As Gretchen noted, “There was no work session for this meeting. Shockingly there was discussion.”
The Commissioners and even the County Attorney and County Manager were quite chatty in the
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, Tuesday, October 22, 2024,
about hurricane debris, and especially about their upcoming $2 million purchase.
They also heard from two citizens.
In
5.b. Purchase of VSU South Campus Property
they revealed that the likely future occupant is
is the Board of Elections.
They discussed this one item for ten minutes! Unheard of.
Good, though.
In
6. Reports – County Manager
Paige Dukes estimated about $1.5 million in property damage to Lowndes County assets.
Not counting VLPRA, Hospital, and other authorities with their own budgets.
7. CWTBH: John S. Quarterman, speaking for WWALS Watershed Coalition as Suwannee Riverkeeper,
talked about the Georgia House Study Committee on Navigability
and recommended Commissioners contact statehouse members.
See separate post.
Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
The board packet adds the agreements to
the agenda
for this evening’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, 5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
One agreement details the $3,500 a month for renting for hurricane debris removal
the failed subdivision the county
bought for $568,971 in February 2022,
on GA 122 between Walker’s Crossing and Banks Lake.
The other agreement specifies what the county is buying from VSU for $2,156,000.
It says they’re renting part of it back to VSU at least through December,
with options for following months through June 2025, for $1 (one dollar) a month.
The packet does not include a map of the VSU property being purchased,
but presumably it’s the same as the lots in that block owned by BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY
SYSTEM OF GEORGIA
in this
map by the Lowndes County Tax Assessors.
At least those properties match the addresses listed in the agreement:
901 N Patterson Street,
903 N Patterson Street,
109-111 E. Force Street,
906-908 Slater Street,
and
112 East Gordon. Continue reading →
The agenda is so light the Lowndes County Commission cancelled the Work Session,
and are going straight to voting in the Regular Session, 5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
They’re finally going to get some income for the failed subdivision they bought between Walker’s Crossing and Banks Lake,
and they’re buying the old Georgia Power building from VSU for $2,156,000.
The “VSU South Campus Property” is the old Georgia Power building at
901 N Patterson Street and apparently most of the rest of the block.
The location of the hurricane debris removal sounded familiar.
DRC Engineering Services, LLC is a hurricane debris removal
contractor of the Georgia Department of Transportation. It has asked
to use approximately five acres of County owned property located at
7404 Ga. Highway 122 East for hurricane debris management purposes.
It has agreed to pay the County $3500 per month for use of the
property. The proposed agreement is attached.
Despite the longest Millage Public Hearing ever,
people are still very confused by why, how, and how much taxes are going up.
This may be partly because most Lowndes County officials (elected, appointed, or employee) are not willing to say in public how we got here.
Lowndes County Chief Appraiser Lisa Bryant did make a long presentation at the Historic Courthouse about that, but many people did not attend.
Plus there are a few further wrinkles.
For many years, the Tax Appraisers were not keeping up with valuations as they changed due to increased sale prices of comparable properties.
When the appointed Tax Assessors first came in, many of their staff (the Appraisers) left,
and the remaining staff are busily catching up.
The appointed Tax Assessors spent a great deal of time at the office
for the first year, getting this changeover started.
So valuations are going up.
This pass they got to commercial valuations, which went up.
Also, they’re applying the law about what is a business, which includes
for example that some church properties being used for non-church purposes are not exempt.
Property owners do get a letter from the Tax Assessors saying what the new valuation is and saying how the owner can appeal.
Many appeals are successful.
Some the Tax Assessors appeal to court, and some of those they win.
But remember, taxes are actually valuation (adjusted by homestead exemptions, conservation easements, LOST, etc.) times millage.
Commissioner Clay Griner tried to explain that.
Finance Director Stephanie Black showed where the money goes:
mostly to schools, Sheriff’s Department, and courts.
After her presentation, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter said that the Lowndes County Commissioners had no intent to raise the millage.
Instead, they intended to roll back the millage to a lower number.
This was already hinted
in the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission meetings:
The Board of Commissioners is required to set the millage rate for 2024. The county-wide millage for 2024 was advertised at 7.804 mills, requiring advertisement of a tax increase of 6.09% and three public hearings. The rollback millage for 2024 is 7.356 mills. The 2023 millage rate was 8.778.
So that’s a 16.2% decrease in the millage rate since last year.
Which means very few people are going to see the 20% tax increase they fear.
Really, more like 3 or 4%.
Or, as Clay Griner said about the Unincorporated tax example, 5% over two years.
In many cases, the increase is due to no valuation change in many years.
[The Georgia Department of Revenue]
is ordering McIntosh to make equitable and uniform assessments or face a $63,070 penalty.
The county must provide its Board of Assessors with the equipment, personnel, supplies, transportation and software necessary to ensure that 2025 assessments can pass the state’s review, according to one of the top points in a consent order signed by the county and the state last month.
The order refers back to the 2022 tax year, when the state found deficiencies in McIntosh’s treatment of homes and public utilities and noted that the county had failed to correct prior problems.
I can’t say that the county is supplying the Lowndes County Tax Assessors all the
“equipment, personnel, supplies, transportation and software necessary”
to do their job.
The Lowndes County Commissioners, the Chamber, the Development Authority, etc., keep pushing development northwards, into agricultural and forestry areas.
I wish I could say the Tax Appraisers were no longer helping with that, but I cannot.
Also, the county could put the presentation slides on their own website.
Along with the board packets.
Finally, people are rightly distressed over having to work two jobs to make ends meet.
But the source of that problem lies way higher up, in price gouging by big corporations disguised as inflation.
Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
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The calendar entry for yesterday morning’s Work Session does not say cancelled.
But no agenda was posted,
so we can probably assume that one was also cancelled.
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
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One of the two county cases from the lack-of-quorum GLPC cancellation last month
is back on the agenda for tomorrow evening.
The other former case
was passed anyway by the Lowndes County Commission,
without GLPC review.
The six Valdosta cases are new, and are all for small rezonings or the like.
Here is
the agenda.
Assuming the meeting actually happens despite hurricane damage.
The board packet materials, recieved in response to a LAKE open records request,
are
on the LAKE website.
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
~ Lowndes County ~ City of Valdosta ~ City of Dasher ~
~ City of Hahira ~ City of Lake Park ~ City of Remerton ~
Monday, September 23, 2023 5:30 P.M. Work Session
Monday, September 30, 2023 5:30 P.M. Regular Session
Lowndes County South Health District Administrative Office
325 West Savannah Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia Continue reading →
The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners is postponing the Millage
Public Hearing scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 5:00
p.m. as well as the Special Called Meeting for the Adoption of the
Millage Rate which was scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2024 at
5:30 p.m. due to Hurricane Helene.
These meetings will be rescheduled at a later date.
Also yesterday they
posted that, “Lowndes County Offices will be closed Thursday, September 26, 2024, and Friday, September 27, 2024 due to Tropical Storm Helene.”
I don’t see a Public Notice anywhere for that Special Called Meeting.
Of course, state law merely requires the notice to be sent to the local
legal organ of record (The Valdosta Daily Times).
The law does not require that the notice actually get posted.
So apparently they cancelled a Special Called Meeting without the public having seen a notice that it had been called.
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
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5 PM, Thursday, September 26,
will be the third and last public hearing opportunity for the millage rate.
The first two were both on September 19, at 8:30 AM and 6:00 PM.
In the
second hearing, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter said,
“And then we will adopt the millage,
setting the rate, on September 26, as well.”
How does that work?
There is no Regular Session nor Special Called Meeting scheduled for September 26.
Will they just vote after the Public Hearing, since presumably a quorum
of Commissioners will be in the room?
Or will they announce a Special Called Meeting, with at least 24 hours notice,
as state law requires?
We don’t know, because no agenda is posted for this third meetings,
just as no agenda was posted for the first two.
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
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“The September 23, 2024 Work Session and the September 24, 2024 Regular Session Commission Meetings have been cancelled,”
reads the Lowndes County response to the usual LAKE open records request for the board packet.
No explanation was included.
The calendar entries on lowndescounty.com for the
Work Session
and the
Regular Session
are no more informative, merely saying &lquo;CANCELLED”.
However, the third and final Public Hearing on the Millage is
5 PM Thursday,
September 26, 2024.
According to Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter in the
second Millage Public Hearing on
September 19,
“And then we will adopt the millage,
setting the rate, on September 26, as well.”
How that will work is mysterious, since no agenda is posted for the Millage Public Hearing.
Maybe they will just vote after the Public Hearing, since presumably
a quorum of Commissioners will be in the room.
Or they still have time to announce a Special Called Meeting
at least 24 hours in advance, as state law requires.
-jsq
Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/donate
This was the second public hearing opportunity, said
Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter,
after the first one was 8:30 AM the same day.
The third and last one will be on September 26.
He added,
“And then we will adopt the millage,
setting the rate, on September 26, as well.”
The only Lowndes County Commission meeting scheduled for September 26
is
that Millage Rate Public Hearing.
Does this mean they will vote in that meeting?
In this September 19 meeting,
Finance Director Stephanie Black explained the millage,
including state requirements for announcements of tax increases
or rollbacks.
She included the usual reminder that two Authorites get their own millage:
Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) and Lowndes County Development Authority (VLDA).
FYI, the county Tax Digest is $5.1 billion.
One citizen stood up in the Public Hearing.
Alan Watson spoke against.
Unlike their usual custom, Continue reading →
![[Collage @ LCC 23 October 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-23--lcc-regular-videos/many.jpg)
![[Collage, Packet, LCC 2024-10-24]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-22--lcc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Hurricane debris removal rental, VSU South Campus purchase, No Work Session, Regular Session @ LLC 2024-10-22]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-21--lcc-agenda/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC 15 October 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/many.jpg)
![[Property Tax Example]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/2024-10-15--property-tax-example.jpg)
![[Unincorporated Property Tax Example]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/2024-10-15--unincorporated-property-tax-example.jpg)
![[Millage Calculation]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-15--lcc-millage-videos/2024-10-15--millage-calculation.jpg)
![[Cancelled: Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2024-10-08]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-10-08--lcc-regular-cancelled/2024-10-08--lcc-cancelled.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC Packet 2024-09-30]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/glpc/2024-09-30--glpc-packet/many.jpg)
![[Cancelled: Millage Public Hearing and Special Called Adoption Meeting @ LCC 2024-09-26 County Offices closed Thursday and Friday]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-09-26--lcc-millage-cancelled/many.jpg)
![[Third and Final Public Hearing 2024-09-26, Lowndes County, Georgia, Millage Rate + Decision]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-09-26--lcc-millage/many.jpg)
![[CANCELLED: 2024-09-23-24 Work and Regular Sessions, But Millage Public Hearing Thursday, Lowndes County Commission]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-09-23--lcc-cancelled/many.jpg)
![[Collage @ LCC Millage 19 September 2024]](http://www.l-a-k-e.org/govt/loco/2024-09-19--lcc-millage-public-hearing/many.jpg)