Tag Archives: Economy

Dear Mr. Pritchard: How are we paying on something that was 100% paid off? —John S. Quarterman

I sent this today. -jsq

 

From: John S. Quarterman <questions@quarterman.com>

Cc: bslaughter@lowndescounty.com, jevans@lowndescounty.com, rraines@lowndescounty.com, cpowell@lowndescounty.com, dmarshall@lowndescounty.com, jpage@lowndescounty.com, questions@quarterman.com

Subject: How are we paying on something that was 100% paid off?

Dear Mr. Pritchard,

You may recall that at the Lowndes County Commission meeting
of the 8th of January 2013, I asked the following:

“When this building complex was opened in 2010, the county put out a


double-sheet flyer saying it was completely paid off out of SPLOST money,
with zero dollars owed. I’m wondering how it is that then, either in
November or

December, the Commission just before your one here, refinanced
bonds that included I think it was six or seven million dollars for this
very building complex? I’m very confused by that. I wonder if someone
could clarify how we’re paying on something that was completely 100%
paid off with zero owed.”

I asked Commissioner Crawford Powell this question at the going-away
reception for former Chairman Ashley Paulk on 14 December 2012, and
he referred me to you for an answer. It has been more than two weeks
since I asked in a Commission Regular Session and I have received
no answer. So I ask again.

Specifically:

Continue reading →

Get a job —Lowndes County to waste site workers

Continuing to ignore its responsibilities to protect public health, safety,
and well-being,
the Lowndes County government proceeded with its plan
to trash rural residents’ waste collection sites,
and told part time workers there to get a job.

Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT today,

Trash centers dumped:
Final week to make trips to county recycling centers,

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners near the end of 2012 voted


to approve a contract with Advanced Disposal to serve as the sole
waste company to conduct curbside trash pick-up in unincorporated
Lowndes County. Some citizens remain critical of the change in
service, which will cost $12.80 per month, and many are trying to
get their last loads to the collection/recycling centers before they
close….



Full-time employees at the recycling stations, which are already
employees of Public Works, said County Clerk Paige Dukes, will be
moved to different positions within the department. Part-time
employees will need to find new jobs.

Why might citizens be critical?

Continue reading →

January 2013 LAKE meeting: Let’s Eat Cafe, Valdosta

Local governance: Water, trash, and money.

What:
Monthly LAKE Meeting

When: 7 PM, Tuesday

29 January 2013

Where:
Let's Eat Cafe

2102 W. Hill Ave.

(just west of I-75,

at the Shell station)

Valdosta, GA 31601
View Larger Map

Don't let the location fool you:
Let's Eat is locally owned, and serves a lot of locally-grown food.

Agenda, not necessarily in this order:


  1. Roads and river access


  2. Solid waste disposal


  3. Local government transparency


  4. Zero owed in 2010; why $8.9 million owed now on county palace?


  5. Distributed solar power for jobs
    including

    GA SB 41
    vs.
    failing nuclear power


  6. Fast Internet access everywhere

  7. Other

If you're on Facebook,
please Like the

LAKE facebook page.
You can sign up for

the meeting event there,
Or just come as you are.

-jsq

I-75 as the Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway?

Did you know the legislature is likely to rename much of Interstate 75
through Lowndes County in honor of a former governor,
and spend $4,500 for signs to do so?

The Valdosta Daily Times, Lowndes County


NOTICE OF ROAD FACILITY DEDICATION



Notice is given that there will be introduced at the regular 2013
session of the General Assembly of Georgia a resolution sponsored by
Senator Tim Golden, 121 State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia 30334, (404)
656-7580, to dedicate the portion of Interstate 75 in Lowndes County
from the West Hill Avenue exit to the North Valdosta Road exit as
the Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway in honor of his
achievements, accomplishments, and contributions to Lowndes County
and to the State of Georgia; and for other purposes. The estimated
cost of such dedication is $4,500.00.

00046038

1/19/13

And such a bill has been introduced in the Georgia House (not the Senate) as

HR 47, Governor Melvin Ernest Thompson Memorial Highway; Lowndes County; dedicate,
sponsored by
(1) Shaw, Jason 176th, (2) Carter, Amy 175th, (3) Black, Ellis 174th,
(4) Sharper, Dexter 177th, (5) Houston, Penny 170th.

Here's the part that ties Gov. Thompson to here:

WHEREAS, Governor Thompson was instrumental in the success of the City of


Valdosta and Lowndes County, where his leadership as a founding member of
the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority spearheaded much of the
urban development and planning for Valdosta and the surrounding areas,
including the Azalea City Industrial Park; and

And establishing Industrial Parks was a cutting-edge idea: in the 1950s.

The bill adds:

Continue reading →

GA SB 51, The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act




Georgia Senator Buddy Carter has introduced a Senate bill for the current
session of the legislature,

SB 51,
“The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act of 2001”.
It attempts to fix
Georgia’s special solar financing problem,
the antique 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act.

Why 2001?
Apparently Buddy Carter has been introducing it every year since then.
Last year

Georgia Power’s disinformation campaign
nuked it when it was

SB 401.
Has the legislature gotten tired of Georgia Power and its parent the Southern
Company being
way late and overbudget on those new nukes?
Does the legislature want Georgia citizens to get the savings and job
benefits of

the fastest growing energy source in the country?
Will
GaSU help with SB 51, or only with GaSU’s attempt to become a solar
monopoly utility?
You can contact your legislators and tell them what you think.
Every one of them who

voted for Georgia Power’s stealth-tax rate hike for that nuke boondoggle
should vote for SB 51 to start getting Georgia on a clean path to jobs
and energy independence.

This bill is not perfect:
it counts

“generator fueled by biomass”
as

Continue reading →

Videos: Taxing alcohol on the road to the jail @ LCC 2013-01-22



One citizen actually got a response out of a Commissioner in Citizens Wishing
to Be Heard!
Unfortunately,
only half a dozen citizens where there to hear that,
or to see the Lowndes County Commission
vote on matters that affect everyone,
from abandoning a road leading to a river to an alcohol license.

Here's

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

the Work Session the morning of that same day.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Blurt it out about the ankle monitoring system —Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2013-01-22



A citizen actually got an answer from a Lowndes County Commissioner at

the Regular Session of 22 January 2013.
Oh, and the set

the clock
correctly to five minutes.


Gretchen Quarterman
noted

Commissioner Marshall had looked up some old minutes,
and she appreciated that

old minutes are on the county’s website,
but the last minutes there were for 9 October 2012.
Then she asked them to blurt about the

ankle monitoring program:

This morning, you had a
really great report about the
jail ankle monitoring system.
And I would really like to encourage the county to do marketing.
To call a press conference, to get some graduates from that program,
to get the sheriff,
to get the gentleman that spoke this morning,
to stand out on the courthouse steps and talk about how great it was.
People would have a really great feeling if they knew.
This morning I was the only citizen here; now we’ve got three more.
People aren’t finding out..
So if they didn’t come to this chamber, they wouldn’t know.
So I encourage you, really, do a press release, do a press conference
about that.
It’s a gigantic huge important thing. Thank you.

The Chairman started to move on, but Commissioner Evans asked if she
could answer the citizen’s question.

Continue reading →

Solar energy growth like compound interest

Some nuclear backers only want to look at the
next table in that FERC report,

Office of Energy Projects
Energy Infrastructure Update
For December 2012,
which shows solar energy as 0.34% of total U.S. energy production,
and then they stop thinking.
But what about

that 30% increase in solar power deployed
between 2011 and 2012?
Think of it like compound interest.

Total Installed Operating Generating Capacity
Installed Capacity (GW) % of Total Capacity % Growth 2011-2012
Coal 337.71 29.17% 1.3%
Natural Gas 491.82 42.48% 1.8%
Nuclear 107.01 9.24% 0.1%
Oil 41.32 3.57% 0.1%
Water 98.12 8.47% 0.1%
Wind 57.53 4.97% 22.8%
Biomass 15.00 1.30% 3.7%
Geothermal Steam 3.70 0.32% 4.2%
Solar 3.90 0.34% 60.9%
Waste Heat 0.69 0.06% 0.4%
Other 1.04 0.09% 0.0%
Total 1,157.86 100.00% 23.3%

Source: Data derived from Ventyx Global LLC, Velocity Suite.

Growth rates computed by jsq for LAKE www.l-a-k-e.org 24 January 2013.

Let’s look what happens if we assume 30% growth in solar power deployed per year:


Solar power growth rates like compound interest

At 30% annual growth,
we’re up to solar as 50% of all generation
within

Continue reading →

New U.S. energy in 2012 —FERC


What new energy sources are being deployed the fastest in the U.S.?
According to FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
it’s not what you may think.
The big winners are coal, wind, and solar.

According to the report

Office of Energy Projects
Energy Infrastructure Update
For December 2012,
Coal, while accounting for only 17% of new capacity in 2012,
unfortunately increased by 133% over new capacity installed in 2011.
Natural gas did account for the second most new installed capacity in 2012,
33%, but the amount in megawatts installed actually decreased by 20%
from 2011.

The most new capacity installed in 2012?
Wind, at 40%, with a 56% increase over new installations in 2011.
That’s right, wind beat natural gas 40% to 33% in total new capacity in 2012,
and whomped gas in increase in new capacity in 2011, by 56% to -20%.

While solar only accounted for 5.59% of new capacity in 2012,
that was an increase of 30% over new capacity in 2011,
which is way more than gas and after only coal and wind.

New Generation In-Service (New Build and Expansion)
December 2012 January – December 2012 Cumulative January – December 2011 Cumulative Percent of Total New 2012 Percent Increase 2011- 2012
Primary Fuel Type No. of Units Installed Capacity (MW) No. of Units Installed Capacity (MW) No. of Units Installed Capacity (MW)
Coal 4 1,434 8 4,510 15 1,932 17.1% 133%
Natural Gas 6 2,306 94 8,746 108 11,020 33.1% -20.6%
Nuclear 0 0 1 125 0 0 0.474% -%
Oil 0 0 19 49 66 136 0.186% -64%
Water 2 4 13 99 41 94 0.375% 5.32%
Wind 45 3,095 164 10,689 146 6,844 40.5% 56.2%
Biomass 5 91 100 543 131 446 2.06% 21.7%
Geo- thermal Steam 2 9 13 149 9 56 0.565% 166%
Solar 16 77 240 1,476 354 1,131 5.59% 30.5%
Waste Heat 0 0 1 3 2 136 0.0114% -97.8%
Other 2 0 5 0 11 0 0% -%
Total 82 7,016 658 26,387 883 21,795 100% 21.1%

Source: Data derived from Ventyx Global LLC, Velocity Suite.

Last two columns added by jsq for LAKE www.l-a-k-e.org 24 January 2013.

Biomass unfortunately accounted for

Continue reading →

Videos: Airport, alcohol, taxes, road, jail @ LCC 2013-01-22



Commissioners discussed several items much more than last year’s Commission
at this morning’s Work Session; they vote 5:30 PM tonight at their Regular Session.
However, you’d think with an

ankle monitoring program Commissioners praised so highly,
they’d want the public to know the details.
Nope, still none of the documents related to that nor any of the other
items they were discussing were revealed to the tax-paying public.
They don’t have a press release about that,
nor about the
Parade of Champions
the Chairman talked about
(twice)
even though it wasn’t on the agenda.
He was silent, however, on who the

candidates for the Airport Authority
are, and none of them were present.

That’s four reports that were not on the agenda:

Parade of Champions,

ankle monitoring,
the county’s wellness program
and
the upcoming Bird Supper.

Here’s

the agenda,
with links to the videos and a few notes, followed by the video playlist.

Continue reading →