Tag Archives: Lowndes County

Videos: Court * 4, Boards * 2, Sewer * 4, Beer, Computers, Pest, Fire, Grounds, Road truck @ LCC 2021-06-21

They spent the most time discussing the several court funding cash match requests,
two weeks ago at the Lowndes County (GA) Commission Work Session.
At the end, Project Manager Chad McLeod had updates on the Courthouse renovation
and the Commission Chambers audio and video restoration.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
See also
the agenda.
The board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-06-21–lcc-packet
Continue reading →

Budget Meetings, LCC 2021-06-21

Lowndes County, GA, has a budget Public Hearing today at 5PM,
and a Special Called Board of Commissioners Meeting on June 29th
to approve the budget.
It will include the new fire special tax collection district,
the one that is causing

tax assessment notices to go out again with corrections.

As usual, the draft budget is not on the

Finance Department web page.
Probably if you go down to the Commission office and wheedle,
they will point you to one bound copy you can look at.

Two budget meetings

Here is the agenda for today’s budget meeting,
which is just before the Continue reading →

Boards * 2, Sewer * 4, Court * 4, Beer, Computers, Pest, Fire, Grounds, Road truck @ LCC 2021-06-21

The biggest item on this week’s Lowndes County Commission agenda, for voting this eventing,
is

Grounds Maintenance.
Planting some native shrubbery, flowers, and trees instead of all that lawn
would reduce that cost.

Three sewage system items add up, for
Whitewater Lift Station Control Panel Emergency Repair,
Bemiss Low Pressure Sewer Main Replacement Change Order,
and
the

$2,500,000.00 GEFA Loan for the Sewer System Rehabilitation Project.
That last does not show up in the agenda sheet as BUDGET IMPACT,
but county taxpayers will pay for it over time.
However, proactive sewer system fixes are lot better than reactive
sewage spill repairs.

Four courts in three agenda items require cash match.
Plus a road work truck and pest control round out the dollar figures.

Cost	What
$158,140.00	Bid for Grounds Maintenance for County Buildings
$53,140.00	Whitewater Lift Station Control Panel Emergency Repair
$48,307.21	Compute and Storage for South Lowndes Data Center
$46,777.50	Purchase of Fire Turnout Gear
$39,135.00	Office of the Governor Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Accountability Court Lowndes County DUI Court Grant Award – State Court
$33,989.00	Bemiss Low Pressure Sewer Main Replacement Change Order
$28,074.84	Purchase of a Truck for Public Works
$23,557.16	Lowndes County Accountability Court Adult Drug Court Program – Grant (Cash Match)
$10,000.00	Lowndes County Juvenile Accountability Court – Drug Court Program – Grant (Cash Match)
$6,734.40	Bid for Pest Control Service
$447,855.11	Total

There’s a reappointment to

Children’s Services and a new appointment to the

Library Board.

And there’s a

beer license, which brings in fees of
$250 Off Premises + $150 Administration = $400.

Beer, Lawns

Here is
the agenda.
The board packet is on the LAKE website, received in response to a LAKE open records request.

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-06-21–lcc-packet

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2021, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2021, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: air conditioning, Insolvent taxes, Fender Road Improvement Project, VLPRA @ LCC 2021-06-07

Air conditioning, a quit claim, and, by far the longest, those incorrect tax assessment notices were the big items
at the most recent Lowndes County, Georgia, Commission Work Session, June 7, 2021.

Manager and Chairman, Demarcus Marshall, Engineer

See
previous post
for the agenda and the board packet.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Continue reading →

One case: Johnny Ball’s swimming pool cover @ ZBOA 2021-06-01

There was only one case at the Valdosta-Lowndes Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA).
Johnny Ball wants a variance for a roof over his swimming pool at 12 Brentwood Place, Valdosta, GA.
That’s off of Sherwood Drive, which comes north from Baytree Road,
but Brentwood Place is between Gornto Road and the railroad and Sugar Creek,
upstream from the Withlacoochee River.
Also they have a new ZBOA member.

Johnny Ball, ZBOA, maps

That has setback requirements, depending on whether it is an accessory structure
or an addition to the house (attached to it), and whether it is enclosed.
Whichever it was, it actually did not match the city code. Continue reading →

Former Harveys on Bemiss as Storage, Daycare not for teenagers, many Remerton cases @ GLPC 2021-05-24

Two items were contentious at the May 24, 2021 meeting of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC):
repurposing the former Harvey’s supermarket on Bemiss Road as a storage facility,
and

a daycare facility that some people were mysteriously concerned would have teenagers hanging around.

There was also

rezoning of 32.06 acres on Ulmer Avenue for solar panels.
Plus many Remerton cases.

Here are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE playlist.
See also
the agenda. Continue reading →

Videos: Insolvent tax list tabled, Lowndes Co. Dev. Auth. Reappointments, subdivision infrastructure, wine license, radios, bottled water, trucks, clothes washers, mowers, tractors, backup generator

Two weeks ago at their May 25, 2021, Regular Session, Lowndes County Commissioners unanimously approved everything
except one agenda item.
They tabled Tax Commissioner Rodney V. Cain’s request to write off $437,823.30 in insolvent taxes.

At the Monday, May 24, 2021, Work Session, Cain said the insolvent taxes were
because the seven-year statute of limitations had been exceeded,
or property had been moved out of the county.
He said Gander Mountain accounted for half of the total.
(I compute that at

slightly less than 40%.)
This item is back on

the agenda
for this morning’s Work Session and voting Tuesday evening, June 8, 2021.

At that previous Work Session,
Cain seemed rather vague about details such as how much might need to be written off next year.
He also did not say why he had not dealt with this earlier,
even though he was first elected in November 2016.
(His opponent in that election, Felicia Williams, is now an
appointed Tax Assessor.)

In response to questions from more than one County Commissioner,
Cain did say most Tax Commissioners deal with this annually,
and he plans to do that from now on.

Cain previously made statewide news for Continue reading →

Insolvent taxes, Fender Road Improvement Project, air conditioning, VLPRA @ LCC 2021-06-07

The agenda for tomorrow morning’s Work Session and voting Tuesday evening doesn’t actually list the $437,823.30 insolvent tax writeoff as “BUDGET IMPACT”
but it seems like it must affect the budget of Lowndes County, Georgia.

What would you guess would be the biggest insolvency for business closed,
things moved somewhere else, etc.?
Mobile homes? Paving? Real Estate?

Cost	What
$618,767.14	Fender Road Improvement Project
$437,823.30	Insolvent List – Tax Commissioner
$28,842.00	Agreement for HVAC Service for Additional Lowndes County Buildings
$1,085,432.44	Total

Nope.

Insolvent tax writeoffs, Fender Road Improvement

On page 21, Personal Property, GANDER MOUNTAIN COMPANIES has three lines
of base + interest + Penalty + FIFA and in one case they actually paid the base tax.
So the nets for each of the three lines add up as
$16,917.55 + $82,256.20 + $74,203.57 = $173,377.32.
That’s just shy of 40% of the $437,823.30 total.
Maybe big box stores are more of a risk than the county and cities
have been taking into account. Continue reading →

Lowndes Co. Dev. Auth. Reappointments, Insolvent property, subdivision infrastructure, wine license, radios, bottled water, trucks, clothes washers, mowers, tractors, backup generator 2021-05-24

Less than a million tax dollar expenditures to be decided upon Tuesday
after discussion Monday,
by the Lowndes County Commission.
Not counting future expenses from accepting streets for a subdivision,
and not county almost half a million in insolvent taxes to be written off.

Wine license, Subdivision Infrastructure

Cost	What
$274,780.32	Purchase of Trucks for Various Departments on State Contract
$236,056.00	Bid for Four (4) Tractors for Public Works
$71,600.00	Bid for Four (4) Bat-Wing Mowers for Public Works
$60,421.00	Bid for Washers/Dryers for Fire Stations
$47,500.00	Val-Tech Booster Station Generator
$6,000.00	Bids for Bottled Water Service
$696,357.32	Total

This,
Acceptance of Infrastructure for Two Oaks Subdivision Phase II,
will result in ongoing tax dollar expenses for sending school buses, sheriff, fire and rescue, and repairs to water and sewer and streets.
But the County Commission never counts that in its budget.
They also don’t count as related however many millions they’ve already spent preparing roads, water, and sewer for a subdivision.

Also not included is the $437,823.30

to be written off the tax rolls as insolvent,
due to statute of limitations, moved property out of the county, etc.,
at the request of the Tax Commissioner.

Not the same as the Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority:
“The terms of Commissioner Clay Griner, Mr. Crawford Powell, and Mr. Barry
Broome to the Lowndes County Development Authority will expire on June 8, 2021. They have all expressed
an interest in being reappointed.”

I wonder what this was about, in the

May-10-2021-Work-Session-Minutes.pdf”>
Minutes of the previous Work Session?
“County Attorney, Walter Elliott, requested in writing, that the regular session minutes be revised regarding the motion to enter the executive session meeting.”

The board packet, received in response to a LAKE open records request,
is on the LAKE website:

https://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2021-05-24–lcc-packet

Here is

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 24, 2021, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2021, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Public Facilities Autority, 2 rezonings, 2 GDOT agreements, Juvenile Justice, 3 road widenings, Hahira extraterritorial water @ LCC 2021-05-10

Almost eight million dollars, mostly for road projects,
presumably approved by the Lowndes County Commission at their meeting yesterday.

Union Station on Union Road, borrow pit off Lake Alapaha Blvd.

Cost	What
$4,931,029.15	Old US 41 Widening Project
$1,669,478.88	GDOT Standard Utility Agreement, Lake Park Bellville Road
$314,776.00	Bid for a Loader for Public Works
$300,000.00	Borrow Pit Agreement
$250,172.09	Change Order For Old US 41 Widening Project
$172,637.00	GDOT Standard Contract Agreement Exit 11
$165,427.00	FY 2022 Juvenile Justice Incentive Grant Application
$58,673.47	Turn Lane Project for Cat Creek Road and River Road
$13,000.00	Bid for Annual Coffee Service for County Buildings
$7,875,193.59	Total

The Union Station rezoning on Union Road continues to have complications, this time
Hahira Extraterritorial Extension of Water Service.

Conceptual Layout for Union Station on Union Road

PDF

The water body in the aerial for the
Borrow Pit Agreement is not the Alapaha River. Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange