Tag Archives: tax

Videos: Reappointment to Airport Authority, raise convenience fees, Moody AFB swimming pool @ LCC 2017-05-22

Six minutes and ten seconds yesterday morning to breeze through the agenda for the Work Session; the Lowndes County Commission votes tonight at 5:30 PM. Also, the Chairman announced the Budget Work Session to start at 9AM, which didn’t match the posting about that time put on the county’s website.

Tonight they will very likely reappoint Jeff Sikes to the Airport Authority, increase “convenience fees for online and telephone payments to $2.50 per transaction”, some I-75 exit work, and a swimming pool at Moody Air Force Base. Plus a beer and wine license due to the usual change of ownership, and an HVAC maintenance contract.

Reappointment to Airport Authority, raise convenience fees, Moody AFB swimming pool @ LCC 2017-05-22

It probably won’t take them 15 minutes after 8 AM to breeze through this light agenda, including reappoinging Jeff Sikes to the Airport Authority, increasing “convenience fees for online and telephone payments to $2.50 per transaction”, some I-75 exit work, and a swimming pool at Moody Air Force Base. Plus a beer and wine license due to the usual change of ownership, and an HVAC maintenance contract.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 22, 2017, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2017, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Regional T-SPLOST agenda 2017-02-28

Even though Lowndes County voted 2 to 1 against T-SPLOST in 2012, and Southern Georgia Region 11 voted it down by 38,731 no votes (58%) to 28,217 Yes (42%) votes, a few counties in the region voted for it (Clinch, Atkinson, Coffee, Bacon, and Irwin). Also, Lowndes County had lots of transportation items ready to trot in case it passed. So it shouldn’t be surprising that five years later local governments in the region are considering rolling their own. It’s on this morning’s Lowndes County Commission agenda for voting Tuesday evening.

No, except Clinch, Atkinson, Coffee, Bacon, and Irwin

After hearing of it in the videos Gretchen took of the Lowndes County Planning Session Day 2 back in February, I asked the South Georgia Regional Commission and got this email from Corey Hull: 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: Runner Ernie Andrus, Brookwood again, 3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-28

For an authority that gets 1.25 mil of your property tax dollars, the Commissioners didn’t even know who was wanting to be reappointed, none of them asked what happened during a year when one of them was apparently serving on that board without a formal appointment, not all of the Commissioners were present even voted, and none of the candidates for any of the board appointments even shhowed up, much less spoke. The Lowndes County Commission at its June 28th 2016 Regular Session also unanimously adopted the budget for what the Chairman repeatedly called “the physical year”, despite only perfunctory public hearings in advance, and no draft budget available on their website for the public to see. After they approved the budget to spend the money (and according to County Manager Joe Pritchard after earlier that same morning the Tourism Authority approved their budget), the Lowndes County Commissioners unanimously approved a hotel/motel tax rate increase. Odd order, eh?

About the 1.25 mil property tax Parks and Rec Authority, the Chairman finally got around to saying Continue reading →

Video: Brookwood Place reappears @ LCC 2016-06-27

Not on the agenda for Monday morning’s Work Session, but added back for Tuesday evening’s Regular Session, the Brookwood Place Subdivision tabled two weeks ago popped up in Reports. Where is it? Who owns it? How did they get it? Who’s the developer? No, really, who’s the developer?

8. Reports – County Manager – the reappearance of Brookwood water
8. Reports - County Manager - the reappearance of Brookwood water

Video. County Manager Joe Pritchard said he was bringing back the trust indenture for “the Brookwood Place subdivision off of Mt. Zion.” He can’t have meant Mt. Zion Road, which is in the southwest part of the county, not near the Valdosta City limits, Continue reading →

Videos: Brookwood reappears, 3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-27

County Planner Jason Davenport said at Monday morning’s Work Session that the Comprehensive Plan Update should be a Public Hearing, so it needs to be listed as such for Tuesday evening’s Regular Session. I guess that is more than 24 hours notice, but did they send a notice to the newspaper? How were people to know, and why was this left to the day before when this schedule has been known for months to all the local planners?

Not on the agenda, the Brookwood Place Subdivision tabled two weeks ago popped up in Reports.

The county has had a board member listed for VLPRA for a year after his term actually expired.

Plus a special Continue reading →

3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-27

Sheriff or VLPRA? Invisible budget, visible Comp Plan Update, 1 road abandonment + apparently another, and sewage not getting sprayed. All Monday morning 8:30 AM at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

The LAS Pump Control Panel is for the sewage spray field, aka Land Application Site: cost $18,500. Lowndes County does not have a wastewater treatment plant, just an LAS, east of Moody Air Force Base’s Grassy Pond west of I-75 and Lake Park.

The Update for the 2016 Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan has gone through quite a process of community input, thanks to SGRC.

Can’t say the same for the Adoption of Fiscal Year 2017 Budget, for which the county had a budget meeting with less than 24 hours notice, followed by two budget hearings that those who attended say lasted fifteen minutes each with six slides presented. And the most recent budget document on the county’s website is from 2016.

There’s only one road abandonment listed as such on the agenda (a Portion of Beaver Lane), but Continue reading →

Videos: Planning Meeting, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2016-02-04

Suing local businesses helps run up fees to the county attorney, says County Manager Joe Pritchard. He didn’t mention that continuing to promote sprawl for example through the county’s thoroughfare plan also runs up fees that property taxes will never meet. Commissioners seemed very concerned about “stakeholders” whom they said were “the development community, the real estate community” and “the construction and homebuilder industries”. Maybe somewhere they mentioned the agricultural and forestry industries, or sales tax payers even if they don’t own real estate; if so I missed it. At least they’re thinking about the Comprehensive Plan and the general direction of the county in a public forum. And the County Planner did talk about quality of life. Plus it seems business prospects bringing that up got the attention of the County Manager. They said they have a responsiblity to set the direction of the county. How about instead of continuing to drive sprawl outwards, which is a fiscally (and environmentally) irresponsible path, turn to directing development to be more dense in already-developed areas? They continue this morning at 8:30 AM, and Gretchen is there again with the LAKE video camera.

Here’s the agenda followed by links to each LAKE video with a few notes. See also two previous pictures.

We are looking forward to the improved communication that was touted in the VDT headline. Jason Stewart, VDT, 4 February 2016, Slaughter wants to strengthen communication, Continue reading →

Videos: Sold out to Sabal Trail @ LCC 2016-01-26

Thank you Commissioner Demarcus Marshall for voting no. Calling it “a good business decision”, the CEO of Waller Heating and Air lauded the others for voting to sell county land for a pittance to a company from Houston, Texas, nevermind their resolution of a year ago. We thought we elected them to represent the people of Lowndes County, and we thought they did back in December 2014 when they unanimously voted “the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners opposes the construction of the Sabal Trail pipeline in any portion of Lowndes County.” But at least one of them (“Wisenbaker) didn’t even remember that the county voted to oppose Sabal Trail. Apparently most of them concur with what the County Engineer said about landowners who have not taken Sabal Trail’s money, “I don’t know who they are.”

Update 2016-01-28: WCTV report, plus Gret chen’s question: “Is less than 50 cents per person in Lowndes County enough to risk drinking water for all?”

Landowners who did take the money mostly did not have Continue reading →