Tag Archives: Little River

Videos: 8.5 minutes, Appointment to BHDD, USGS GA 122 Little River gage, 3 lift station pumps @ LCC 2016-09-26

They vote Tuesday night at 5:30 PM. In these LAKE videos of Monday morning’s 8.5 minute Work Session, you can see they are buying three new lift station pumps, and for each: “This pump has not been bid due to it being a sole source item in accordance with the County’s standards and specifications.” One commissioner did ask about that. Where can we see these no-bid standards and specifications? In other water news, they are likely to approve the annual renewal of the USGS Little River GA 122 stream gauge, which they started paying for after the 2009 floods.

In transportation, Continue reading →

Appointment to BHDD, USGS GA 122 Little River gage, 3 lift station pumps @ LCC 2016-09-26

They actually named an appointee in the agenda! Dr. Wilhelmenia Howell for Georgia Department Of Behavioral Health And Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD).

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2016, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Videos: Runner Ernie Andrus, Brookwood again, 3 board appointments, 2 road abandoments, Comp Plan Update, Budget Adoption @ LCC 2016-06-28

For an authority that gets 1.25 mil of your property tax dollars, the Commissioners didn’t even know who was wanting to be reappointed, none of them asked what happened during a year when one of them was apparently serving on that board without a formal appointment, not all of the Commissioners were present even voted, and none of the candidates for any of the board appointments even shhowed up, much less spoke. The Lowndes County Commission at its June 28th 2016 Regular Session also unanimously adopted the budget for what the Chairman repeatedly called “the physical year”, despite only perfunctory public hearings in advance, and no draft budget available on their website for the public to see. After they approved the budget to spend the money (and according to County Manager Joe Pritchard after earlier that same morning the Tourism Authority approved their budget), the Lowndes County Commissioners unanimously approved a hotel/motel tax rate increase. Odd order, eh?

About the 1.25 mil property tax Parks and Rec Authority, the Chairman finally got around to saying Continue reading →

Help fix land revaluation: come to Farm Bureau –Board of Equalization

Come to the Farm Bureau in two weeks to hear Tax Assessor staff present their updates and provide your input Contents for changes to the rural land revaluation, this time taking into account rivers, aquifer recharge zones, and uniformity. Maybe the Tax Assessors actually don’t want more flooding in Valdosta; both the City of Valdosta and GA-EDP have already shown interest in attending about that point.

At an appeal on my property valuation, the Board of Equalization stopped short of actually ordering the Tax Assessors to redo last year’s rural land revaluation, because staff volunteered Continue reading →

Videos: Why Emergency bridge fixes? Appoint Tax Assessors? Rush Project Max? @ LCC 2016-01-12

Citizen Billy Rowland complained about poor road grading, his dogs being shot, and misuse of Knights Ferry Landing on the Withlacoochee River. Maybe the Commission will listen to what he said this time, at last Tuesday’s Lowndes County Commissioner Regular Session. Apparently G. Norman Bennett wants Hall Web Road paved for the mile to his house at the Little River, but Julia Bass, Ralph Niehenke, and Diane Guess spoke up saying they don’t want it paved. Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker tried to ask them questions, but Chairman Bill Slaughter cut him off. Slaugher did have time earlier fo an extra announcement of a joint governmental meeting Tuesday morning. It’s not clear citizens will even get to speak there, much less get questions answered. See separate post.

They passed the resolution to ask the legislature to start the proecess to appoint rather than elect Lowndes County Tax Assessors.

They already did emergency repairs to Clyattville Nankin Road Bridge (problem discovered by a local citizen) and Jumping Gully Road Bridge (found by GDOT), and the Commissione approved payment after the fact. So two more no-bid contracts were let, this time without even a Commission vote before the work was done.

They agreed to the North Lowndes Park Quitclaim and Custodial Agreement by which Valdosta-Lowndes Parks & Rec. Authority (VLPRA) takes charge of some land west of I-75 north of Hahira for a soccer field.

A few citizens spoke about rezoning for the mysterious Project Max, but of course they passed the rezoning anyway, even though apparently none of the Commissioners know who the prospective tenant is.

The Lowndes County Commission agenda contained quite a few other items as the Commission caught up after the holidays. See also the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session. Below are links to each LAKE video of the Tuesday evening 12 January 2016 Regular Session, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Videos: Forestry, river gage, abandon two roads, dedicate another @ LCC 2015-09-21

They vote this evening, about right now. Here are videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session. The Forestry report referred to a report that the public can’t see. What the forestry rep reported was mostly numbers of burn permits.

County Manager Joe Pritchard had to stop Chairman Bill Slaughter from adjourning so he could say: “Friday afternoon we received a request for electronic signalling at highway 41.” County Engineer Mike Fletcher elaborated that it was a railroad pre-empt that would not allow for left turns onto Tillman Crossing when there’s a train. Request came from Norfolk Southern. Chairman agreed to add it to the agenda, then they adjourned.

The annual continued funding for the Little River USGS stream gage at GA 122 costs $400 more this year. Commissioner Marshall wanted to know what happened with the automated gage reporting system he thought they voted for previously, that would send reports when the gage was high. County Manager Joe Pritchard said that was actually the SCADA system for the county’s wells and sewage lift stations. Commissioner Mark Wisenbaker wanted to know how this gage operates. Box on bridge, tube down into river, monitors height and flow, reported through a cell phone, real time data on the web. It’s been there long enough to establish flood stages and advanced warning levels so people can protect their property.

The Abandonment of a portion of Spain Ferry Road and Kinderlou Clyattville Road turns out to be from Continue reading →

River gage, abandon two roads, dedicate another @ LCC 2015-09-21

This morning at 8:30 AM, USGS Funding Agreement for HWY 122 Stream Gauge continue funding for Little River USGS stream gage at GA 122, Abandonment of a portion of Spain Ferry Road and Kinderlou Clyattville Road because “the county has received a request” from whom wasn’t said, Dedicate a portion of Shiloh Road to whom or what wasn’t said. Plus GEMA Sheltering Memorandum of Agreement “for the sheltering of evacuees from Coastal Georgia and/or Florida in the event those areas are threatened by a hurricane”. Plus Declaration of Surplus Items and Authorization to Sell on GovDeals.com.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015,  5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Monday August 10th deadline to appeal tax valuations –VLCoC

Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce members just got a message from Bruce Allred, Government Affairs Council Chairman, saying:

MONDAY IS DEADLINE TO APPEAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS!

You can look up your property on the Tax Assessors’ website: www.qpublic.net/ga/lowndes.

See also the LAKE Videos: Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04.

That Chamber message includes this useful information: Continue reading →

Videos: Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04

See for yourself the Tax Assessor response to local landowners, in these LAKE videos of last night’s meeting at Farm Bureau. Do you think there’s a problem? If so, what do you think we should do to fix it?

The attendees appointed Gretchen to take notes. Here are her notes, followed by the videos.

Accessibility is not about access, it’s about geographic location…. That was done by one of our appraisers on staff. —Chief Appraiser Silas Hrobar

Rural and commercial land owners got surprises in the mail in July when they received the updated assessments of their properties. Lowndes County Assessors engaged a contractor last year to help with the reassessments of approximately 10,000 properties. Rural properties were categorized as small (under 20 acres) and large (over 20 acres) but complaints were the same, inconsistent and confusing application of criteria.

On Tuesday evening, Farm Bureau hosted Continue reading →

Rural revaluation meeting at Farm Bureau 2015-08-04

Are Bill Gates and subdivisions really more important than agriculture or rivers or public transportation? Come to Farm Bureau tomorrow evening and find out what’s going on with the rural land revaluation. facebook event.

When: 7PM, Tuesday, 4 August 2015

Where: 3296 Greystone Way, Valdosta, GA, (229) 242-7876

By: Farm Bureau board member Buddy Coleman called this meeting.

What: Compare the Comprehensive Plan to this revaluation here (PDF).

Sprawl: sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin (Or at least big tax increases). PDF of the report by UGA Prof. Jeffrey H. Dorfman Lowndes County paid for in 2007, The Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County.

Who: At least some of the Lowndes County Tax Assessors Continue reading →