ..cont’dfrom 1A
priate position for displaced staff,"
McGhee said. "And we’re going to
continue that all the way up until
the day school starts next year if we
still have folks we haven’t found
places for."
Contracts are usually finalized in
March. However, the school sys
tem will wait until an April called
meeting to approve contracts.
Waiting an extra month will give
school leaders a better idea of how
many vacancies the system will
have for 2009-2010.
“Principals are telling me that
if they're given a little more time,
they think some other folks are
going to resign or go ahead and
say that, 'I don’t want a contract,""
McGhee said. "That's going to
open us up some more slots that we
can move our folks into."
However, given the dire situa
tion, McGhee fears that not every
job can't be saved.
“I now do believe there are going
to be some folks that we would like
to offer a contract to that — and
that they would want a contract
— that we’re not going to be able
to," McGhee said, noting that he
didn't have a specific figure. "We
are going to have to have a reduc
tion in force in some way, shape
or form.”
The $750,000 reduction in
teacher salaries still leaves the
school system with $1.75 million
in expenses it must eliminate.
Central office and administrative
cuts — including some mainte
nance, custodial and technology
expenses, as well as energy educa
tion and non-essential administra
tive travel — could reduce costs by
another $500,000.
The school system could also
take $500,000 out of reserves to
help cover the shortfall, though it
would deplete those funds below
the state's suggested levels.
"Our reserves become danger
ously low, especially with the fact
that I don't believe that 2011 is
going to be a much better budget
year," McGhee said.
He has also asked each principal
to cut $102,000 from their school’s
expenses, amounting to $714,000
in savings.
That would leave the school sys
tem with $36,000 left to trim. At
that point, McGhee would recom
mend drawing that amount out of
reserves.
But the sobering news is that
slashing $2.5 million from the bud
get might not be enough.
"It's entirely possible, from all
the news coming out of every
body, of even more severe cuts,”
McGhee said.
He noted that the national stimu
lus package money for education
won’t likely stimulate the Madison
County School System. Most of
the funding is allotted for special
education, while the Senate cut
most of the money for school con
struction.
“I'll take any penny they give us;
I am not very hopeful that we're
going to see a lot of money out of
that that we can use to save posi
tions," McGhee said.
But the school system’s leader
ship is committed to finding ways
to save jobs, he said.
Some teachers might have to
move to another school within the
system or earn an additional certi
fication.
“We're going to do our best to
place people in jobs before school
starts that we want to keep,” he
said.
The superintendent said the edu
cation system in the state is mired
in a struggle of historic propor
tions.
“I try not to make grandiose
statements that aren't really based
in reality, but I believe I can say
that public education in Georgia is
in the worst economic shape ever,"
McGhee said.
The BOE has called a Feb. 23
meeting at 6:30 p.m. The school
board will devote part of that time
to further discuss the budget situ
ation.
Credit ..cont’dfrom 1A
Tuesday that will allow the school system to
borrow up to $3 million from Merchants and
Farmer’s Bank at a 1.94 percent interest rate.
Since the county sent tax notices out late, the
school system hasn’t been able to collect property
tax revenue yet and is running out of money.
Though the system shows reserves in its bud
get, it's only "paper reserves" — or dollar figure
that is based on anticipated tax collections —and
doesn’t reflect what's actually in the bank.
Madison County superintendent Mitch McGhee
said the system has already spent what it had in
the bank to delay borrowing money.
"We have been spending the money in the bank
all along without collecting taxes," McGhee said.
"Our reserves are gone.”
In fact, the system has just $500,000 left in the
bank and doesn’t have enough cash to meet pay
roll requirements at the end of the month.
The TAN will allow the system to borrow the
money and pay it off as tax collections begin roll
ing in. The school system will only pay interest on
what it borrows.
Though the school system can take as much as
$3 million, school leaders hope to borrow less
than that.
“Louise (Watson) at the tax office said we could
get a pretty good check at the very beginning of
March, and if that happens, we won't have to bor
row very much at all,” McGhee said.
Assistant superintendent Bonnie Knight said
the school system hopes to borrow no more than
$2.6 million.
School leaders hope to pay the TAN off in two
months. Just two banks offered bids for the school
TAN.
the BOC’s meeting schedule.
The commissioners will now
hold agenda-setting meetings
on the final Monday of each
month. They will hold business
meetings on the first Monday of
the month. A time for "citizens’
comment" will be included at
the end of agenda-setting meet
ings to allow people to address
the board about items not on the
agenda. Dove also proposed that
the board hold a “citizens’ com
ment" time at the beginning of
agenda-setting meetings to give
people an opportunity to com
ment on items on that night’s
agenda.
Monday’s meeting was also
the group’s first in the renovated
meeting room, which now has a
raised platform and semi-circular
board table. Commissioners each
have a microphone, with their
voices amplified through a PA
system.
COUNY KEEPS
INMATE CREW
Also Monday, Madison County
commissioners agreed to main
tain a contract with Whitworth
Detention Center out of Hartwell
for two inmate work crews, who
pick up trash along county roads
and county facilities. They also
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BOC ..cont’dfrom 1A
pick up recyclable items for the
county school system. The board
considered eliminating one of
the crews as a cost-cutting mea
sure, but the group noted that the
inmates work for pennies on the
hour and that finding cheaper
labor for necessary trash pick
up jobs would not be easy. The
BOC agreed to keep the current
$39,500 contract for crews at
least through the end of the fiscal
year, which runs through June.
TAX COLLECTIONS
Dove noted that the Madison
County Library has been moved
up the list for possible state funds
for expansion.
"It could possibly come up in
2010,” he said.
If the state awards money for
the library, the county will also
have to provide funds for the
project. The county renewed a
one-cent sales tax in 2008, which
officials estimated would bring
in $12.6 million over six years.
The BOC tagged $750,000 of
that money for the library. Dove
noted that sales tax collections
are down and informed the board
that it will need to consider
what action it wants to take on
SPLOST if the state proposes
funding for the library in 2010.
Dove also mentioned that
property tax collections could
be down in 2009. Other coun
ties that got their tax bills out in
2008 are seeing smaller returns
than usual. Madison County’s
tax bills are due in late March.
“We’re watching this closely,”
said Dove. "And we may have
to make recommendations on
adjustments at that point.”
The chairman also urged com
missioners Monday to have a
list of road projects ready to go
in case the federal stimulus plan
does lead to more funds for local
road projects.
CLOSED SESSION
In other matters Monday, the
board met in closed session to
discuss personnel and litigation
for roughly an hour but took
action. Dove said Tuesday he
has narrowed his search for a
new county clerk, adding that the
clerk’s post will have a reduced
salary and less responsibility
than in the past.
“I’ve narrowed it down and am
re-interviewing some people,”
said Dove, who didn’t want to
say how many people remain in
consideration.
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Not a sheriff’s vehicle
Madison County Sheriff Kip Thomas and Major
Shawn Bums say that at least three former Madison
County patrol cars that were sold at a December auc
tion are somewhere in Northeast Georgia. A county
employee snapped this picture of a former Madison
County patrol car. “It still has the cage, the striping,
the console, the siren box,” said Bums. “Now, from the
best record we got, there’s three of those, but that’s
the only one we’ve found that’s still in the county.”
Thomas said the county will no longer sell any patrol
cars at auction with official striping on the side.
a bank and killed four people,”
then the sheriff’s department
doesn’t need to violate its own
policy by knocking the crimi
nal off the road.
"Where deadly force would
be justified, we can knock
them off the road as long as
it doesn’t endanger us or the
general public,” said Burns.
"Certain criteria have to be
met. It would be no different
than shooting somebody with
a pistol. You can use your car
as a deadly weapon. It (the new
policy) doesn’t hem ourselves
in a comer saying we would
never, ever do this."
Bums said the department is
intent on taking a "proactive
approach to law enforcement."
"We don’t want to be reac
tive to everything that hap
pens,” said Bums. “You know,
somebody hangs himself in
the jail, well, we need some
more help in the jail. No, we
needed the help before he hung
himself. Somebody gets shot.
We need patrol rifles. No, we
needed patrol rifles five years
ago when the bank robbery hap
pened in Los Angeles. We don’t
want somebody having a wreck
because a patrol car has 200,000
miles on it and then us say
ing, "well, we need patrol cars.’
No, we needed patrol cars six
months ago.”
Bums cited the new home
security checks offered by the
department as an example of
proactive police work. When
county residents go out of town
for any extended period, they
can stop by the sheriff’s office
and fill out a "request for secu
rity check” form that lets depu
ties know they need to provide
extra patrol by their homes dur
ing a certain period of time. The
request will last for a period
of 30 days from the time the
form is filled out, but can be
extended.
Burns said another recent
change was the restructuring of
shifts to get more deputies on
the road during busier hours of
the day, a move that Thomas
said has allowed traffic patrol
units to focus more on traffic
safety issues.
"We reorganized the shifts and
we actually have more people
on patrol during the peak times,
from seven in the morning until
11 or 12 at night when we’re
busy, instead of having five or
six people at 4 or 5 in the morn
ing during the dead time," said
Bums.
Thomas said there are more
changes in the works. He said
he’s working on getting a school
resource officer at the high
school and that he also wants
to establish a sheriff’s depart
ment website, adding that both
matters depend on how much
money is available.
"I’m trying to get a website
set up," said Thomas. "The sex
offender registry would be on
there. We’d put a form on there
where if people had a complaint
or a compliment they could send
it to us. We could let them know
on the site what’s going on,
if we’re having problem areas,
problems with burglaries, thefts,
anything like that.”
Of course, law enforcement
officials in any area of the
country are going to face chal
lenges as the economy declines.
Thomas said the economic
downturn has increased certain
calls.
"With the economy the way
it is, burglaries and thefts and
scams are going to go up,” said
Thomas. “Any way somebody
can get easy money is going to
go up."
Bums noted the problem of
illegal prescription drug sales
now.
"If you can sell 20 Lortabs
and make you a hundred bucks,
they’re going to do it,” said
Burns. "A guy we caught
the other night had 70 to 80
Lortabs."
Budget concerns are also part
of the economic downturn for
all local departments. But the
new sheriff and major said they
recently received good news
from the state, the fact that the
county has been awarded a
matching grant from the gover
nor’s office for new body armor
for deputies. They noted that the
old body armor that some depu
ties now have is defective.
"We got guys walking around
and their armor expired in
2003," said Burns.
While the sheriff and major
are getting acquainted with their
new jobs, they said they are also
trying to reach out to Madison
County citizens to inform citi
zens of their actions.
"We want to keep the citizens
informed on what we’re doing,”
said Bums.
The new major added that he
wanted “to clear something up
here."
He noted that he went to ele
mentary school, middle school
and high school in Madison
County. He added that his wife
is from Madison County, that
they both have family in the
county and intend to move back
to Madison County as soon as
possible, given the housing mar
ket.
"A lot of people think I’m not
from here,” said Bums. “That’s
a big misconception in a lot
people’s eyes.”
Industrial authority to meet Monday
The Madison County
Industrial Development and
Building Authority will meet
at 6:30 p.m., Monday, in the
historic county courthouse in
the center of Danielsville.
Agenda items include:
•Financial report.
•Water request
•Utility director report:
2008 water system expansion
update.
•Other IDA-related issues: a.
Hull/Sanford Sewer Project; b.
Hwy 98 water tank - approve
bid to refurbish and paint tank;
c. Engineering plans; and d.
Seagraves Mill.
Board of health to meet Feb. 19
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meet Thursday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. in the Madison 1424 Hwy. 98 West in Danielsville.
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