A Lot to be Thankful For….

Where did Thanksgiving go? It seems like we take down the Halloween decorations and put up the Christmas decorations. I love Christmas but we don’t need to skip Thanksgiving. Some will tell you it is because the stores want to expand the Christmas shopping season and that may be true.

Sometimes we get hung up on the negative, our frustrations and things we don’t have. That is why I LOVE Thanksgiving, that and Mama Dot’s turkey and dressing. Seriously we need to take a minute and think about what we do have and be thankful. The events on the road in front of my house really put things in perspective. When my wife and children leave now for a long time, they will drive by the painted markings where the lifeless bodies of two young men laid.

I know unemployment is high and we have the tax debate going on the senior exemption. But you don’t have to look too far to find those less fortunate who are living in cardboard boxes or under highway overpasses. On mission trips to Honduras and Haiti in the past we’ve driven through crowds that descended upon us for the small bowl of food we would share until it ran out and maybe that one piece of candy that missionaries are known to carry in their back packs. Their precious little faces are priceless with eyes as big as saucers. And I know we have these same opportunities here at home.

I don’t say this in any way to trivialize the struggles that many are feeling here at home. I know times are hard, jobs are scarce and sometimes the future seems a little bleak. But life is 20% what happens to you and 80% how you respond to it. The Lord has blessed our community with improvements, growth and provision these past years and my prayer daily is that He will continue to do that.

To you and yours, a Happy Thanksgiving…the forgotten holiday.

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman – Brantley County Commission

The Right to Choose

Over the past couple of months there have been hundreds of conversations regarding taxes, budgets and government spending. It seems you can’t turn on the TV without seeing somebody occupying something and really only knowing one thing for sure, they don’t like the way things are.

A few months ago the Brantley County Board of Education, at the request of the Superintendent and his staff, voted to increase their millage from 13 mills to 18 mills which is a 38% increase. There is no arguing that the State and federal government have failed in their obligation to provide educational services to our children as they shift more and more burden to the local tax payers. And perhaps the BOE should have been going up a little over the past years. Hindsight is always 20-20 as they say.

The one thing is for sure. This large increase has come at a time when people around the globe are hurting, scared and uncertain of their future. Unemployment is at all time high. The nation’s credit rating has been downgraded and economies around the world are stumbling.

Initially the BOE told the Senior Homestead property owners that were at their meeting demanding permanent and total exemption from BOE taxes that they would have to “go see the County Commission” if they wanted an exemption. In conversations with over 25 different people from over a dozen different agencies the Commission and their attorney have determined that this is not the case and in fact is not even the common practice. Just last year the Brantley County Board of Education passed a local resolution allowing for all Board of Education posts to be elected through the nonpartisan election ballot. That resolution became State law. This allows voters to cast a vote for BOE members no matter if the voter chooses the Democratic or Republican primary election process. That was a good thing. That same process can be used by the BOE to call for local legislation for tax exemptions.

The Constitution and Code Sections for the State of Georgia requires that any tax exemption from Ad Valorem property taxes be placed on a local referendum or vote of those in that taxing jurisdiction. So the proper process would be for the BOE to pass a local resolution in their meeting if they so choose to do so. This resolution would call for a binding referendum for the voters of Brantley County to have the opportunity to vote YES or NO on the BOE’s proposed exemption. The vote of citizens is final.

In closing, with all the positive things going on around the County, I hope and pray that this negativity does not totally darken the sparks of progress that we see for 2012. The BP Station is coming back online, Varns Wood products are expanding, the Southern Ionics group will bring its mining operations to Brantley, the Foodtronics group is expanding even farther than expected and there are many other potential opportunities in the works. I'd also like to personally thank all the voters for approving the SPLOST! This allows the current and future Commissions to continue making the kind of progress that has been made over the last 3 years. The good Lord has richly blessed our community and I pray He continues to do so. To Him goes the glory.

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman – Brantley County Commission

Brantley County Commission November 2012 Regular Meeting

The Commission welcomed about 200 Senior Citizens to the November regular meeting to discuss possible Board of Education Tax Exemption for homestead residential properties owned by citizens 65 or older. Two members of the Board of Education were in attendance, Kerry Mathie and Dot Hickox. A group of school teachers and administrators were also on hand to see the discussion first hand. A few citizens spoke during public participation about the challenges facing some seniors on fixes incomes. Dorothy Bolden came forward again demanding 100% exemption from school taxes before 1/1/2012. Others came forward and discussed their challenges. One member came forward to talk about his road on Whispering Pine Loop.

The Commission approved the minutes to the October meeting and approved the amended consent agenda and regular agenda next.
The Commission approved the following items on the consent agenda by vote of 4-0.
1. Approved off premise beer and wine license for Tejas J. Patel, d/b/a/ “Minit Mart” Central Avenue Extension (formerly T&R)
2. Approved off premise beer and wine license for Tina Marie Paten, d/b/a “Popwell’s Grocery”
3. Awarded bid for 2011, 2012, 2013 audit to BYRT, CPAs, Waycross, with language in the contract financial penalties if the audit is not delivered on time
4. Adopted resolution appointing County Clerk Dale Halligan as ACCG County Legislative Coordinator
5. Approved and executed contract for Inmate Medical Program with Blue / Cross Blue Shield, through ACCG
6. Adopted resolution for 2011 update of the short term work program
7. Reappointed Chad Scruggs and Pat Evans to the Recreation Advisory Committee
8. Change regular County Commission monthly from the second Tuesday to the month to the first Thursday after the first Tuesday of the month starting in January 2012. This placed the work session and the regular meeting closer together and better sequences the county meeting in concert with city and board of education meetings.
9. Approved lease agreement between the County and Concerted Service, Inc.

Much to the disappointment of the decently mannered crowd, the Commission opted to table item #1. This was the local legislation exemption from school board taxes for senior citizens with homestead properties that are used only for residential purposes. One commissioner explained that Jeff Chapman former State Senator had explained to him the Board of Education could pass a resolution crediting seniors from School taxes. The chairman had provided an analysis and alternatives to the Commission and due to the absence of one Commissioner, recommended that the item be tabled until the December work session which will be held at the Courthouse at 6pm December 6th. This would allow more time for the analysis. Nothing can happen until the Atlanta Legislative Session starts in mid January 2012 so there is time and this is too big of a decision to rush.

The discussion the chairman wants to focus on includes the need to help those who are on fixed incomes that have to make the hard choices. The discussion does not need to focus on who has children in school and who does not. The Chairman’s proposal is an extension of the current State plan. The current process is as follows. A property value of $100,000 has a taxable value of 40% or $40,000. The current state exemption for 65 year old homestead property owners is a $2,000 reduction in the taxable property value. So the taxable value is reduced to $38,000. The figure 1 below shows the current homestead properties and the exemptions they receive in Brantley County.

Where the leaders of the senior groups are demanding total exemption from board of education taxes, the seniors in the county own $72 million in property which carries a $28 million taxable value. This represents roughly 10% of the taxable digest. Figure 2 below shows the breakdown of seniors and the property values.

The Chairman’s proposal includes adding an additional $15,000 credit for homestead seniors 65 or older for both board of education taxes and County Commission taxes. The real goal is to help those having to make the hard choices. This approach works to help those and provides the same credit to the taxable property value amount across the board to all seniors which is the most fair and flat credit. This compares to a percentage which provides more of a dollar credit to the top income seniors v.s. those on lower incomes that are the focus. Those with more expensive properties will receive the same credit and will pay on the property value above the exemption. In the above example, a $100,000 property would still carry a taxable value of $40,000, it would get a $2,000 state mandated credit and then a $15,000 local credit to the value creating a reduced taxable value of $23,000. If the property was $500,000, then the taxable amount is 40% or $200,000, the state credit is still $2,000 and the local credit is still $15,000. So the new taxable value is $183,000.

The execution of this proposal would leverage existing processes already in place in the Tax Assessor’s office, would not require an arbitrary setting of an income level below which homestead seniors would get exempted while those above that level would have to pay 100% of their taxes and it creates no humiliating task of providing proof of income and researching same placing more burden on an already struggling system.

The impact of this approach is fairly straight forward to measure as the County has the list and property values for those of age 65 or older based on current exemptions. Figure 3 below shows the current millage rates, these existing property value credits for those properties, the proposed new property credits for those parcels and the average per parcel credit. This means that the average senior’s board of education tax bill would be lowered by approximately $259 if the BOE millage stayed at 18.53 and their county tax bill would be lowered by approximately $297 if the millage stayed at 20.34. This represents a total tax credit of approximately $556 per parcel.

When you remove these exemptions from the digest and recalculate the county tax millage rate, figure 4 below demonstrates that the millage rate for the county would go from 20.34 to 21.39 or a 1.05 mill increase. This proposal has been provided to the superintendent so that his team can review the impact to the school collections due to the new exemptions. Were the digest to increase or the commission be able to trim from next year’s budget, this could likely be managed with little or no increase in the County millage rate.

In other business the Commission approved reappointing Greg Strickland and Jill Tornabene to the Development Authority.

The Commission reviewed the application from Paul Minchew for a special event alcohol license for the Hortense Off Road Park. Commissioner expressed both concern over the vast complaints that have been heard from the neighbors around the park and understanding for Mr. Minchew wanting to come before the Commission and get a license when others alleged to be selling beer at the park do not have a license. In a split decision the vote failed and the license was not granted.

A letter was read to the Commission that was provided by Mary Gibson on behalf of the Airport Authority. In that letter Mary expressed her appreciation for the support the airport has received from state and local boards and agencies. She singled out a number of members that were instrumental in helping her get the airport to where it is today. In the closing paragraph, Ms. Gibson resigned her position on the Airport Authority. The County would like to thank Ms. Gibson for her years of service and unwavering commitment to the Airport. The Commission approved the acceptance of her resignation.

Brantley County Commission November 2012 Work Session

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.

93% of all properties reported for citizens over age 65 were valued at $200,000 or less. So, all evidence points to the situation that a significant number of seniors are in a position to have more of a tax burden than they have the ability to support.

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.