Update 2026-07-14: Lowndes County budget and transparency –WTXL TV 2026-07-13.

On July 9, I sent an open records request to Lowndes County asking for “the documents called out by Finance Director Stephanie Black:

1. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Convention Center and Tourism Authority (VLCCCTA) plan for use of the proceeds provided for tourism, conventions, and trade shows.
2. The budget plan for Hotel-Motel Proceeds for Fiscal Year 2027.
3. the proposed county budget plan for 2027 for adoption.”

Less than two hours later, the county provided four documents. Apparently there were two resolutions that matched my third request.

Packet: Special Called Meeting to Adopt the Proposed FY 2027 Budget @ LCC 2026-06-30

Those documents are on the LAKE website. Images of each page are below.

I’m told they are also on the county’s website, but I cannot find them there under Finance, County Clerk, or County Manager.

It is a mystery to me why the county does not publish such documents on its own website, before it holds Budget Public Hearings.

And it’s a mystery why the county does not video its own Budget Public Hearings, which are held in the same room with the same audiovisual equipment they use to video the County Commission Regular Sessions.

See also the LAKE video of the Special Called Meeting to adopt the budget. That post includes the agenda and the relevant parts of the VDT story on the meeting. Continue reading →

Update 2026-07-13: Packet: Special Called Meeting to Adopt the Proposed FY 2027 Budget @ LCC 2026-06-30.

Turns out there was another agenda item for the Special Called Meeting to Adopt the Proposed FY 2027 Budget, 8:30 AM, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, Lowndes County Commission. They did post the agenda on the county’s website, on June 26, 2026, the Friday before the Tuesday meeting.

On that Tuesday, first they adopted a budget plan for Hotel-Motel Proceeds for Fiscal Year 2027. That required first getting a plan from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Convention Center and Tourism Authority (VLCCCTA) their plan for use of the proceeds provided for tourism, conventions, and trade shows.

Finance Director Stephanie Black said, “You have a copy of the Authority’s budget plan and a proposed county budget plan for 2027 for adoption.”

I can’t find either of those documents on the county’s website nor on the VLCCCTA website. Naturally, LAKE has filed an open records request for those documents. Meanwhile, fortunately Malia Thomas was there to report for the Valdosta Daily Times and apparently got a copy of those documents; see below

Videos: Special Called Meeting to Adopt the Proposed FY 2027 Budget & Hotel-Motel Budget @ LCC 2026-06-30

They unanimously adopted the hotel-motel plan and then the county budget.

Why a special called meeting when they could have done these things in a Regular Session? If I’m not mistaken, the state requires counties to adopt a budget by the end of June. So they had an additional meeting on the last possible day to adopt these documents.

The entire meeting took 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Gretchen Quarterman drove an hour round trip to take this LAKE video for you.

The county could have videoed this meeting and put it on its YouTube channel the same way it handles its Regular Sessions. But it did not.

https://www.youtube.com/@lowndescountyboardofcommis7341

So here is the LAKE video of the June 30, 2026, Special Called Meeting to Approve 2027 Budget:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYr6CvpzLv2c&si=0LIfN6vq-MpzgZ8I Continue reading →