It appears that no one wants to pay the full cost of serices provided by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office in the upcoming fiscal year.
On top of recent comments by County Chairman Danny Yearwood concerning possible cuts to sheriff’s funding, the mayors of four local municipalities with city police departments are asking that their residents not be taxed for the patrol and investigative services that the sheriff’s office provides.
With the county facing a lingering $2.2 million gap in its budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, any additional loss of revenue for the operation of the county government would compound the county’s budget problem.
A “sample” spreadsheet attached to a June 16 letter from the Barrow County Mayors Association showed that a reduction of 1.61 mills in the four cities would cut county revenues by another $1 million. But a spokesman for the association said Tuesday night that the spreadsheet was only to demonstrate a methodology for arriving at a tax cut and not to reflect the amount of the actual request for tax relief.
Mayors to county: 'Cut our taxes'
Sheriff Jud Smith says he’s been thrust into the middle of a fight that he doesn’t want to be in, and he wonders why none of the mayors discussed the issue with their police chiefs prior to approaching the county because of its potential impact on cooperative relationships among county and municipal law enforcement agencies.
The mayors have been meeting with county officials since the fall of 2008. But those meetings have been secret because at least some of the officials involved in the talks decided they did not want the media to report on their progress.
The mayors apparently want their deliberations to remain secret because none of them showed up for the first public discussion of the issue at Tuesday night’s commissioners meeting.
For the full story, see the Aug. 26 issue of the Barrow Journal.
The mayors have been meeting with county officials since the fall of 2008. But those meetings have been secret because at least some of the officials involved in the talks decided they did not want the media to report on their progress.
The mayors apparently want their deliberations to remain secret because none of them showed up for the first public discussion of the issue at Tuesday night’s commissioners meeting.
For the full story, see the Aug. 26 issue of the Barrow Journal.
Then the county could charge the city for everything and anything they do within the city limits.
And maybe, just maybe the city tax commissioner will be BETTER at COLLECTING tax then the county tax commissioner.
1. Sign over your current police departments to the Sheriff
2. Winder implement a city property tax and stop living of the revenues from Winder Gas Company --that many county residents pay inflated rates.
What a bunch of bull#@%&.
The mayors are sitting there talking, (I can just hear the conversation) --
Mayor #1 -- You know - Barrow County was dumb enough to fall for the old sell us water at a cheaper rate than you paid for it scheme. Hey maybe, just maybe, they will fall for let's not pay for the sheriff's department.
Mayor #2 -- You know .... you just might be right about that - Let's give it a shot!!!!!
All the Mayors -- LOL
1) the cities have their own police departments
2) the city police patrol within the city limits
3) the city police do most if not all of their own crime investigations
4) these functions also fall under the sheriff
5) the mayors feel they are paying for services performed by the police that also fall under the sheriff
It is ignorant and naive to think the public safety costs can be divided up piece by piece. If they do this to the sheriffs, I, for one will stop taking my business to Winder and those cities who are being obstinate and pushing their own agenda instead of what is best in crime fighting for the good of the citizens. You just don't cut public safety, especially in this area that has a high incidence of crime and drug activity! It's common sense to put public safety first. Time to vote out the mayors!
I'm all for cooperation among the various agencies but there seems to be a dearth of cooperation between the Sheriff's department and the County Commission. The county is about to go under and Jud asks for raises for his people and threatens to sue.
No one, no one, would think of having municipal police departments if such were not beneficial to that local community. While I'm not confident that the present dysfunctional commissioners can handle a county police department, I am certainly open to looking into it. The alternative is to be held hostage by the sheriff.