Chairman's Corner

Taxes....

Well by know most of you have received your tax bills or you will. And yes, they are higher than last year because the Governor had to abandon the Homestead Relief Tax Grant (HRTG) that you heard so much about this summer. That made the bills go up.

The County Commission this year reduced the "local effort" by over $250,000. This is defined by taking the total County expense budget and subtracting the anticipated revenue budget from other sources. That represents a tax reduction of about 1/2 of a mill. But all that was blown away with the fact that the state took away the HRTG credits.

What I can tell you is that this Commission has worked very hard to reduce the burden on the taxpayer, but while we were handed a $3.1 million debt from the previous administration, millions owed in back taxes, equipment that was falling down around our ears and many other challenges, it has been an uphill battle. Comparing Brantley taxes to Glynn, Wayne and Ware is comparing apples to oranges. These neighboring counties have major factories with hundreds of millions of dollars in Industrial Assets on their tax roles that cause those industries to pay a significant portion of their county's operating expenses. Brantley's Industrial Tax Digest is less than 1% of our total taxable property value in the County. This is exactly why you hear County leaders constantly saying that we need industry in Brantley County to help relieve the burden on the residential tax payers and to put more money in our local economy. That industry is coming, based on a lot of effort and focus put on that this year.

On another note I'd like to say that the Commission is only responsible for setting the County millage rate. The School Board sets their own millage, which was also basically unchanged this year. The Tax Assessors office is responsible for assigning the value to your property. Now, the Board of Commissioners appoints the members of the Tax Assessor's Board, but that board operates independent of the County Commissioners and is responsible for the operation of that office. The value of your property has a direct reflection on what you pay in taxes as well.

The Tax Commissioner and her group are only responsible for billing and taking up the taxes. Where they are too often the face on the process, I'd beg you not to beat these poor ladies up and take your anger out on them. They just mail the bills and take up the money, and Mrs. Pat is doing a great job. For every dollar in Back Taxes she takes up, that is another dollar we can put on the $3.1 million in debt that doesn't have to come from you who have kept your taxes current. Yes, the County waived interest and penalties on back taxes through December 31st. We did this to try and create an incentive for those who owe back taxes to come in and pay. You see, we are paying interest of 2.68% on $3.1 million operating loan. We are waving 1% on the outstanding tax bill to get them to pay their back taxes ASAP. That just makes good business sense. But, rest assured, as soon as the collection cycle is complete, the tax commissioner will start selling property again and, come December 31st, the offer we extended is off the table and won't be back. That was the only way the majority of Commissioners would pass it.

Finally, I want to make it clear that all tax revenue dollars (except fire tax) operate through the "General Fund". Fire tax dollars get designated to the specific fire departments for fire protection. The County has SPLOST accounts where we deposit the 1 cent collected on County purchases and we use it to pay for the jail, work on roads and recreation. Those revenues do not come from residential property tax dollars. So, when you find someone mad about their tax bill and fussing about someone's road getting paved, the new jail or the new recreation park, remind them that the funds for these projects didn't come from residential property tax dollars. They came from SPLOST revenues designated for only those purposes and maybe some grant money.

I know all of this may fall on deaf ears as folks are just plain mad because they have to pay taxes and because the bottom line is that their bill went up. I understand. Mine went up too. The Commission has some ideas on how to help relieve some of the tax burden on tax payers that came to light a little too late in this year's cycle. We'll work on that starting in June. We are also working to get more industry in here to increase that part of our tax digest and offload some of that burden on the residential tax payer. My parents are retired school teachers and we all know they don't make much. I know what their tax burden is and believe me that this is personal motivation for me to try and fix an age old problem. We've often said that we couldn't clean up this mess or turn everything around in one year. We wanted to make progress leveraging SPLOST dollars, hold the millage rate the same or lower it a bit and get the debt paid off over three or four years. That is exactly what we did this year, but the Governor's HRTG curve ball has put a monkey wrench in that plan.

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman - Brantley County Commission

County Commission Meeting

The County Commission met on Tuesday November 10th in their regular session.

In the public participation, Mr. Wayne Rooks requested that Section VI of the Subdivision ordinance be changed back such that 1976, or 33 year old mobile homes, be allowed into Brantley County.

On the consent agenda the County approved:

* starting the process to abandon Hodge Lane and modifying the road utilizing right of way provided by Mr. Henry Hodge.
* awarding the bid to Southern Geographic of Gray Georgia to perform geo-encoding of 4500 plats in the Tax Assessor's Office.
* the 2008 audit.
* adopting a resolution establishing Brantley County identity theft prevention program.

The County approved minutes for the July 27th, August and October meetings. September's minutes were emailed to Commissioners and will be approved in December. Now that the technical challenges are behind us, the Commission is working harder to get these minutes out in a more timely manner.

In the regular agenda, the County approved the bank assignment for the Airport Lighting and Electrical Contractor. The County attorney worked with the bank to develop an assignment that the County, the DOT and the Airport Authority could live with.

The recent bids for road graders were discussed. The low bidder was the Volvo company. Since the County has no history with Volvo, the County Manager was asked to line up a "try and buy". Volvo has offered a 30-day lease for $1500, during which time Brantley can put the Volvo through the ringer. If the County decides to purchase, the $1500 will be credited to the purchase. If the County decides not to purchase, or purchases the John Deere or Caterpillar, the $1500 is the lease for the tractor, which is in line with what the County pays today.

The County approved the low bidder for the right of way clearing for Waynesville Road East, or $85,895, empowered the County Manager and County Engineer to define the contract as the others have been done and allowed the Chairman to execute that agreement. The bids, bidders and alternatives are still being reviewed for Phase II of the recreation park. A recommendation will be provided in the December meeting to the Commission. This will not jeopardize the time line for the completion of the recreation park. The County Manager and engineer approached Plum Creek about allowing a pipe to be installed in their pond next to the recreation park so that the two ponds could maintain levels and help with irrigation for the ballfields. They were not willing to allow such a device but offered to sell the property surrounding the lake, minus the acreage of the lake, for $2000 per acre. The team priced the size of well and storage tank needed to provided adequate flow for the county irrigation pond in order to keep up with the irrigation systems. It would be cheaper by far to purchase the land and the lake than to buy the well. This requires much less maintenance. The County Manager was empowered to negotiate with Plum Creek and bring back a firm number and acreage so that this could be discussed in December.

The Coastal Incentive Grant was discussed. Commissioners need to bring in their recommendations for the Advisory Committee to the December meeting. This is the group that will define the land use management outline that will be recommended to the Commission for their modification and approval.

The County voted to allow citizens who owe back taxes to have the penalties and interest forgiven if they pay their back taxes IN FULL between now and December 31, 2009. The objective is provide incentive for folks to pay back taxes in order to raise as much money as possible to pay on the debt before the end of the year. This is a one time final offer. The Commission will work with the tax commissioner to notify all citizens who owe back taxes. This only applies to interest and penalty assigned by the County. Any collection fees assigned by third parties caused by the parcel being turned over for collection will still apply.

The County Manager, Parrish Barwick, updated the Board of the following items:

* The County has a total of 90 inmates in the Brantley County jail, with 28 of them hosted for other counties. This will help drive revenues for the County.
* The cash management policy is still being developed, but corrective procedures have been invoked in the Recreation Department to ensure timely deposits, routine reporting and accountability.
* The County Manager has worked with Tim Crews, Nikki Hendrix and AGL (the collection agency) to begin the process of collecting past due EMS fees from January 2006 through current delinquent accounts. Any account nonresponsive after a third notice will be automatically tuned over to collections. This will allow a 90 to 120 day delay between service and collections. The current EMS team is doing exponentially better than the previous team. The vast majority of this debt is old debt, but citizens need to understand that if EMS provides a service, insurance, Medicaid, Medicare or the citizen will have to render payment for services.
* More modifications are being made to the cell phones in the County. More phones are being terminated and text messaging has been eliminated on almost all phones and Verizon has been contacted to offer a plan with fewer minutes.
* 911 operators are being interviewed, with references being checked. One will be hired to fill a current vacancy.

The Chairman reported on the meeting he and Commissioner Edgy had with DOT Commissioner Vance Smith. The meeting was set up by representative Mark Williams. In the meeting, the Commissioners talked about the need for a red light at Atkinson at the 110 - 259 - 82 intersection. This was slated for a March 2012 installation and the Commissioners are working with State officials to see how they might be able to speed up this process. In the same conversation, they discussed extending the current Waynesville Road project across 110 for about 500 feet to pave the road along the new school property. The DOT Commissioners team felt this was doable, but the right of way would have to be secured immediately. There were a number of other intersections and roads discussed. The DOT Commissioner and his staff were impressed with the increased activity in Brantley and stood ready to help any way that they could. This was a productive meeting and more will be known about the results in a few weeks, once some analysis can be completed.

The County attorney responded to some requests for information from the Chairman regarding the allowable vehicle weights on county roads. The code section allows for 56,000 maximum on any County road unless a pickup or delivery is taking place on that road. There have been complaints from one East end subdivision where a log truck parks at home at night loaded and partially in the road. There is another statute that provides that parking must take place no less than 12 foot from the center line on any secondary or tertiary roads, per the County attorney. This information will be turned over to the Sheriff, and the citizens will be asked to notify DOT in the future when these infractions take place.

For more updates stay tuned to this web page or watch BTC highlights video below.

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman - Brantley County Commission

BTC Video by Robby Thomas

Work Session

In a called meeting prior to the routine work session, the County Commission discussed only a couple of items and entered into a closed session for litigation and personnel.

The contractor for the lighting portion of the airport needs an assignment document processed for the lending institution that is financing the materials portion of his part of the project. The Commission had no problem with that idea in principal, but the "standard" assignment document sent over by his bank needed some adjustments. The Airport Authority, County Attorney and the Commission itself agreed that the County Attorney should contact the bank and work out some type of agreement that met their needs and was also acceptable to Brantley County. That assignment was made in the form of a motion.

After the closed session, the Commission voted on a 3-2 vote to allow the Sheriff to hire Vince Settles as his attorney in the ongoing litigation currently underway. Since there is a clear conflict of interest, and the County Attorney Tom Lee expresses some issues after a review of the bar association and the completion of his duties were he to attempt to represent the Sheriff, he brought this to the Commission again. Commissioners Herrin and Summerlin opposed the motion. Commissioners Edgy and O'Quinn voted in favor of the motion and the Chairman voted in favor of the motion.
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In the Work Session that followed immediately, the County Clerk gave an update of bids received and opened earlier that day for Right of Way clearing for Waynesville Road and the second phase of the Recreation Park. Precision Paving was the low bidder at $85,895 for the Waynesville Road ROW clearing. EMC had originally given the County an estimate of $166,277 for this portion of the project. So, if the low bid meets the scope of the project and technical merits, this will be yet another blessing where the actual costs is about 1/2 of the previous engineering estimate. William Ross Development was the low bidder on Phase II of the Recreation facility which includes drainage, irrigation, grassing, infield work and such at $172,334. This bid was more in line with the previous estimate, so where there was no substantial savings, the project is still below budget with all of the previous savings. Golden Isles Engineering will review the technical merit of the bids and make a recommendation at next weeks meeting. This item was placed on the regular agenda.

The Chairman and Mike Edgy have a meeting with Georgia Transportation Director Vance in coming weeks. They discussed the items that will be taken up with the Commissioner. The Traffic Lights in Atkinson and Waynesville are on top of the list. The management of matching funds for approved road projects is on the list, as well as extending the center lane on Highway 82 to the County line in Waynesville to accommodate the traffic between businesses on the East end of Waynesville. The Caution Light for the intersection of Caney Bay Road and 301 in Hickox is also among the fairly lengthy list. Representative Mark Williams arranged for this meeting and will be accompanying the Commissioners. This was put on the regular agenda and the Chairman will give an update at the meeting.

A letter was delivered to the County Commissioners from Henry W. Hodge, offering to exchange property of his to reduce the turn radius on a dangerous curve, in exchange for closing the Hodge Lane that cuts through the middle of his property. The Board agreed to put this item on the Consent Agenda and have the County Attorney, Engineer and Surveyor get involved in this process.

The Chairman reported on the Grant workshop that he and the County Manager attended last Monday. There was much useful information that came from that session. While meeting with a grant writer that same day, some projects on the Board's radar screen were discussed. One was the Courthouse renovations. The grant writer has found that the Courthouse is on the National Historic Registry, which opens up some of opportunities for grants and low interest loans to renovate the Courthouse. Similarly, the St Illa Motel, that currently serves as an annex of County agencies, might also qualify. More research is being completed, at no cost to the County.

Billy Lee, of the Tax Assessor's Board, made a solid presentation centered on the geo-coding, or digital plotting, of some 4,500 plats that have piled up in the assessor's office. This represents work from early 2005 to date. The good news is that there are individuals out there anxious to do work, so the bids were attractive. After personally visiting with counties that had used the low bidder and seeing their work first hand, Mr. Billy Lee and others on the Board brought a proposal for the County Commission to approve. More good news came in that the low bidders total bid is within the budgeted amount for this service for 2009 and 2010 budgets. So all of this work can be caught up and the County can remain within budget. Mr. Lee explained that the Assessor's office had also developed a procedure where the office will not get behind on this digital plotting again. This process will also greatly assist with the preparation of a tax digest next June and shave from 2 to 3 weeks off of that process.

The Ryker Carter plat was discussed again. Mr. Carter had requested to record a plat that would consolidate several lots back into one lot. With taxes owed on the property, the County employees and Commission had failed to approve that process. Mr. Carter was told that he would have to pay the taxes on the property or work out some formal arrangements with the Tax Commissioner and sign a formal agreement as that precedence had been established with others by the Tax Commissioner. In this process, parties had come in and made "substantial" payments and signed an agreement to catch up the remaining taxes in a very timely manner. Failure to meet those obligations would cause those properties to be placed on the list to be sold. As soon as Mr. Carter fulfills this request, the Commission will reconsider his request.

The County Manager reported on a number of items, to include:

1. There are currently 28 hosted inmates in the Brantley County Jail from other counties, helping drive revenue for the County and more counties are being solicited, plus Federal inmates. Camden County came up in the conversation. That Sheriff has been contacted and made aware that the fee in Brantley County is $40 per night and that we currently have space that is going fast.
2. Warners Landing Road has been temporarily repaired and final repairs will be made once the milled asphalt is available from the 301 resurfacing project, where Brantley has contracted with that vendor to provide that product as the road is resurfaced.
3. Bids for a new road grader to replace the one that has a blown motor were discussed. All things considered, this is a tough decision. The County has used Caterpillar tractors in the past and gotten good service. Caterpillar's bid was slightly above the others, but they offered a full 5 year parts and labor warranty. Volvo came in with a lower price, but only a 12 month warranty and there were service concerns raised by a neighboring county. John Deere was in the middle of the pack from a price perspective, but only offered a 6 month warranty. Commissioner Herrin asked if we really needed another road grader, or if we could get by with the ones we have working now. This will be discussed in the regular meeting next week.
4. The EMS Ambulance that was being remounted is under construction and will be available in January 2010. The Ambulance that was won on the grant processed by Tim Crews will be in on Monday and the EMS folks will be moving into their new building on November 23rd, if construction can be completed and utilities moved over. The process of turning over old EMS debt to the collection agency is under way.
5. The old Chamber of Commerce building should be complete this weekend, according to the community service agent helping with that project. This would allow the Clerk of the Court to install the records management system and clean out the halls of the courthouse. Commissioner Summerlin mentioned that someone should take a look at the roof, as the electrical service had been partially pulled away from the building and there may be a leak. The County Manager will take a look at that. No other action was taken.
6. A County Policy on cash management is under development, with input from all departments under the County Commission that handle money. More on this in December.
7. The Future Land Use - Technical Advisory Committee was discussed. The grant writer assisting with this process has reached a point where they are requesting names from the County to participate on a technical advisory committee to help mold the Future Land Use policy and make recommendations to the County Commission. Each Commissioner was to make one recommendation and bring it back to the December meeting.
8. The bids for the walking track at Schlatterville were discussed. They came in higher than were expected. There are capital outlay funds designated specifically for the West End Recreation Park and those could be supplemented with SPLOST funds for recreation to complete that project. The total project costs is about $15,000. There is about $9000 in the capital outlay account and the supplement would need to be used from SPLOST funds for recreation. This was placed on the regular agenda.
9. The County Manager asked if the Commission would be willing to put the hiring of the the Road Superintendent on hold until January 1st to give him time to work with the Road Department and understand more about their strengths and weaknesses. This was placed on the consent agenda with those who applied being notified of this postponement.
10. The Brantley County / Ware County canal clean out and road paving project was discussed. The group discussed having the County Manager ask Ware County to give right of way for the paving project and there seems to be no immediate need for the canal to be cleaned out. There is a transmission power line on the Brantley County side making it almost impossible to widen the road on the Brantley side.
11. The canals draining Nahunta were discussed. There are four major canals that drain Nahunta. Many of them are clogged with beaver dams and the City has in fact asked for help with one that is near the County barn. The County Manager will work with the Road Department to put a plan together to clean these out.

The 2008 audit was approved.

In a financial review the Chairman explained that there was about $2.6 million dollars in the general fund prior to this week's Accounts Payable run. There are 4 more payrolls to make, at approximately $140,000 each, for $560,0000 total. There are 2 more Accounts Payable runs at about $400,000 each for $800,0000. This totals about $1.36 million needed to get through the end of the year. Barring any unforeseen emergencies or circumstances, the County should meet its objective to pay down $1 million on the debt so that the County only has to borrow $2 million next year to operate. This has only been possible due to the efforts of all employees, departments, Constitutional Officers and Commission efforts.

A potential "tax amnesty" program was discussed. With something like this, if anyone came in during a defined period, like November and December 09, to pay their regular taxes, tags, etc and paid any "back taxes" perhaps the Commissioners would be willing to agree to waive all penalties and interest on those "back taxes". Where the Tax Commissioner has not had the resources to aggressively pursue back taxes in November and December, with the regular tax billing process underway, perhaps this could serve as incentive for folks to come in and pay their taxes and help out during hard economic times for them and the County. This could also help raise more funds that could be placed toward the debt. The Commission was mixed on the idea and it will be discussed further at the next meeting.

For more information stay tuned to this web site or watch the video compliments of BTC Communications.

BTC Video by Robby Thomas

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman - Brantley County Commission

Commissioners Set Final Millage - Approve DOT Projects

On Thursday October 29th, the Brantley County Commission met after the final public hearing in a called meeting to set the final millage rate. The millage is set as outlined below. Where the total Tax Digest was lowered and the State Homestead Exemption Relief Tax (HRTG) funding was eliminated for 2009, the Commission still managed to lower the Local Effort by over $250,000, which reduced the millage by almost 1/2 mill. Discussions are under way for a different approach next year to funding of certain county wide services that could reduce the millage even further. This, accompanied with the most certain increase of industrial assets in the County, will also help relieve the burden on taxpayers in coming years.

In other business, the Commission approved the Georgia DOT paid projects to Stripe and install stopping bars (aka speed bumps at stop signs) for Riverside Road, Raybon Road West, Caney Bay Road and Old 259. These are projects being paid for by the Sate with Stimulus money at NO cost to the County.

The Work Session for the Brantley County Commission will be held on the First Tuesday of each month at the County Commission Office. The Regular Meeting of the Brantley Commission will be held on the Second Tuesday of the month at the Brantley County Courthouse.

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman - Brantley County Commission

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