On the LAKE Front

Wiregrass Technical College @ VLCIA 15 March 2011

Wiregrass Technical College wants to expand onto some land owned by the Industrial Authority, using SPLOST funds.

Chairman Jerry Jennett:

The point is they're landlocked.

And so what you want to do is you want to take what your tract is now and have the ability to expand your building in the future. You want to move your training facility now and....

More transcription after the video:

Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director,
Allan Ricketts Program Manager, 15 March 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Roy Copeland:

ESPLOST Passed

If you go to lowndescounty.com, pull down Government at the top, select Board of Elections, then Election Results, you can select a format for displaying election results. And the results at 8:50 PM 15 March 2010 are:

	BOE SALES TAX QUESTION	VOTES
YES	82.66%	2,931
NO	17.34%	615
		Total Votes: 3,546

I think it's safe to say ESPLOST passed.

-jsq

ESPLOST Election Today

If you're not yet convinced to get out and vote today to continue the 1% ESPLOST local sales tax that pays for school buildings, books, band instruments, and sports equipment for the Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia school systems, here are two Facebook pages:

• ESPLOST Vote
• Vote YES for Esplost IV (Lowndes County, GA)

And where you can vote. And here's lots of detail on where the money goes. The two school boards are setting a standard for local government transparency in posting a detailed notice in the newspaper five times, holding information sessions, going to other people's meetings and speaking, handing out flyers, etc.

-jsq

Precincts for ESPLOST election

Local precincts have been changed yet again since the last election. Here are the precincts for the ESPLOST election on March 15^th. According to the Board of Elections, Lowndes County Polling Places:

To find your polling place go to Secretary of State Poll Locator

Click Precincts for Map Locator and Driving Directions provided by Google Maps.

The version of their precinct list below actually has map links for each precinct. I have omitted the photographs of the polling places.

Precinct 1	Newsome St. Church, 202 S. Newsome St., Hahira
Precinct 2	Old Pine Grove Elementary School Gym, 4023 Pine Grove Road, Valdosta
Precinct 3	Westminister Presbyterian Church, 3019 Country Club Road, Valdosta
Precinct 4	Northside Baptist Church Gym, 200 E. Park Avenue, Valdosta
Precinct 5	Jaycee Park Activities Building, 2306 Jaycee Shack Road, Valdosta
Precinct 6	Naylor City Hall, 8753 Georgia Highway 135, Naylor
Precinct 7	Wood Valley Community Center, 1907 Gornto Road, Valdosta
Precinct 8	Rainwater Conference Center, One Meeting Place, Valdosta
Precinct 9	New Clyattville Fire Station, 5080 Madison Highway, Clyattville
Precinct 10	Mildred Hunter Community Center, 509 S. Fry St., Valdosta
Precinct 11	Dasher City Hall, 3686 US Hwy 41 S. Dasher
Precinct 12	South Lowndes Recreation Center, 6440 Ocean Pond Ave, Lake Park

-jsq

Against taxes --Nolen Cox

Speaking to the Lowndes County Commission on 8 March 2011, Nolen Cox said businesses produce money and government consumes it, and he doesn't like taxes.

He appears to be opposed to the ESPLOST election.

He's the same fellow who introduced the topic of climate change denial in a Lowndes County Commission meeting.

Here's the video.

Regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 8 March 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

ESPLOST election, now through 15 March 2011

Update 7 Mar 2011: election date fixed in this post title and text.
Here's how to announce public finances:

To be published on February 11, 18, and 25, 2010 and March 4 and 11, 2010.

That's five times the Lowndes County Board of Elections is publishing the details of the ESPLOST one percent sales and use tax for educational purposes.

• What they're publishing.
• The joint resolution of both school boards, Lowndes County and Valdosta.
• PDF of both of those documents.
• The precincts where you can vote. Early voting is all at the Board of Elections at 2808 N Oak St, Valdosta, GA.

This is significant money: not more than $165 million dollars over five years, $94,875,000 for Lowndes County schools, and $70,125,000 for Valdosta schools. There are only two main ways of raising money for public schools: sales taxes, or property taxes. The local school boards use both. This is the sales tax part.

Well, there is a third way.

Precincts, Lowndes County, Georgia, January 2011

These are the precincts being used in the current ESPLOST election (more about that later). You don't actually need these maps to see where to vote; for that, see Polling Places, by the Lowndes County Board of Elections. Also, early voting is always at the Board of Elections, 2808 N Oak St, Valdosta, GA.

Available on LAKE's web pages are wall-sized precinct maps, actually two parts (left and right) of one big wall map, as two PDF files (each between 4 and 5 megabytes) and as a variety of JPEG image sizes in a flickr set.

Left Side	Right Side
left side PDF	right side PDF

These maps were obtained from Deb Cox, Elections Supervisor, Lowndes County Board of Elections, 4 March 2011 by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq