Senator William Ligon Town Hall Meeting

The City Councils of Hoboken and Nahunta, along with representatives of the County Commission and Board of Education were in attendance at the Town Hall meeting set up for Senator William Ligon. During the meeting, the different groups discussed needs to tax reform, support for industrial development within the cities and counties and the like. The Hoboken delegation requested some assistance with a waver on GaDOT regulations for some inner city streets. With homes over the decades built very close to city streets, it makes it impossible for the Cities to acquire DOT funding for much needed paving and resurfacing projects. The group also discusses challenges with inter basin transfers for water. We have plenty of water in south Georgia but there are perceptions that north Georgia will eventually tap into our water sources for their needs. The team would prefer that they send those businesses south instead of sending the water North. The Senator discussed last years tax reform package and how it attempted to broaden the tax base and shift Georgia away from an income tax and more toward a consumption tax. This broadens the base to include those working in the "cash" or "underground" economy who ONLY pay sales tax. That number is staggering and is growing every year. Many states have made this migration and Georgia has to compete with them for industry and jobs.

Dr. Read Carter, financial director for the Brantley County Board of Education was in attendance and took the Senator to tasks for the $1.6 million in state funding that he claimed was stripped from Brantley County this year. He spoke to the recent debates around a senior citizen tax exemption and explained that they were working on a resolution for the board of education's consideration. He admitted that the BOE needed to help those that needed help. Senator Ligon explained that the state budget is made up of 56% education and 35% medicaid. That is 91%. So if those two are excluded, that leaves 8% of the budget to manage debt and deficits. The state has a $791 million debt to the federal government for shortfalls in previous years. The interest only payment on that this year was $27 million. Dr. Carter challenged the Senator in that revenues had increased at the State level and questioned why that money was not being assigned to education. Senator Ligon explained that where revenues were up this year with increases in the 91% mentioned above, the State originally foretasted to have a $1 billion shortfall in the budget. The increase in revenues will help offset the increases, but will still leave a $270 million deficit this year. He went on to say that he doesn't support and expects no more cuts in education. But stated that the state, counties and schools are gong to have to continue to find creative ways to be conservative just as the families are in these lean times. The Chairman explained that in a statewide comparison using last year's 13.53 millage rate, Brantley County schools were 7th from the bottom in total per student school funding. Senator Ligon explained that the increase in revenues at the state level is a good sign.

The QBE equation for how school funding is allocated across the state was discussed. The Senator mentioned an issue in McIntosh county where inflated property values had caused the equalization money (75% match that the State gives each county for every local tax dollar above 5 mills) to be reduced. He explained that the same could be true in Brantley. The challenge is that all real estate values across the state have fallen so this is a daunting task. The law suit brought on by former School Superintendent Al Hunter never reached any successful conclusion.

The meeting lasted about 90 minutes, much like the meeting last week with Representative Chad Nimmer. Working with the State officials to define priorities and maintain lines of communication is just more evidence that the leadership team in Brantley County is working to make things better.