Barrow Journal

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith disclosed today that the suspect in the March 22 killing of an Athens-Clarke County police officer is being housed in the Barrow County Detention Center. [Full Story »] 

A lieutenant at Barrow County Emergency Services and his pregnant daughter remained hospitalized Monday following a Christmas Day shooting in which each lost a portion of a limb from being struck by the same bullet.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said a family argument between Lt. Todd Orr and two of his daughters culminated in violence shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday after Orr picked up a loaded, .270-calibre hunting rifle that was in his bedroom.

He told deputies that he had intended to leave the house and to take his gun with him. However, his daughters believed he was going to commit suicide, Smith said. [Full Story »] 

Barrow County’s revenue picture for the upcoming year may not be as dismal as expected.

Despite this summer’s countywide reassessment of 29,000 properties, most of which declined in value, the overall tax digest dropped by only 3.5 percent, according to Tax Commissioner Melinda Williams.

That is about half of the expected decline and could mean another $650,000 in property tax revenue for the county government in FY2010, according to internal auditor Marilyn Golightly.

However, the revenue forecast in the proposed budget for the new fiscal year will not be amended before Monday night's public hearing on the budget, she said.
[Full Story »] 

A committee of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners has been unable to come up with a balanced budget for FY2010.

After meeting on a weekly basis for months and then in a marathon budget-cutting session all day Wednesday, the committee learned at the end of its meeting that the numbers were still off by $2.2 million.

Rather than make additional cuts, the committee decided it would present the numbers to the BOC Tuesday night and leave it to the commissioners to fill the gap. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

With millions of dollars in cuts through layoffs and salary reductions this year, there doesn’t appear to be a simple answer to the budget dilemma.

County Chairman Danny Yearwood said he favors a 1-mill tax hike to cover the nearly $1 million in annual debt service on $15 million in bonds issued by the Winder-Barrow Industrial Building Authority for the 2006 purchase of land at the intersection of highways 53 and 316.

But Yearwood said most of the county commissioners oppose a tax hike – in large part because of the loss of the state Homeowner Tax Relief Credit that will cause homeowners to pay at least $224 more on their FY2010 tax bills – even without a millage rate increase.

[Full Story »]