Representative Chad Nimmer visits Brantley County

Representative Chad Nimmer came to Brantley County on December 12th to meet with local elected officials to establish legislative priorities for the upcoming 2012 State Congressional session. Most of the Hoboken and Nahunta City Council members (current and/or elect) were in attendance with all but one of the County Commissioners and some Constitutional Officers and staff.

In the meeting the group talked about many items that they would like to see Representative Nimmer to fight for or against in the next session. The City of Nahunta discussed a water tower and possible assistance with other municipal water system improvements. The City of Hoboken discussed ways to bring industry to Brantley County. The group discussed the need for the State to revisit school funding and equalization changes to move the much needed support to the rural schools. The Board of Education was meeting and was unable to attend. But in their absence the group still reminded the Representative that while everyone understands the requirement of prioritization when funds are limited, education has to be a priority. Representative Nimmer explained that recently the State made a payment of $27 million to the government on a $700 million loan. The state has to work on a plan to continue critical services while paying off debt. Sound familiar?

The County Commission also discussed ways to entice industry to Brantley County. One project that was discussed was a joint natural gas pipeline grant application with Glynn County. The Industrial Development Authority has reported that many industries that are
seeking rural industrial sites today require the less expensive fuels like natural gas. Brantley County has 4 lane highway access, CSX rail spur access, Interstates within 20 miles, one port within 25 miles, two other ports within 100 miles, thousands of acres of
available property and many other attractive assets. With the addition of Natural Gas, the county would qualify for many new potential industrial candidates that look beyond Brantley now. The commission also discussed water rights and the proposed legislation to limit transfers between aquifers.

The meeting started with Representative Nimmer explaining to the group some of the items that he expects to see this year. There will likely be some sales tax legislation. Much was attempted last year but failed to get sufficient support. With the election coming in 2012, there was some concern that not much will get accomplished this year.

Meetings of this nature are scheduled with Senator William Ligon for December 20th as well.

Brantley County Commission December 2011 Regular Meeting

The Commission was again visited by Mrs. Dorothy Bolden and a group of 160 Senior Citizens, a group 8 times the number that attended the Board of Education meetings the previous night. The group came again requesting 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 again, Dot Hickox and Theresa Lairsey. Mrs. Bolden again came forward requesting immediate action in the form of a binding referendum for an exemption from school taxes that could be placed on the ballot in the spring of 2012. Henry Aldridge and others got up to speak on the topic as well.

The Commission approved minutes of the November 2011 meeting and a number of items on the consent agenda. These included:
1. An item to appoint Commissioner Greg O’Quinn for another year as vice-chairman
2. An item for the continuance of 911 landline fees at $1.50 per month
3. An item for the continuance of 911 wireless phone fees at $1.50 per month.
4. An item to reappoint Dean Strickland for 2012 as the County attorney.

The first item on the regular agenda included a motion to rescind a resolution establishing a minimum acreage for conservation that the Commission had approved in April of 2011. The tax Assessor’s Board sent a letter to the Commission asking for the action to rescind the resolution as it was actually eliminating the opportunity for some tax payers to file for conservation. By rescinding the resolution all property owners can file using the same state guidelines that everyone else uses. The board passed the motion.

While Mr. Billy Lee had the floor, he also discussed a proposal from the Airport Authority asking the Commission to send a letter to the State asking for the State to reinstate the Aviation funding statewide. The Commission, having not seen the letter or the resolution, decided to review it and place the item on the January agenda.

The Commission voted and approved keeping the Southeastern Bank as the official depository. Requests for proposals went out to the local banks and Southeastern was the only bank to respond.

The Commission discussed the speed limit ordinance as proposed by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GADOT). There was confusion in the information provided by GaDOT as the County Manager had received one input from one member of DOT and some Commissioners had received other inputs. The County attorney and County manager will clarify this with GaDOT and this was placed on the January agenda.

The Commission approved a motion to have the County attorney work with the architects with Suttles & Associates to resolve a couple of points in the proposed contract and empowered the Chairman to execute the agreement once a resolution was reached that met with the county attorney’s approval.

The Commission approved a resolution certifying the SPLOST Election Results for the state.
The Commission also approved a motion naming the new Atkinson Boat Ramp Ava Strickland Lightsey Public Boat Ramp.

The Commission also approved a motion allowing the County manager to move funds between budgets for the Clerk of Superior Court, Cindy Crews. Since the County has held more court than budgeted, the Clerk is moving unused funds from one budget line item to another. Since some funds may have to cross department lines, the Commission had to approve the move. This was not an increase in overall budget. This was just a movement between line items for housekeeping.

The Commission also approved the acquisition of right of way (ROW) for the Caney Bay bridge replacement project.

The Commission discussed the BOE Tax Exemption for homestead properties of senior citizens. The Chairman explained that in discussions with Board of Education Members and staff they voted and instructed the Superintendent and attorney to work with the staff, draft a resolution and bring that to the January meeting for a vote. Commissioner Edgy moved to create a resolution for a binding referendum allowing for a BOE Tax exemption of 50% for all homestead parcels owned by persons over age 65 and 100% exemption for senior homestead parcels where the owner is over 70. He added that any home with an income over $100,000, any home with a commercial business in it and any home owned less than 5 years by the senior(s) would get no exemption. Commissioner Harris seconded the motion.
During discussion it was clarified that the form of validation of household income would be the Federal Income Tax Forms for all senior citizens. Many in the audience objected because they did not have to file income taxes as seniors are not required or felt that their income was not the County’s business. In further discussion the definition of what constituted commercial property was attempted after several minutes of discussion and debate, Commissioner Edgy finally withdrew that portion of the motion.

Commissioner Hendrix explained that he supported helping those making the hard choices but felt that the BOE should be the body dealing with this. And since they had voted to do that, the Commission needed to give them time to do this. Should they choose not to deal with it, he stood ready to revisit the item.

In discussion the Chairman expressed concerns over the approach as well. The percentage approach rewards those with more expensive properties and penalizes those with less expensive properties. Plus the income verification component is going to force all 1,000 plus senior homestead property owners to provide some standardized form of income proof which the Tax Assessor’s Office will struggle to verify. And as income changes it will be up to the property owner to inform the county of a change of income level. Finally with this approach there is no accurate way to measure the exact impact of this exemption.
The Chairman went into detail explaining the way the tax bill process works and the existing credits that most seniors could qualify for that would get them a $10,000 credit or a $185 deduction on their BOE tax bill. The Chairman prefers a proposal adding an additional $25,000 local taxable property value credit for homestead seniors 65 and older who have owned their property for more than 5 years. This would give all senior homestead residential property owners a tax bill reduction of up to $463 and would cost $225,061 or less than one (1) BOE mill. In fact in a comparison of the two approaches (attached), any home with a total value of $150,000 or less would get a LARGER credit under the Chairman’s proposal using a per parcel credit than the percentage approach.

When this first came up the discussion was about helping those not buying medicine, paying their light bill or buying groceries so that they could pay taxes. When the vote was taken Commissioners Edgy and Harris voted in favor of the motion and Commissioners O’Quinn and Hendrix opposed the motion and the Chairman voted no so the motion failed for now. The Chairman explained that should the BOE vote to not take this item up, he would personally bring the item back to the table. He also explained that placing too large of a referendum on the ballot would not help anyone and would force the issue to remain silent for at least a year or more before it could come back up.

The Chairman thanked the Board members for their keeping the discussion civil and on topic. Where these were hard discussions, the Commission was respectful of one another and of the seniors that were in attendance and the meeting.

Brantley County Commission December 2011 Work Session

The Commission was again visited by about 100 Senior Citizens and organizer Dorothy Bolin to demand 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, Dot Hickox and Theresa Lairsey. Mrs. Bolin again came forward demanding immediate action in the form of a binding referendum for an exemption from school taxes before 1/1/2012. She explained that their numbers had waned due to illness and a basketball game out of town. At one point the names of Commissioners up for re-election in 2012 were requested by Mrs. Bolin. Commissioner Mike Edgy, Ron Ham and Greg O’Quinn raised their hands and gave their names.

The Commission placed a number of items on the consent agenda for next week’s meeting. These included:
1. An item to approve the contract with Suttles and Associates as the architects for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Project for the new Mental Health facility paid for with Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Grant Funds and to be located behind Jerry J’s nest to the Department of Family and Children Services and the Head Start Facility.
2. An item to appoint Commissioner Greg O’Quinn for another year as vice-chairman
3. An item for the continuance of 911 landline fees and 911 wireless phone fees in separate resolutions.
4. An item supporting a letter from the Chairman to the cell phone companies asking for formal audits on collections. A number of people in the audience expressed conflict with the cell companies and getting their 911 fees redirected to Brantley County. The commission explained that this has to be done by the citizen and can be done by customer service.
5. An item to reappoint Dean Strickland for 2012 as the county attorney.

In other work session items the commission discussed the BOE Tax Exemption for homestead properties of senior citizens. The Chairman explained that in discussions with the Commission and the Board of Education Members and staff they had agreed that it would be best for the BOE to take this up and the BOE has agreed to do so in this month’s meetings. The majority of the commission proposed to table the item until the BOE had a chance to take this item up. Commissioner Edgy instead proposed a Regular Agenda item for next week’s meeting of the commission to create a resolution for a binding referendum. In his proposal for the agenda item Commissioner Edgy proposed 50% exemption for all senior homestead parcels owned by persons over age 65 and 100% exemption for senior homestead parcels where the owner is over 70. He added that any home with an income over $100,000, any home with a commercial business in it and any home owned less than 5 years by the senior(s) would get no exemption. Where all other commission members preferred the BOE take this matter up and propose their own resolution, they were willing to allow the item on the regular agenda for next week purely for the sake of discussion.

In discussion the Chairman expressed concerns over the approach. First, he also felt this matter should be left to the BOE. Second, the percentage approach rewards those with more expensive properties and penalizes those with less expensive properties. Plus the income verification component is going to force all 1,000 plus senior homestead property owners to provide some standardized form of income proof which the Tax Assessor’s Office will likely not be able to verify. Finally with this approach there is no accurate way to measure the exact impact of this exemption. In Commissioner Edgy’s approach a senior homestead property owner with a $200,000 property would be taxed on 40% or $80,000 of that value. With the BOE millage at 18.53 this would render them a bill of $1,482 less some current minor state exemptions for most seniors. Their credit would be 50% at age 65 or $741. Another senior homestead property owner with property valued at $50,000 would be taxed on 40% or $20,000. With BOE millage at 18.53 this renders them a bill of $370. Their credit would be $185 at age 65. The credit for the more expensive parcel in the above example is 4 times that of the less expensive parcel. This doesn’t appear to be an approach targeted at helping those seniors who have to make the “hard choices”.

Seniors in Brantley County own approximately $72 million in property taxes. With Commissioner Edgy’s proposal it is impossible to calculate the exact impact and how much of the BOE tax burden would be shifted to those under age 65. But with the digest for senior homestead at $72 million and the taxable digest being 40% of that or $28.8 million, this approach will move between $350,000 and $525,000 of the BOE tax burden to those under age 65 should the resolution pass. This would trigger a 1.1 to 1.5 BOE mill increase to cover the exemption. Putting a referendum on the ballot that voters will not approve does not help those low income seniors that are making the hard choices. Figure 1 below shows the breakdown of senior homestead property values.

Earlier in the process even before the senior movement came demanding relief the Commission discussed a proposal adding an additional $15,000 local credit for homestead seniors 65. This would give all senior homestead residential property owners a tax bill reduction of $278 and would move $248,254 of that tax burden to those under age 65 causing the BOE to increase their millage by about 0.8 mills or reduce their budget by that much.

The real goal should be to help those having to make the hard choices. The property tax credit approach provides the same credit to the taxable property value amount of all seniors which is the most fair and flat credit. Compared to the above example a $200,000 property would still carry a taxable value of $80,000. It would get a $15,000 local credit to the value creating a reduced taxable value of $65,000. This would render a tax bill of $1,204. If the property was $50,000, then the taxable amount is 40% or $20,000 and the local credit is still $15,000. So the new taxable value is $5,000. Their bill is $92.65. The credit in both instances is $278. The $15,000 value can be increased giving a greater flat credit and an increase could be put in place for seniors over age 70.

The execution of this later proposal would leverage existing processes already in place in the Tax Assessor’s office, would not require an arbitrary setting of an income level above which no credit is given and it creates no humiliating task of providing proof of income which will likely not be verifiable. Hopefully the BOE will take this item up and create a fair and balanced credit for all seniors providing much needed relief for those making the hard choices.

In other business the Commission placed items on the regular agenda to:
• accept proposals from local banks for depository services,
• review of the November YTD Financial Reports,
• reconsider the conservation minimum property requirement for CUVA (15  25) as proposed by the Tax Assessor’s Office
• review the speed limit ordinance as proposed by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GADOT)

Brantley County 2012 DOT Resurfacing Projects Announced

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GaDOT) announced last quarter the three resurfacing projects that were chosen based on the conditions of the roads in Brantley County. The Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) funding that replaced the former LARP and State Aid program is funded by the state based on the miles of road in the County.

These funds were used last year to stripe and resurface many roads in the County. The Commission more than once last year used the opportunity to leverage local Special Purpose local Option sales tax to continue a project that was started by the state LMIG program to resurface a road. This allows the County to leverage much more attractive rates that can be negotiated by the state in volume. Attached you will see the announcement from GaDOT.

All roads were tested by GaDOT. Trudie Road in Twin Rivers ranked the worst in the County and all of the 2 miles of that road that lies within Brantley County will be repaved. 1.2 miles Browntown Road was next and will be resurfaced. This connects 32 with Wayne County to the North. Finally Buffalo Creek Drive was next and 3 miles of that road will be paved.

The Commission has worked hard over recent years to leverage Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) dollars, GaGOT funding, grant and local dollars and crews to improve roads throughout the county. Over 13 miles have been or are being paved and more than
that has been resurfaced in the last three years.

2012 Resurfacing Projects

Ronald E. Ham
Chairman - Brantley County Commission.