Millage Hearings for Lowndes County

Even though the County Commission already voted on the budget for spending your tax money (and still hasn’t published that budget), it will have public hearings on the millage before final adoption of that number that decides how much tax you pay. While the proposed millage rate is still low compared to other counties it’s curious that while the Lowndes County Board of Education has published at least a summary of its new budget the Lowndes County Commission has not.

According to the county’s online calendar and Current Events (but not its Public Notices nor the VDT’s online public notices), these meetings are scheduled:

8:30-9:00 AMWednesday16 July 2014Millage Hearing
6:00-6:30 PMWednesday16 July 2014Millage Hearing
8:30 AMMonday21 July 2014Work Session
5:30 PMTuesday22 July 2014Work Session
8:30-9:00 AMWednesday23 July 2014Millage Hearing
9:00-9:30 AMWednesday23 July 2014Millage Adoption Hearing

All are in the same place:

327 N. Ashley St – Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor Administration Building

It’s interesting that the county’s Public Notice page doesn’t list these opportunities for citizens to speak about the millage, but it does have a prominent notice of the Commission’s citizen speech suppression measures:

PLEASE NOTE—On Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, the Commission unanimously adopted a resolution and policy establishing guidelines for the Citizens Wishing To Be Heard portion of the regular meeting agenda. For your review, links to the adopted documents have been posted below. Citizens wishing to address the Commission at the next regular meeting, may fill out the Citizens Wishing to Be Heard Form and bring it with them or forms will be provided in Commission Chambers twenty minutes prior to the start of the meeting. Citizens that would like to meet with officials outside of a regular meeting are encouraged to contact their Commissioner directly or contact Lowndes County at 229-671-2400, to make an appointment. Thank you.

Citizens Wishing to Be Heard Resolution
Policies and Procedures
Citizens Wishing to Be Heard Form

Citizens may wish to speak, but it’s not clear the Commission wants to listen.

Meanwhile, don’t forget the Lowndes County Board of Education millage hearings All these millage hearings are in the LAKE calendar.

-jsq