Tag Archives: Economy

Land is not just money: appeal tax valuations today




Appeal today
if you think there’s more to land (or business)
and woods and fields and streams than money,
unlike the Tax Assessors, whose revaluation would drive development
into agricultural areas of the county where it doesn’t belong,
while avoiding populated areas such as the south side of Valdosta.
We can expect pipeline companies and utilities from other states
to think nothing of pillaging our lands for their profit.
We shouldn’t expect that of our neighbors whom we elected Tax Asssessors.
If you have affection for your land, your county, your neighborhood,
today’s the deadline

to appeal your valuation
.
And there will be an election later.

As Wendell Berry said,



Whatever has happened in what economists call “the
economy,” it is generally true that the land economy has been
discounted or ignored.

Are the Tax Assessors boomers?
Are you a sticker?
Wendell Berry explains: Continue reading

Monday August 10th deadline to appeal tax valuations –VLCoC

Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce members just got a message from
Bruce Allred, Government Affairs Council Chairman,
saying:


MONDAY IS DEADLINE TO APPEAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS!

You can look up your property on the Tax Assessors’ website:
www.qpublic.net/ga/lowndes.


See also the

LAKE Videos: Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04
.

That Chamber message includes this useful information: Continue reading

Videos: Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04



See for yourself the Tax Assessor response to local landowners, in these
LAKE videos of

last night’s meeting
at Farm Bureau.
Do you think there’s a problem?
If so, what do you think we should do to fix it?

The attendees appointed Gretchen to take notes. Here are her notes,
followed by the videos.

Accessibility is not about access, it’s about geographic location…. That was done by one of our appraisers on staff. —Chief Appraiser Silas Hrobar

Rural and commercial land owners got surprises in the mail in July
when they received the updated assessments of their properties.
Lowndes County Assessors engaged a contractor last year to help with
the reassessments of approximately 10,000 properties. Rural
properties were categorized as small (under 20 acres) and large
(over 20 acres) but complaints were the same, inconsistent and
confusing application of criteria.

On Tuesday evening, Farm Bureau hosted Continue reading

Videos: Building and billboard locations @ ZBOA 2015-06-02



June 2nd 2015, ZBOA approved

Fairway’s
new billboard request,
and

building location variance
for Gloryhill Cowboy Church, both unanimously, 6-0.
They meet again today at 2:30 PM (they didn’t meet in July).

They

welcomed new ZBOA member,
John Hogan III
,
who ran for Valdosta City Council in 2015,
appointed to ZBOA by that Council 7 May 2015.
Laverne Gaskins declined to be reappointed.

Here’s

the agenda
, from the
City of Valdosta

website
,
followed by the video. Continue reading

Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04

Are Bill Gates and subdivisions really more important than agriculture
or rivers or public transportation?


Come to Farm Bureau tomorrow evening
and find out what’s
going on with the rural land revaluation. facebook event.

When: 7PM, Tuesday, 4 August 2015

Where: 3296 Greystone Way, Valdosta, GA, (229) 242-7876

By: Farm Bureau board member Buddy Coleman called this meeting.

What: Compare the Comprehensive Plan to this revaluation here (PDF).

Sprawl: sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin (Or at least big tax increases).
PDF of the report by UGA Prof. Jeffrey H. Dorfman Lowndes County paid for in 2007,

The Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in
Lowndes County
.

Who: At least some of the

Lowndes County Tax Assessors
Continue reading

Rural tax revaluation: Bill Gates and subdivisions more important than agriculture and public transportation?

Does this

rural land revaluation map

resemble the

Comprehensive Plan Future Development map
?

Tax Assessors: Rural Land Accessibility Codes

Why not?
And why were rivers and public transportation not considered either
by the Lowndes County Tax Assessors
while tracts with road frontage were considered the
“highest market area”
and
land purchases by Bill Gates
were considered
“benchmark sales” instrumental in pricing large tracts?

This rural land revaluation is yet another vehicle to drive development straight north into the agricultural areas of the county, not even stopping at the Withlacoochee River.

That way lies sprawl, which as Dr. Jeffrey H. Dorfman of UGA has said,
“is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin* * Or at least big tax increases.”

The City of Valdosta better watch out! Much of this Continue reading

Videos: Development Authority’s BRAT @ VLCIA 2015-06-16



They meet again tonight with
a bylaw amendment scheduled, which is probably for extending officer terms to two years as Roy Copeland proposed.
(He first suggested that at least several years ago when he was re-elected Chairman.)
And their nominating committee nominated

the same officers again
.

Lots of

dials showing targets and where they are in reaching them
,
which is good, because I keep getting questions about what
they’re doing with all that tax money and are they doing enough
to justify it.

One citizen asked about the

airport

and another (OK, me) handed out
Alapaha River Water Trail brochures and once again suggested

solar panels at the airport

to turn that otherwise-unusable space into profit.

Here’s the

agenda

and below are LAKE videos, followed by a playlist. Continue reading

Transportation and electrical presentations plus officer elections @ VLCIA 2015-07-21

VLMPO’s Corey Hull presents today at 5:30 PM to the Valdosta Development Authority. Their agenda doesn’t say about what, but one can guess about the proposed studies for public transit and for trucking around Valdosta. Don’t forget to go to the VLMPO Open House on 2040 Transportation Vision tomorrow.

Electrical Test Labs of Georgia, located in Lake Park, will talk about themselves.

And the Authority will elect officers, which I predict will be the same ones they’ve got now since that’s what their nominating committee recommended last month, plus the bylaw amendment I predict will be Roy Copeland’s recommendation to extend officer terms to two years.

Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 5:30 p.m. Continue reading

Videos: Suwannee-Satilla Water Council @ SSRWPC 2015-06-15



They’re updating the regional water plan.
They want to cooperate with neighboring water councils
and with similar organizations in Florida.
They meet again

today at Aniston’s Restaurant, 1404 W. Baker Highway, Douglas, GA
.
See also:
Please join the opposition to the Sabal Trail watershed invader —WWALS to SSRWPC
.

Continue reading

Alabama Power wants more renewable energy due to corporate customer demand



Southern Company’s subsidiaries are all turning to the sun!
Even that titanic ship is affected by the tugboats of its corporate customers.

Ari Phillips, ClimateProgress, 16 July 2015,

This Massive Utility Wants More Renewable Energy Because Corporations Are Demanding It
,

In June, Alabama Power, one of the country’s largest electricity
providers, filed a petition with the state’s Public Service
Commission to add up to 500 megawatts of renewable energy over the
next six years. The utility, which serves over 1.4 million customers
in Alabama, cited customer demand as a primary reason for adding all
this renewable energy — specifically corporate customers.



“This program was driven by conversations with customers
looking to meet renewable mandates pushed down from their
headquarters,” said Tony Smoke, Alabama Power vice president
of marketing, in a statement announcing the request. “As a
service provider, our focus is to make sure we are providing
customers access to choices they want.”

It’s like Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said in May Continue reading