Tag Archives: Economy

Guess what you missed: Lowndes County Budget Hearing



Asking the full Commission and staff

in a public meeting
wasn’t enough to get an alert on the budget meeting
that was held Tuesday:


Lowndes County Budget Meeting (6/17/2014)

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners

327 N. Ashley St – Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor Administration Building

Valdosta, GA

5:30 p.m.

Apparently everyone is really supposed to watch the county’s
website every day.
They did send email to department heads about that meeting.
They could have also sent that to interested parties.
But they didn’t.
And almost nobody showed up.

There’s another one Tuesday: Continue reading →

Thousands of solar jobs a thousand miles north of here: SolarCity buys Silevo

An Economic Development Council in snowy Buffalo has
landed a solar manufacturer with suddenly even deeper pockets,
while our Industrial Authority didn’t even meet this month.
Maybe instead of supporting an unnecessary fracked methane
pipeline that diverts resources we could get on with
real solar industry here in sunny south Georgia?

WIVB.com wrote yesterday,

Purchase of company coming to Buffalo could be boon for WNY,




Silevo, a company that had planned to set up shop at Buffalo’s
Riverbend site, has been bought out by SolarCity, and the plan could
mean thousands of jobs for Western New York.

Silevo is Continue reading →

USACE presentation online at City of Valdosta



Emily Davenport, Valdosta Stormwater Manager, sent a letter 2 June 2014
to attendees of the 6 May 2014 Army Corps of Engineers presentations,
with paper materials attached, and a note that they are also online at

Stormwater Division, Regional Flooding. [Not there anymore, but see updated first bullet item below. 2018-01-28 -jsq]

Videos: appointments, well, events, annexation @ LCC 2014-06-09



They vote tonight on their

opaque selection of auditing services
and to buy

an unnamed firewall replacement
among other things for unknown amounts not revealed in yesterday morning’s Work Session.
Maybe somebody should bring that up at the not-yet-scheduled
county Budget Hearings.
They will also vote on

their Luke Bryan musical neighbor balancing act
and on


reappointing Lonnie Denton for a sixth five-year term to the

Lowndes
Division of Family and Children Services (he will speak tonight)
and reappointing Willie Houseal and Gretchen Quarterman each
to a third three-year term to the

ZBOA (they spoke yesterday morning as you can see in these videos).
Also Public Hearings for

well and septic
and

a special events change to the ULDC.
The

Hahira annexation
recommended against by the Planning Commission
is still waiting for signatures from the applicants under

For Consideration,
along with a request from Finance to declare items surplus and several purchase requests
from Finance and IT.

Here’s

the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.
See also the

videos of the 27 May 2014 Planning Commission meeting.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Simon Solar Farm ribbon cutting in Social Circle, Georgia

A ribbon cutting for 30+ MW of solar power in Social Circle, Georgia,
with no media coverage,

other than a Georgia Power docket update buried at GA PSC.
Claudia Musleve Collier says she made this first quote from email to her,
and wants it shared.

Bryan Casey, with Greenavations Power sent me these photos of the
recent [13 May 2014] ribbon cutting of their 38 MW solar project in middle
Georgia[, Simon Solar in Social Circle].
PSC “Bubba” McDonald was present to flip the switch!

Continue reading →

Lowndes millage rate still low compared to other counties



What’s the county’s current millage, and how does it compare to other counties?
Indeed county employees are mostly underpaid, but are none overpaid?
And where’s that employee compensation study the county paid for?
Three curious omissions in an otherwise excellent VDT story.

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT 28 May 2014,

Lowndes County weighs tax increase,

Lowndes County Commission weighed the likelihood of raising the
millage rate Tuesday — the first such tax increase in 15
years.

During the past few years, Continue reading →

Valdosta Budget Hearings @ VCC 2014-06-11

He also called to be sure LAKE got this,
and the Public Hearings
Tuesday
and

Wednesday at 5:30 PM are in the City of Valdosta’s
online calendar,
plus there’s
a much briefer story in the VDT today, and see the millage table from last year’s budget hearings. -jsq



From: Tim Carroll <tcarroll@valdostacity.com>

Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 14:33:35 +0000

Subject: FY 2015 Budget

Hey everyone,

It is that time of year when your city government prepares its’
budget for the upcoming fiscal year. As we have experienced over the
past four years, this year’s budget presents many challenges.
Revenues continue to decline while expenses keep going up. Fuel
alone for the city now runs around $1.7M per year and the power bill
to run the city for a year is now at $3.4M. Like you have seen in
your homes and businesses, these and other costs continue to rise.
Major revenue sources such as the LOST tax (our largest revenue
source for the General Fund) continue to decline. And the list goes
on. The city has now tapped over the past several years all the
reserve funds in or der to balance the budget. Those reserve funds
are now gone.



I say all this to illuminate the difficult choices that are present
in this year’s proposed budget. While Continue reading →

Reappointments and no annexation in Regular Session @ LCC 2014-05-27 @ LCC 2014-05-27



The

Hahira Annexation request
was actually heard at

the Planning Commission meeting that started at the same time.
All the incumbents were reappointed to the


Hospital Authority
and the

shadowy Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority.
Both the road abandonments were approved, of

Old Statenville Road
and
of

Excess Right of Way on James Road and Riverside Road.
All that plus a

GEMA Sheltering Memorandum of Agreement
and a

beer license,
plus

Poll Manager Recognition.

The

blank page Budget Session
was at 9:30 AM after the Work Session, all the same day as this Regular Session.
See also
my question about Budget Public Hearings.

Here’s the
agenda.
See the

videos from the Work Session of the same morning
and the

videos from the previous Regular Session of May 13th for context on the
Public Hearings
and on the

James Road Subsidence.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

When are the two Budget Public Hearings? –John S. Quarterman @ LCC 2014-05-27

We can’t see the draft budget before the Public Hearings, said the Chairman,
answering my question after

the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session of 27 May 2014.

When are the 2 Budget Public Hearings? CWTBH --John S. Quarterman

Video.
After congratulating the Chairman on recognizing the poll workers,
Crawford Powell for recusing himself on an appointment of himself,
and the Commission for the recent Budget Sessions,
I asked:

  1. When are the two Public Hearings required by state law before adoption of the budget?
  2. When is the second Budget Session
    mentioned in
    the Budget Session held earlier that same day?
  3. Where is the draft budget on the county’s website so the public can see it before the public hearings?

Chairman Bill Slaughter’s answers to me after the meeting adjourned: Continue reading →

Two arrest warrants issued for $1 mllion landfill scam

Interesting things sometimes turn up when a landfill is investigated.

Taylor West wrote for the AJC 5 June 2014,

Police: Arrest warrants issued in connection with $1 million scam,


Robert Stevens (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)
Multiple arrest warrants have been issued in relation to a trail of
criminal activity resulting in the theft of more than $1 million
from a Fulton County business, authorities said.

Police began an investigation in mid-April when Waste Management
Inc. made a complaint regarding Willow Oak Landfill, which it owns,
following an anonymous tip and a private investigation, according to
the Palmetto Police Department today.

In this case it was the landfill operator that filed a complaint.
Waste Management is one of the two largest solid waste companies
in the U.S.; the other is ADS.

The complaint alleged Continue reading →