Newspaper Page Text
Taxes, water and welfare on county meeting agenda
By RICK JOHNSTONE
For the Times-Journal
Taxes, water, and welfare dominated discus
sion at the Houston County Commission meet
ing June 3 in Perry.
At the request of chairman J. Sherrill
Stafford, county attorney Mike Long outlined
procedures that must be followed if commis
sioners decide to have a local option sales tax
referendum in the future.
Among other things, the resolution would
have to include the purpose of the tax, which
could include a courthouse, county jail, region
al jail, county library, public safety facilities,
and capital equipment to operate such facilities.
Houston County is facing a mandate from
Superior court judge L.A. “Buster” McConnell
Jr. to find more space both at the jail and the
courthouse.
Stafford has said there are only two options to
fund those projects, either to raise property taxes
or adopt the penny increase in the sales tax.
“We very shortly will have to make a deci
sion on if and when to call the election,”
Stafford told his colleagues.
The attorney advised the group that maxi
mum time and cost of the tax must also be
included in the resolution.
The resolution would then be delivered to
the election superintendent, with at least 29
days require between the time an election is
called for and held.
The election, at county expense, must be
held on the third Tuesday in September or the
Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
according to Long.
Long’s memo to commissioners continued,
“The date and purpose of the special election
must be published once a week for four weeks
in the official organ of the county, the Houston
Times-Joumal.”
Health
McDannald said the facility
would save the hospital money
because now many indigent
patients are treated at the emer
gency room.
Johnson
This care, McDannald says, is
the most expensive health care
available locally because of the
sophisticated equipment, the num
t ber of medical staff-available, and
the level of care offered.
His proposal would provide for
a staffed medical clinic at the hos
pital for indigent care. This facility
would operate with a lower over
head, using nurse practitioners,
doctor assistants and some volun
teer help to keep costs in line.
McDannald, who brings to
Houston County experience in
two other medical systems using
this approach, also believes the
authority can work out a plan to
provide very inexpensive mini
mum coverage health care insur
ance for indigent and lower
income persons.
He believes this insurance,
which certainly wouldn’t cover
every item, could be purchased,
especially for children, for maybe
S2O-30 per month per person.
This would be substantially
lower than what is presently avail
able on the commercial insurance
market. One agent I spoke with
said about the best minimal insur
ance package he could write for a
family of four would be about
S3OO per month.
I don’t understand how
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On the subject of taxes, commissioner Tom
McMichael said he recently met with members
of the Houston County Board of Education and
“asked them to give consideration to tax
relief.”
McMichael said that since the tax digest has
not been finalized, the exact amount of proper
ty taxes can not be determined yet.
“TTiere will be some adjustment in the mill
age rate this year,” he added.
Under terms of the tax cap Houston County
is operating under, when assessments of prop
erty go up, the millage rate must go down by a
like amount to offset that.
A group of residents from the Tara Estates
subdivision along Ga. 96 showed up to voice
their “frustrations” over the fact that no reten
tion or detention pond had been put in place by
the developer to deal with a water drainage
problem that sometimes plaques the area.
County engineer Robbie Dunbar had recom
mended that the bond on the project not be
extended as requested by the developer.
One of the developers, Billy Franklin, said
the water situation had not been addressed
because for a lengthy period of time that had
been talk of working on the matter in all of the
developments along that busy highway.
Commissioners reached a compromise on
the bond request, voting to have Franklin and
partner Billy Wilson obtain anew $30,000
bond commitment letter and put a time limit of
90 days on having some solution to the water
woes in place.
On the subject of welfare, commissioners
voted to renew the food stamp agreement for
another year.
“There is about a five percent increase this
year,” Stafford said, “but we will spend less
dollars since the number of participants is
down.” The decrease moved from 4,100 partic
“The emergency room is the
most expensive form of treatment
we have because of the technolo
gy and staffing levels,” he said.
Many of the persons coming to
(Continued from page 4A)
McDannald’s plan will work, but
he has numbers and charts which
indicate the indigent-care facility
could be breaking even by the
third year of operation, and that it
could be in operation within
months.
I do know that taking care of
the $2.5 million in indigent care in
Houston County each year is a
problem which we must address.
The hospital can only cost-shift so
many dollars to those of us who
pay for our medical care. The rest
will begin falling through the
cracks, the hospital will eventual
ly start losing big bucks, and our
level of medical care in Houston
County will decline.
I’m going to do some serious
studying of McDannald’s propos
, al during the coming days with an
open mind on finding some rea
sonable solution to providing indi
gent care without additional finan
cial responsibilities to tax payers
and to those who utilize the care
system and pay for their treat
ment.
This may be one of the best
ways Houston County can provide
health care for those who legiti
mately need it at an affordable
cost. Let’s listen to the messenger
closely, he may have the plan we
need.
(Continued from page 1A)
the emergency room who cannot
pay for their care do not need that
intense a treatment, McDannald
said. They could be treated at an
adjacent clinic staffed with doc
tor’s assistants and nurse practi
tioners.
He also said it is possible to
create a very low-cost insurance
policy, particularly suited for chil
dren, which would allow those
without insurance to have some
coverage for their children.
McDannald said the hospital is
now writing off about $2.5 million
per year in funds not collecte'd
from indigents. He said the
Houston County Hospital
Authority no longer receives any
tax money from the local govern
ment.
As the county budget has
grown tighter, the Hospital
Authority funding has declined
from about $250,000 several years
ago to nothing today, McDannald
said.
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f \\
ipating families last year to just over 3,100 this
year.
Department of Family and Children’s
Services director Larry Aaron'told commis
sioners that Georgia is the leader in the welfare
reform movement now sweeping the nation.
“You can’t get out of poverty with welfare
checks,”he said, noting that Work Fare has
started replacing welfare in Houston County.
Houser
(Continued from page 1A)
operations.”
The responsibility of handling those daily
operations belongs to Mark Payne, whose Bay
Creek Aviation serves as the fixed base operator.
Houser complimented Payne for the job he
has done, with flight instruction, fuel sales, and
related services available.
“You will get service if you come to the air
port,’’Houser said. “We serve the flying commu
nity and the community at large. A good airport
is not enough, we must make it exceptional.”
There are three sections of the airport,
according to Houser. That includes the fixed
base operator, corporate hangars, and an indus
trial development area.
Houser explained that there are four corpo
rate hangars at the airport. He said individuals
built those on leased land and after 20 years
those hangars will be owned by the Airport
.Authority, the group that sets policy .
“There are seven members on the authority,
coming from Perry and Houston County,”
Houser said.
There are also numerous other hangars at
the airport to house planes in, with the number
of airplanes currently at 44, he said.
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Food
At Hong Kong Restaurant,
2197-N Watson Blvd, Warner
Robins, there were problems with
employee hygiene matters and
temperature control of foods. The
score was 61.
At Nu Way Wieners, 1762
Watson Blvd., Warner Robins,
there was a problem with temper
ature control of foods. The score
was 74.
At the Moose Lodge
Restaurant, 417 Nelson Road,
Warner Robins, there was a prob
lem with equipment. The score
was 85.
At Pizza Hut, 1010 Russell
Parkway, Warner Robins, there
was a problem with temperature
control of foods. The score was
88.
At Rozar Park snackbar for
baseball, there were problems
with employee hygiene, tempera
ture control of foods, equipment
problems and storage of cleaning
products. The score was 50.
At Top Wok, 1244 Watson
Blvd.. Warner Robins, there was a
problem with temperature control
of foods. The score was 80.
At White Diamond Grill, 497
Ga. 2475., Bonaire, there was a
problem with temperature control
of foods. The score was 92.
No discrepancies were reported
at the following locations:
Bonaire Cafe. 739 Ga. 247 S.,
Bonaire, 100.
Church’s Chicken, 1801
Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 82.
Perry Chiropractic
Health Center, P.C.
987-9666
1207 Houston Lake Drive • Perry, CA 31069
’95
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’94 ASPIRE
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’93
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"94
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’94 CHEVY
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Wed. June 4 1997, Houston Times-Journal
Day’s Inn Lounge, 800 Valley
Drive, Perry, 98.
Ice Cream Chum, Galleria Mall
Suite 650, Centerville, 99.
International City Golf Course,
100 Sandy Run Lane, Warner
Robins, 98.
Krystal, 1415 Sam Nunn Blvd
Perry, 94.
Shipwreck, 100-A Ga. 247 S
Warner Robins, 97.
Subway, 1807 Watson Blvd.,
Warner Robins, 90.
Subway, 100 N. Houston Lake
Blvd., Suite A, Centerville, 94
China Palace, 306 Russell
Parkway, Warner Robins, 94.
Hardee’s, 113 Russell Parkway,
Warner Robins, 91.
Krystal, 747 Russell Parkway,
Warner Robins, 96.
Keila Walker Catering. 508
Arrowhead Trail, Warner Robins,
99.
Moose Lodge Lounge. 417
Nelson Drive, Warner Robins, 99.
Papa John’s Pizza, 810 Russell
Parkway, Warner Robins, 95.
Substation 11, 1738 Watson
Blvd., Warner Robins, 98.
Video Corner, 103 Gunn Road,
Centerville, 96.
Get a deal this
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Houston Times-
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for yard sales. See
pages 7B and 8 B.
Dr. Veronique Desaulniers, 8.T., D.C.
Dr. Brian Gillis, D.C.
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(Continued from page 1A)
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Page 5A