Tag Archives: millage

Videos: Bids for emergency road repair! Appointments: Library Board, Development Authority, millage @ LCC 2017-08-21

Bids for an emergency repair! This could be a first, instead of their usual sole source approve-it-right now method. See the County Manager’s Report, in which County Engineer Mike Fletcher describes bids incoming from both Scruggs and Reames for temporary repair to Rocky Ford Road.

Below are links to each LAKE video of yesterday morning’s Work Session with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda with notes about appointments and millage. And see also the 5 PM today Millage Rate Meeting.

Continue reading →

Appointments: Library Board, Development Authority, millage, cameras @ LCC 2017-08-21

Maybe the county would have enough applicants their Work Session, Monday morning at 8:30 AM, if they advertised for applicants for open board seats, such as on the Development Authority of Lowndes County, And if they posted the application sheets for the applicants they did get, such as for the Lowndes County Library Board, we’d have some idea of who they are. They could even say whether the millage is going up or down.

According to the agenda sheet for the appointment to the Lowndes County Library Board,

There is a vacant seat on the Lowndes County Library Board. The Board of Trustees of the South Georgia Regional Library System respectfully requests the appointment of Mr. Gene Toffolo to fill the vacant seat.

They don’t say who applicant Gene Toffolo is. According to the South Georgia Regional Library he’s a 2016 Friends of the Library Board member:


Front Left to Right: Kay Scott, Janet Toffolo, Mary Helen Watson (President), Merrilee Casady, Sarah Smart (Vice President), Robert DeVan (Treasurer)
Back Left to Right: Gene Toffolo, Patricia Marks, Riley Howard, Karl Osmus, John Swiderski (Secretary)

The county’s agenda and agenda sheet for the Lowndes County Library Board don’t say whose seat expired or maybe somebody resigned. The county’s web page for this board is no more helpful, listing these members and expirations, none of which expires in 2017: Continue reading →

Videos: Welcomes, Millage, 5 minutes 30 seconds @ LCC 2016-08-23

3.5 minutes of actual meeting after a minute of invocation and pledge and a minute of welcomes.

First they welcomed Cub Scout Pack 400 and Troup 410, a member of the Lowndes County Explorer Program, for their interest in the gubmint. Also a Valdosta City Council member (Sandra Tooley, although Chairman Bill Slaughter didn’t name her), and Carl Smith. Plus Tax Commissioner Felicia Williams. He didn’t name any of the regulars in the room, yet the welcomes took more than a minute which, plus the minute for the invocation and prayer, that was two minutes of non-business in the entire 5 and a half minute meeting, so that was only 3 and a half minutes of actual meeting. Which was more than 2.5 minutes of the previous morning’s Work Session. It does make you wonder: where and when do they actually discuss the county’s business, and why isn’t it in the public meetings?

Below are links to each of the LAKE videos of the August 23nd 2016 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. See also Continue reading →

Millage Public Hearing @ LCC Millage 2016-08-23

People showed up and asked questions!

Finance Director Stephanie Black said they were having public hearings because they were required to when raising the millage. She said some of the reasons for the raise were a decline in the Local Option Sales Tax revenue, “because of the TATV” a decline in motor vehicle revenues, and a decline of 1.88% or $56 million in the property tax digest. TATV appears to be Ad Valorem Title Tax, which changed with HB 386 becoming law 1 March 2013, changing annual TATV to a one-time tax at vehicle purchase, and that new tax goes to the state, not the local government. As you can see in the Millage History slide pictured, they did Continue reading →

Videos: 2 minutes 39 seconds, plus new county agent @ LCC 2016-08-22

That’s 2:39 for all business in Monday’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission, except for a report at the end about a new county agent. The whole thing took less than 5 and a half minutes, according to their own clock. Valdosta City Council Sandra Tooley showed up at 5:35, just before they adjourned, and wondered what happened. You ever get the feeling they discuss business somewhere other than in public m eetings?

Tonight there’s a third millage hearing at 5PM, followed by their voting Regular Session at 5:30 PM. See previous post for some background on the millage and the agenda.

Below are links to each of the LAKE videos of the August 22nd 2016 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission. They vote tonight. Continue reading →

Millage, grants, computers, and land bank @ LCC 2016-08-22

This morning the county will discuss raising the millage rate, and they will vote on it Tuesday evening, with a third millage hearing half an hour before the voting session.

Michael Praats, Valdosta Daily Times

As County Manager Joe Pritchard reminded them July 25th, it’s time for the annual millage rate setting. As usual, their agenda doesn’t say what they’re setting it to. There’s a number in Continue reading →

Brad Lofton leaving Myrtle Beach, SC

Looks like Horry County, SC stuck to its initial three-year offer, both for Lofton, and for millage to fund his development authority there. There are things the newly-renamed Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority could do to let sunshine turn Lofton’s local land legacy green.

Jason M. Rodriguez and Amanda Kelley wrote for Myrtle Beach Online yesterday, Brad Lofton leaving Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation,

Membership to the EDC increased earlier this year, but revenue from the membership decreased by nearly $60,000, impacting the organization’s marketing services and more.

Loton has had many projects succeed, and met some challenges during his time in Horry County.

Earlier this month Continue reading →

Precinct budget finger-pointing @ LCC Millage 2014-07-16

It’s still not clear why the Board of Elections couldn’t afford to keep precincts open, instead of closing more of them every year. But after several days of finger pointing this week, it looks like there will be funding to keep all the current precincts open. That’s good news, but if the fix was so easy, why was there ever a problem?

Oldest first, here’s a timeline of highlights.

Back on 10 March 2014, Deb Cox spoke to the Lowndes County Commission about the Board of Elections budget. I just listened to that video again. She did ask for more money for poll workers, and there were comments about how early voting wasn’t revenue-neutral. But I don’t see that she asked for money to keep precincts open, or ever mentioned precincts closing.

27 June 2014 I happened to see Continue reading →

Sparsely attended millage hearing @ LCC Millage 2014-07-16

To raise or not to raise, that is the millage question, and what to spend it on, but not many people showed up to ask.

This 6PM Wednesday 16 July 2014 millage hearing was one of the most lively, juding by his report, from which you can see that VDT political reporter Matthew Woody’s report on both hearings of last Wednesday, and that’s not saying much. In this evening hearing, Dennis Marks spoke for res publica, the rule of the public, for the public good. The other three commenters seemed to be against the millage increase.

One more milllage hearing (8:30AM) and an adoption meeting (9AM), both Wednesday 23 July 2014. Continue reading →

Millage Hearings for Lowndes County

Even though the County Commission already voted on the budget for spending your tax money (and still hasn’t published that budget), it will have public hearings on the millage before final adoption of that number that decides how much tax you pay. While the proposed millage rate is still low compared to other counties it’s curious that while the Lowndes County Board of Education has published at least a summary of its new budget the Lowndes County Commission has not.

According to the county’s online calendar and Current Events (but not its Public Notices nor the VDT’s online public notices), these meetings are scheduled: Continue reading →