{"id":25909,"date":"2026-07-14T11:27:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=25909"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:27:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:27:37","slug":"lowndes-county-budget-and-transparency-wtxl-tv-2026-07-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2026\/07\/lowndes-county-budget-and-transparency-wtxl-tv-2026-07-13.html","title":{"rendered":"Lowndes County budget and transparency &#8211;WTXL TV 2026-07-13"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\r\nWTXL reporter Malia Thomas told me Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes\r\nhad said that LAKE&#8217;s concerns were valid.\r\n<p>\r\nWell, LAKE&#8217;s main concern with the Lowndes County budget is the same\r\nas with most things the Lowndes County Commission does:\r\nlack of transparency.\r\n<p>\r\nThe county can easily do something about that if it wants to.\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%;font-style:italic\">\r\n<a title=\"Lowndes County budget and transparency and LAKE, 2026-07-13 --WTXL TV, Malia Thomas\" name=\"MMM:Lowndes-County-budget-and-transparency-and-LAKE-20260713-WTXL-TV-Malia-Thomas\" href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/igmany.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\"  width=\"600\"  border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/igmany.jpg\"  alt=\"[Lowndes County budget and transparency and LAKE, 2026-07-13 --WTXL TV, Malia Thomas]\"><\/a>\r\n<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/igmany.html\">Lowndes County budget and transparency and LAKE, 2026-07-13 &#8211;WTXL TV, Malia Thomas<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nMalia Thomas, WTXL, July 13, 2026,\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtxl.com\/news\/local-news\/in-your-neighborhood\/lowndes-county\/lowndes-countys-fiscal-budget-approved-heres-what-it-means-for-your-tax-dollars\">\r\nLowndes County&#8217;s fiscal budget approved &mdash; here&#8217;s what it means\r\nfor your tax dollars:\r\n<br>\r\nLowndes County approved a $193 million FY2027 budget &mdash; up\r\n16.5% over last year &mdash; while holding its general operating\r\nbudget flat since 2018.<\/a><!--more-->\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%;font-style:italic\">\r\n<a title=\"Malia Thomas interviewing Paige Dukes, 2026-07-14 --Malia Thomas, WTXL\" name=\"WP:Malia-Thomas-interviewing-Paige-Dukes-20260714-Malia-Thomas-WTXL\" href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/2026-07-14--malia-thomas-paige-dukes--Malia-Thomas-wtxl.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/2026-07-14--malia-thomas-paige-dukes--Malia-Thomas-wtxl.jpg\"  alt=\"[Malia Thomas interviewing Paige Dukes, 2026-07-14 --Malia Thomas, WTXL]\"><\/a>\r\n<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/2026-07-14--malia-thomas-paige-dukes--Malia-Thomas-wtxl.html\">Malia Thomas interviewing Paige Dukes, 2026-07-14 &#8211;Malia Thomas, WTXL<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\nLOWNDES COUNTY, GA \u2014 The Lowndes County Commission has approved a $193 million Fiscal Year 2027 budget \u2014 a roughly 16.5% increase over last year \u2014 but county leaders say the growth does not mean government is getting bigger.\r\n<div class=\"scripps_iframe_embed\" style=\"position:relative\"><div style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto;padding-bottom:56.25%;\"><\/div><iframe id=\"da-iframe\" allowfullscale=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" border=\"0\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.scrippsdigital.com\/cms\/video\/player.html?video=https:\/\/content.uplynk.com\/7a177d03dd3044d1a05315a93ee16b71.m3u8&#038;mp4=https:\/\/cf.cdn.uplynk.com\/ause1\/slices\/7a1\/a97ad276f83142cda1b35edbfd83fcc1\/7a177d03dd3044d1a05315a93ee16b71\/7a177d03dd3044d1a05315a93ee16b71_e.b34a.mp4&#038;autoplay=false&#038;purl=\/news\/local-news\/in-your-neighborhood\/lowndes-county\/lowndes-countys-fiscal-budget-approved-heres-what-it-means-for-your-tax-dollars&#038;ads.iu=\/6088\/ssp.wtxl\/news\/local-news\/in-your-neighborhood\/lowndes-county\/lowndes-countys-fiscal-budget-approved-heres-what-it-means-for-your-tax-dollars&#038;ads.proxy=1&#038;poster=https:\/\/cf.cdn.uplynk.com\/ause1\/slices\/7a1\/a97ad276f83142cda1b35edbfd83fcc1\/7a177d03dd3044d1a05315a93ee16b71\/poster_d6b6c43edb3a42f69e5be497bf3cda92.jpg&#038;title=Lowndes%20County%2527s%20fiscal%20budget%20is%20approved%20%E2%80%94%20here%2527s%20what%20it%20means%20for%20your%20tax%20dollars&#038;kw=FY2027%20budget%2CJohn%20Quarterman%2CLowndes%20Area%20Knowledge%20Exchange%2CLowndes%20County%20%2CLowndes%20County%20Commission%2CLowndes%20County%20budget%2CLowndes%20County%20taxes%2CPaige%20Dukes%2CSPLOST%2CValdosta%2Cnews%2C%20local%20news&#038;contplay=*recent&#038;mute=0&#038;tags=Lowndes%20County%2CIn%20Your%20Neighborhood%2CHome&#038;section=Lowndes%20County&#038;cust_params=temp%3D%26weather%3D&#038;host=wtxl.com&#038;s=wtxl&#038;env=production&#038;ex=1\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p>\r\nMuch of the added spending comes from voter-approved SPLOST projects. The county&#8217;s general operating budget remains just over $27 million, essentially unchanged since 2018 despite years of inflation, rapid population growth, and rising costs.\r\n<p>\r\nNearly 42% of county spending will continue going toward public\r\nsafety, while just over 85% of county revenue comes from taxes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nCounty Manager Paige Dukes said keeping the operating budget flat\r\nhas required years of finding efficiencies across every department.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n&#8220;In 2018, Lowndes County was spending just over $27 million to\r\nprovide services to the entire county. Our operating budget for\r\n2026-2027 is also still just over $27 million. Whenever you look at\r\ninflation, unfunded mandates, and local growth, it is extremely\r\nchallenging to maintain, but the commission understands our citizens\r\nare struggling too.&#8221;\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%;font-style:italic\">\r\n<a title=\"Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes, 2026-07-13 --Malia Thomas, WTXL\" name=\"WP:Lowndes-County-Manager-Paige-Dukes-20260713-Malia-Thomas-WTXL\" href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/2026-07-13--lowndes-county-manager-paige-dukes--malia-thomas-wtxl.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\"  width=\"600\"  border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/2026-07-13--lowndes-county-manager-paige-dukes--malia-thomas-wtxl.jpg\"  alt=\"[Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes, 2026-07-13 --Malia Thomas, WTXL]\"><\/a>\r\n<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/2026-07-13--lowndes-county-manager-paige-dukes--malia-thomas-wtxl.html\">Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes, 2026-07-13 &#8211;Malia Thomas, WTXL<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nNeighbors have praised the lean operations budget but also wish for\r\nadditional transparency.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nJohn Quarterman of the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange said he\r\nappreciates the county&#8217;s efforts to keep spending in check, but\r\nbelieves residents should have easier access to budget documents\r\nbefore commissioners cast their votes, such as having the board\r\npackets uploaded to the county website before any public meetings.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n&#8220;How can they expect to have intelligent comments from citizens who\r\ndon&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re talking about? They don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re\r\ntalking about because the county didn&#8217;t show them what the county&#8217;s\r\ntalking about.&#8221;\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%;font-style:italic\">\r\n<a title=\"John S. Quarterman and Malia Thomas of WTXL, 2026-07-13 --jsq for LAKE at Langdale Park\" name=\"JP:John-S-Quarterman-and-Malia-Thomas-of-WTXL-20260713-jsq-for-LAKE-at-Langdale-Park\" href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/20260713_104959.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/20260713_104959.jpg\"  alt=\"[John S. Quarterman and Malia Thomas of WTXL, 2026-07-13 --jsq for LAKE at Langdale Park]\"><\/a>\r\n<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/loco\/2026-07-13--lcc-budget-wtxl\/20260713_104959.html\">John S. Quarterman and Malia Thomas of WTXL, 2026-07-13 &#8211;jsq for LAKE at Langdale Park<\/a>, wearing the wrong hat.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nCounty leaders said they welcome public feedback and encourage\r\nresidents to stay engaged as the county continues balancing growth,\r\ntaxpayer relief, and the cost of providing essential services.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWith the budget now approved, county leaders said their focus shifts\r\nto delivering another year of services while moving forward with\r\nmajor capital improvement projects.\r\n<\/p>\r\nYou can find the full report by clicking\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowndescounty.com\/DocumentCenter\/View\/4606\/FY-2027-Budget-Public-Hearing-Presentation\">here<\/a>.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowndescounty.com\/DocumentCenter\/View\/4606\/FY-2027-Budget-Public-Hearing-Presentation\">\r\nhttps:\/\/www.lowndescounty.com\/DocumentCenter\/View\/4606\/FY-2027-Budget-Public-Hearing-Presentation<\/a>\r\n<p>\r\nWell, that&#8217;s not the full report.\r\nThat&#8217;s just the\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2026\/06\/notice-special-called-meeting-to-adopt-the-proposed-fy-2027-budget-lcc-2026-06-30.html\">presentation slides<\/a>,\r\nwhich the county put on its own website after LAKE got the through an open records request.\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=25830\">\r\nhttp:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=25830<\/a>\r\n<p>\r\nThe rest of the budget documents that the Lowndes County Commission approved on June 30, 2026,\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2026\/07\/packet-special-called-meeting-to-adopt-the-proposed-fy-2027-budget-lcc-2026-06-30.html\">\r\nLAKE also got through an open records request<\/a> and posted.\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=25899\">\r\nhttp:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=25899<\/a>\r\n<p>\r\nSo far as I can tell, those documents are still not on the county&#8217;s website.\r\n\r\n<p>\r\nWhy they are not there is mysterious.\r\nAnd not transparent.\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-style:italic\">Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research.  You can <a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/donate\">donate to LAKE today<\/a>!\r\n<br>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/donate\">\r\nhttp:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/donate<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WTXL reporter Malia Thomas told me Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes had said that LAKE&#8217;s concerns were valid. Well, LAKE&#8217;s main concern with the Lowndes County budget is the same as with most things the Lowndes County Commission does: lack of transparency. The county can easily do something about that if it wants to. Lowndes [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,88,11286,3],"tags":[8704,8701,548,8702,12,7,8734,11824,68,60,8700,6,8850],"class_list":["post-25909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-tax","category-transparency","tag-economy","tag-georgia","tag-john-s-quarterman","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-malia-thomas","tag-pr","tag-tax","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta","tag-wtxl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-6JT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25909"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25912,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25909\/revisions\/25912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}