The Commission welcomed about 130 Senior Citizens to the November Work Session to discuss possible Board of Education Tax Exemption for homestead residential properties. The room was overflowing at the normal place of the work session, but the official meetings cannot be moved without 24 hours prior notice by law. Several citizens spoke during public participation about the extreme hardship that the 38% increase that the Board of Education had enacted was causing Senior Citizens in Brantley County. One resident spoke of his wife who had cancer and all the expenses that they were experiencing. Many others survive completely on Social Security and are having to make hard decisions on whether to buy medicine, pay the light bill or pay their taxes.
The Commission moved the BOE Tax exemption item to the top of the agenda. The Chairman had provided the analysis from the data that one Commissioner had worked with the Tax Commissioner and Tax Assessor to generate. The below table represents the current exemptions utilized by some homestead citizens of all ages. Based on this information there are about 893 properties are already earmarked with some exemption for senior citizens over age 65. Of that total, 840 properties (94%) are denoted for homestead property owners age 65 or older with less than $10,000 in total household income.
For a detailed explanation of the State of Georgia homestead property exemptions, you can visit the web site Georgia Department of Revenue.
An analysis of those individual properties for those reporting to be age 65 or older is included below.
One Commissioner proposed a BOE Tax Exemption for seniors over age 65 at 50% of BOE taxes and over age 70 at 100% of BOE taxes. Some Commissioners felt that there should be some income level used in the equation as there is a small number of seniors who have sufficient incomes to pay their taxes. And some Commissioners expressed concerns over putting all of the responsibility for this loss of $368,000 in tax burden on those under age 65. But the Commission generally agreed that the seniors on fixed income had to have some help and quickly. The discussion centered around some legislation that would be approved by the Commission by the end of the year, submitted by representatives as local legislation in January, approved at the will of the legislature and if at all possible with an effect date of as early in 2012 as legally possible. Since no consensus could be reached, the Commission put the item on the regular agenda and will work on this next Tuesday in the courtroom of the County Courthouse at 6pm.
In other items, the Commission:
1. Placed an item on the consent agenda to approve the off premise beer and wine license for “Mini Mart” (formerly T&R on Central Avenue) brought by Tejas J. Patel.
2. Placed an item on the consent agenda to approve an off premise beer and wine license for “Popwell’s Grocery” in Popwellville as the establishment had changed hands.
3. Placed an item on the consent agenda to award the bid for Audit Services to the current county audit firm and asked the County manager to add some language creating financial penalties if the audit is not delivered on time.
4. Placed an item on the consent agenda to appoint County Clerk, Dale Halligan, as the ACCG County Legislative Coordinator.
5. Placed an item on the consent agenda to instruct County Manager, Parrish Barwick, to complete the insurance application for inmate medical services, which is medical insurance if an inmate has to go to the hospital and runs up a big bill. The contract with the current on site doctor and nursing staff is not affected by this.
6. Placed an item on the consent agenda to approve the short term work program completed by the County Manager to complete the planning requirements for the Commission.
7. Placed an item on the consent agenda to reappoint Chad Scruggs and Pat Evans to the Recreation Board.
8. Placed an item on the regular agenda regarding appointments to the development authority. Gary Strickland and Jill Torebene have expiring terms.
9. Discussed the tax bill timeline. Bills are being received by citizens in the mail. They are due by January 20th but the escrow and larger land owners and companies will likely pay prior to year end. The County will keep the 2012 revenue separate from 2011 revenue to be able to measure 2011 performance independent of 2012 revenue.
10. The County manager gave an update on the road paving project which are coming to a close. Buster Walker has the final portion of paving and surface treatment plus some other finishing touches. The road crew has two small crews working through key areas to unstop culvert pipes. The Commission discussed the SPLOST vote and encouraged those in attendance to support the SPLOST to keep building roads and recreation facilities and to keep County taxes from increasing. A significant portion of the SPLOST goes to make jail payments, $648,000 per year or approximately 2.5 mills of taxes. This represents $3 million over the SPLOST. Should the SPLOST currently being voted on not pass, the Commission would have little alternative other than increase taxes to pay for the jail facility. While the jail is making $450,000+ per year, it also carries a $1.2 million operating budget and a $648,000 payment totaling $1.88 million annually. The SPLOST helps offset those expenses.
11. The Commission discussed changing the regular County Commission meeting from the second Tuesday to the First Thursday after the work session. So each month the first Tuesday would be the work session at 6pm at the county office and the first Thursday after the first Tuesday would be the Regular County Commission meeting at 6pm at the Brantley County Courthouse. An item was placed on the consent agenda to approve this with the start date set for January 2012 meetings giving the County plenty of time to advertise.
12. An item was placed on the consent agenda approving the Concerted Services Lease for their facility. This is an annual housekeeping item.
13. The County received the annual report from the Development Authority for review.
14. The Commission discussed a request from Paul Minchew for a “special event” alcohol license that would allow them to sell a “Bacardi Rum drink with fruit juices” at the Hortense ATV Off Road Park November 18th and 19th at the show. Commissioners expressed concerns over complaints from the neighbors during events at the Off Road Park. But as many in the crowd and some Commissioners reported wide spread drinking, etc. at the park during events, the Commission did not want to punish Mr. Minchew for wanting to do things appropriately, as some in attendance had heard rumors of alcohol being sold at the Off Road Park out of vehicles. One person in the crowd did report that there had been a heightened presence of security at the last two events and that the lawlessness and recklessness seemed to be better. This was placed on the regular agenda.
15. An item was placed on the regular agenda to discuss the recent comments by members of the Airport Authority where baseless accusations were made regarding the accountability for funds from the One Georgia Authority Funding of the Airport expansion project. In an analysis completed by the County Clerk, all deposits and checks were reviewed and listed in detail with a reconciliation provided for the account. The communications issue with the One Georgia Authority was discussed and it was evident that in initial dealings with the OGA, certain members of the Airport Authority were less than cordial with certain members from One Georgia so key OGA personnel made the decision to work directly with the Commission office throughout the project to avoid further frustration or confusion. All funds are and have always been accounted for and any agreements that were executed in writing between the state agency(s) and the county are available for review at the County Commission office. This item was placed on the regular agenda.
16. Finally the Commission entered a closed session for a legal matter after which they took no action and adjourned.
The next meeting of the County Commission will be Tuesday November 8th at 6pm at the Brantley County Courthouse.
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