Tag Archives: Economy

Duke Energy expands solar stake from NC to SC

Duke Energy, purported big customer of FPL and Spectra’s Sabal Trail
fracked methane pipeline boondoggle, is expanding into solar financing
for commercial projects, and from North Carolina into South Carolina.
After even FPL’s parent bought a Hawaii utility to get into the solar game,
why would anybody want to waste time, money, eminent domain land takings,
trees cut down, or the hazards of sinkholes, leaks, and explosions
near schools and businesses when we can all go straight to
faster, cheaper, and far safer and cleaner solar power?

First this:
Jennifer Runyon, Renewable Energy World, 9 February 2015,

Duke Energy Takes Equity Stake in REC Solar, Embraces Distributed Generation:
The move gives REC Solar a cash injection, $225 million in funds available to finance commercial projects, and a streamlined process to deliver solar projects more quickly.,



The largest utility in the U.S. is doubling down on distributed
solar by taking an equity stake in commercial solar developer, REC
Solar. The companies announced today that Duke will now own a
majority stake of REC Solar and that together they will make it
easier for commercial customers to go solar. In 2013, Duke Energy
invested in Continue reading →

Videos: Devine tabled, Naylor boat ramp, no HB 170 or animals @ LCC 2015-02-10



Nothing was said about the
GA HB 170 state tax grab from local governments,
even though both school boards and the Valdosta City Council
already passed resolutions against it.
No citizens spoke about animals, or about anything else,
not even in the Public Hearings,
except for

me thanking the Commission about the Naylor Boat Ramp.

The
Devine Subdivision at Tillman Crossing
was tabled at request of applicant to try to sort out continuing
concerns about safety and congestion,
while
REZ-2015-01 Gramercy 2
and
REZ-2015-03 Scurry Property,
were unanimously approved.
No citizens spoke for or against any of them.

You the taxpaying public didn’t get to see any of the materials
in the board packet
beyond the one-page agenda item forms, before the Commission voted last night,
unless you were in the Commission Chambers or watched the LAKE videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session.
The open records request for those rezonings came back with
paper maps, despite my request for electronic format;
at least the paper maps were in color this time.
I asked again for electronic format, and will post them
soon even if I have to scan them.
The other open records request, for maps and materials for the
engineering agenda items, came back with no maps at all, so I sent
it back to be satisfied.
Both County Planner Jason Davenport and County Engineer Mike Fletcher
said they had never seen those open records requests,
and they’d both be happy to email electronic copy if they
were authorized to do so by the County Clerk.

All the other items were unanimously approved: Continue reading →

Oppose reducing sales tax funding to local goverments –Lowndes County Board of Education against HB 170

According to Terri Welden at the Lowndes County School Superintendent’s
office just now,


the Lowndes County Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution
against HB 170 last night.
It reads in part:


WHEREAS, this Board urges the members of the Georgia General Assembly
and our local delegation to strongly oppose any provision or measure to reduce
allocation of sales tax funding to local governments;

Here’s

the entire LCBOE resolution,
which is quite similar to the ones passed that same night by the

Valdosta Board of Education
and the

Valdosta City Council.
What will the

Lowndes County Commission do at its meeting tonight that still
doesn’t even have HB 170 on its
agenda? Continue reading →

HB 170 would have a devastating effect on our community –Valdosta Board of Education

The Valdosta Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution against


HB 170 last night and forwarded it to the local legislative delegation
via email and on paper, according to Joy at the Valdosta School Superintendent’s
office just now.

Not surprisingly, VBOE’s resolution looks a lot like

the City of Valdosta’s resolution.
Both were written before yesterday’s
changes to HB 170,
which
still pit counties against cities.

The Lowndes County Board of Education unanimously passed a similar resolution
also last night.

What will the
Lowndes County Commission do tonight?
And what will the

Lowndes County Board of Education do Thursday?

Here’s the Rationale in the yesterday’s VBOE agenda:

HB170 has been introduced this legislative session. It proposes to
remove the local tax on fuel and replace it with a tax at the
distributor level which would be paid to the state. For Valdosta
City Schools this would mean a reduction in revenue of approximately
$1.8 million annually from ESPLOST. The total loss of revenue for
the city and county governments and the city and county school
districts would be approximately $12 million annually. If passed,
this bill would have a devastating effect on our community.

And here’s

the resolution: Continue reading →

HB 170: counties vs. cities? @ LCC 2015-02-10

Yesterday a Georgia House subcommittee did exactly what Valdosta


urged it not to do about distributing HB 170 funds.
Given that LMIG mismatch between cities and counties
to replace the previous mismatch of forced double taxation
on cities and counties, is the legislature trying to cause
dissension between counties and their cities, or is it just that inept?
We know Valdosta’s position.
What will the Lowndes County Commission do?

Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson

wrote to bill’s sponsor: Continue reading →

HB 170 voted out of subcommittee; what will Lowndes County Commission do? @ LCC 2015-02-06

How long will the Lowndes County government and ACCG wait to act,
while the Georgia legislature moves on



its stealth transportation
tax hike for Atlanta that would defund local school boards and city
and county governments?
A House subcommittee has made some changes to the bill,
but it would still force local governments to raise taxes,
and it adds an unrelated repeal of an electric vehicle tax credit
to its boondoggle for trucking companies and Atlanta.
Do we want our local public schools to be defunded like
wildlife programs were through the state’s wildlife license plate revenue
tax taking?
If not, now’s the time to lobby against HB 170, before
the full House Transportation Committee meets Thursday.
Yet there’s still nothing about HB 170
on the county’s agenda for this evening’s voting Regular Session.

Valdosta has already Continue reading →

$12 million loss to local Lowndes County governments –text of Valdosta resolution against HB 170

Local schools would lose
$4 million annually
and local governments overall
$12 million annually,

300x389 Resolution, in Resolution against million tax local tax loss to HB 170., by City of Valdosta, 5 February 2015
because
HB 170 would

“re-allocate local sales tax funding from local governments to the state of
Georgia”, resolved Valdosta’s Mayor and Council last Thursday.
Plus HB 170 would effectively authorize
“double taxation of municipal residents”,
because both Lowndes County and Valdosta would have to raise property taxes,
which would result in Valdosta’s citizens being taxed more twice (by
both the county and the city).
For how serious Valdosta considers this threat to its ability to provide services
to local citizens, witness how fast this resolution got passed
(within weeks after HB 170 was introduced into the legislature)
compared to how long it took for Valdosta to pass
a resolution against the Sabal Trail pipeline
(about eighteen months).

Here’s

the complete text of the Valdosta resolution that
passed 5 Febuary 2015.
See also

Valdosta’s PR about this resolution, which contains links to the evidence,
and

Valdosta’s letter to the sponsor of the bill.

RESOLUTION NO. 2015-3

A RESOLUTION TO OPPOSE THE STATE OF GEORGIA’S

TRANSPORTATION FUNDING ACT OF 2015 Continue reading →

Valdosta writes to legislature against HB 170 transportation tax grab



Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll
sent a message Saturday with an attached letter from
City Manager Larry Hanson to the sponsor of

HB 170, strongly opposing that stealth tax hike.
This is in addition to

the resolution the Valdosta City Council passed against HB 170.

Carroll’s cover letter:

All,

Attached is a message Mr. Hanson prepared and sent to Rep. [Jay] Roberts
regarding the proposed State Transportation Funding legislation or
HB 170. Rep. Roberts is the lead sponsor of this bill.

As many of you have already heard, the Valdosta City Council adopted
a resolution Continue reading →

Valdosta resolution against GA HB 170 sales-to-excise transportation tax switch

While the Lowndes County Commission has no position,
the City of Valdosta already voted to oppose the legislature’s

HB 170 proposed stealth tax hike that would convert a local sales
tax into a state excise tax, forcing local governments to raise
property taxes.

Valdosta PR

Resolution to Oppose the State of Georgia’s Transportation Funding Act of 2015,




Click here to view the Resolution to Oppose the State of Georgia’s
Transportation Funding Act of 2015.


Click here to view the Local Sales Taxes Collected on Motor Fuel
Sales by county.

The Valdosta Mayor and City Council unanimously approved Continue reading →

Videos: 3 rezonings, boat ramp, bridge, utilities, new public defender @ LCC 2015-02-09



The only rezoning to get much time was the
Devine Subdivision at Tillman Crossing,
at this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Maps were displayed for that and
REZ-2015-01 Gramercy 2
and
REZ-2015-03 Scurry Property,
but the board packet is still not on the county’s website.
I filed an open records request, asking for them to be emailed,
and got a telephone callback saying they were ready for pickup,
which means I won’t get them until tomorrow, and you may not
see them until after tomorrow evening’s voting Regular Session.

Tuesday evening there will be Continue reading →