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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 Law Office of Rob McNiff LLC Criminal • DUI • Traffic Personal Injury • Civil Bankruptcy • Debtor Relief Mediation • Wills 370 Athens Road Winterville 706-742-0001 robmcniff@yahoo.com 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. $5°°0FF Ticket Of s 2CP° Or More. Valid with coupon Mon.-Thurs. only. La Hacienda Commerce La Hacienda Braselton 173 Steven B. Tanger Blvd. 5391 Highway 53 706-335-7458 706-654-0070 j^T/ie Original Mexican Restaurant! Not affiliated with any other restaurant j CASH CALL AND COMPARE PER GRAM 706-369-0000 ■n);l r{i)H i GREG REEVES Fine Jewelry 613 Hawthorne Ave. • Athens 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 The Madison County Board of Health will County Health Department conference room at meet Thursday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. in the Madison 1424 Hwy. 98 West in Danielsville. Ty Cobb Healthcare System is Helping you Manage your Health Care Options ■ Emergency Room Medical Screening Exams • Decrease time spent waiting in the ER for medical services • Decrease the costs charged to patients in dealing with non- emergent health condi tions • Help ensure emergency room resources are fo cused on patients with emergent medical condi tions At Ty Cobb Healthcare System, it’s all about providing the best healthcare possible. A new protocol will be implemented in the emergency rooms at both Cobb Memorial Hospital and Hart County Hospital—Medical Screening Exams—which will decrease the time spent waiting in the Emergency Room for medical services and will decrease the costs charged to patients in dealing with non-emergent health conditions. This new protocol is part of a national trend to decrease ER overcrowding and to reduce health care costs for patients. Starting March 1,2009... • All ER Patients will be evaluated by physician on duty • True emergencies will be treated, stabilized, and then admit ted or transferred as necessary before financial arrange ments are required • If it is not an emergent medical condition, patients will be provided with a list of resources available to them in the COBB MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 521 Franklin Springs Street Royston, GA 30662 Phone: (706) 245-1845 community to receive the appropriate care Non-emergent patients wishing to receive care in the ER will be required to pay a cash deposit depending on de ductible due and copayment. HART COUNTY HOSPITAL 138 West Gibson Street Hartwell. GA 30643 Phone: (706) 856-6900 • The minimal charge for non-emergency treatment is $ 100 and will be expected at the time of service Quality • Value • Convenience