Barrow Journal

BY KRISTI REED

The Barrow County Board of Education is projecting a budget shortfall of $2.4 million for fiscal year 2009 and is planning to tap its reserve funds to make up the difference.

Assistant superintendant of business services Ken Cato presented preliminary budget figures to the BOE Tuesday. Cato said despite the projected deficit, the school system would remain in the black by tapping into its reserves of $7 million. The school’s fiscal year begins July 1. The system’s tax rate won’t be set until later this year.

RISING EXPENSES

Driving the projected shortfall for FY09 is that the school system’s expenses are rising faster than its income.

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Auburn City Council members heard a presentation from Casey Vance, Government Tax Solutions, at Thursday’s meeting on the collection of delinquent property taxes for the city.

Vance told the council that his company fronts the funds to run the ads and send notification by certified mail.

“We only get paid if you collect” Vance said.

It is a two-tier process, he said. First, the owner or lien holder is notified. The parcel is researched and the information is entered into a database. On the 100th day of having the parcel in the database, the city should have payment, Vance said. The company provides legal services to the city.

Accounts of $50 or less is a $26 fee. Accounts of $51 and over is a flat fee of $50.

City administrator Ron Griffith told the council that he is familiar with the company. “They are really good and they walk you through every step,” Griffith said.

No action was taken on the proposal.

The council will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, at city hall.

For more information about the Auburn City Council meeting, see the April 23 issue of The Braselton News.

More than 2,000 indictments or accusations have been filed by District Attorney Rick Bridgeman since he took office in September with most of the backlogged cases being dealt with. Bridgeman issued an update last week on the status of the cases in the office. [Full Story »] 

BY KRISTI REED The Barrow County planning commission has recommended approval for a personal care home to be located at 294 Tanners Bridge Road in Bethlehem. Applicant Joy Murray said there is only one personal care home in the city and she believes there is a need for affordable senior care in the area. [Full Story »] 

Linn Jones, wife of former District Attorney Tim Madison, was sentenced in Banks County Superior Court Friday to 180 days in a women’s detention center on theft charges. She was also fined $500 and will have to perform 250 hours of community service.

Meanwhile, Madison has surrendered his Georgia Law License. The Georgia Supreme Court approved the voluntary surrender Monday. Madison moved to give up his license in February.

Jones sentencing last week effectively ends an extraordinary state investigation into the Piedmont Judicial Circuit DA’s office. Madison was sentenced earlier this year to six years in jail on theft charges and former ADA Brett Williams was fined on misdemeanor charges.

Jones was charged with having conspired to defraud the county government by submitting payroll hours for times when she didn’t work. Jones was on both the Jackson County and Banks County DA payrolls at the same time.

According to documents presented in court last week, Jones claimed that she was working at the same time evidence proved she was out of state.

Jones’ attorney said she “accepts full responsibility for her actions” and is “sorry for what she did.”

In her only comment to the court, Jones said, “I would like to tell the court I’m sorry, sir.”

The scandal surrounding the DA’s office was uncovered by The Jackson Herald in early 2007. A series of investigative stories were published in March 2007 questioning Madison’s handling of various government funds. Madison subsequently resigned as DA in June 2007 and was indicted in August 2007.

BY KRISTI REED
The Barrow County Airport Authority held its annual elections Tuesday. Sammy Everett was re-elected to the position of chairman of the Authority. Lee Barnett was re-elected as Vice-Chairman and Robert Cartmill was re-elected as the Authority’s secretary.



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BY REP. TERRY ENGLAND The 2008 Legislative Session is now behind us and the pundits have already begun to analyze our accomplishments, critique our work, and pass judgment on many of the bills we adopted. So I wanted to take some time and tell you myself about the most important things we did and why we did them. We adopted a statewide water plan and we made it easier for communities to build new water reservoirs. We adopted several measures to bring greater accountability to the State Department of Transportation and created a new funding mechanism to help local communities with local road projects. We adopted several measures to give Georgians must needed tax relief, opened the door to reform education in Georgia and enacted tough new measures to protect our children from dangerous predators. And we also passed a few new ‘sunshine’ laws and two fiscally conservative budgets. [Full Story »]