Outlook gloomy in BOC chairman's 2012 State of the County address

He said he expects the property tax digest to drop again this year by as much as 20 percent. That would cause a $2 million hit to the county government’s revenues and reduce the school system’s revenues by as much as $5 million.

Toward the end of his presentation, Yearwood spoke at some length about how the benefit of the passage of the July 31 voter referendum on a regional sales tax for transportation. In addition to providing about half of the funding for 13 major transportation projects, the penny T-SPLOST would generate about $1.2 million in direct funding each year for Barrow County’s smaller road projects.

Yearwood said he also hopes that the renovation of the county’s historic complex in downtown Winder would be finished by the end of this year, which is when his first term in office ends. Though several of his political supporters attended the event, he did not use the opportunity to announce whether he would seek a second term. The candidate qualifying period is in late May.