On the LAKE Front

Retreat, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2013-02-22

The Lowndes County Commission has retreated to Berrien County once again this year. So far they've talked about budgets and finance, LOST and SPLOST, departmental requests, and the local Land Bank Authority, with the occasional policy interjection. Commissioners and staff were clearly taking their tasks very seriously, although not without humor from John Page's sneeze. And I congratulate them on going some place that couldn't have cost much. I wish they'd talk more about policy and strategies for increasing the pie, rather than almost entirely about how to divvy up the existing pie. Video will follow; meanwhile here are a few notes.

On the one hand, it's great that county staff have pulled together and managed with 30 fewer people, and while Commissioner Page was right that that's efficiency, I think Chairman Slaughter was even more right in saying it's beyond that, it's beyond capacity. County Manager Joe Pritchard noted if there's no SPLOST, the current Commission will have to decide between cutting some services and raising taxes. That's no doubt true, and he indicated that Valdosta seemed to be waiting to hear what the County wants to do about SPLOST, while the county is waiting to hear what Valdosta wants to do. Several people remarked that the prior LOST negotiations (which are currently on judicial hold pending one participant returning from the current session of the state legislature) did affect SPLOST losing in the most recent election. I didn't hear anybody suggest holding public hearings this time, but Commissioner Marshall did say it would be good to say what SPLOST funds would be for in some detail.

On the other hand, the Chairman asserted

SPLOST VII @ SGLB 2012-11-20

At Tuesday's South Georgia Library Board meeting. a board member (his nameplate said Willis Miller) wanted to know about SPLOST:

How we know it's going to come up next November or at another time?

Good question.

Here's video of the discussion as it resumed later in the meeting:

SPLOST VII discussion at Monthly Meeting, South Georgia Library Board (SGLB),
Video by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I. and bostongbr on YouTube,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 November 2012.

Kay Harris said there had to be a minimum of twelve months, so November 2013 would be the next possible time. She said County Commissioner Richard Raines had expressed full support for the new library, and she was talking to the other commissioners. She was asked whether the SPLOST lists would be the same, and said there might be some changes, but she hadn't heard anyone suggest that the Five Points property might be deleted. That's curious, because she quoted Valdosta Mayor Gayle in the VDT 7 November 2012 as saying:

Allocate resources in a yearly budget?

Received today on SPLOST VII lost. -jsq

After reading this post, a question came to mind. Have we the citizens of Lowndes County actually been encouraging our elected officials to be fiscally irresponsible with public funds by allowing SPLOST to continue? if elected officials had to allocate resources in a yearly budget, we may actually encourage our officials to allocate resources towards public projects that would be desirable by the public rather than a priority in pthe minds of our elected officials.

-Bill Grow

SPLOST VII lost

Speaking of transparency, Lowndes County voters defeated SPLOST VII 18,864 to 17,923 (51.28% to 48.72%). Kay Harris in the VDT today quoted Ashley Paulk with this reason:

The defeat came as a surprise to Mayor John Gayle but not to Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk, who said he warned the mayors of the five municipalities that if they continued to argue over LOST, the local option sales tax, that voters would turn against SPLOST in retaliation.

“I told them at the beginning if they didn't stop arguing over a few percent of the LOST and refused to leave the numbers as is by taking the county's offer, that taxpayers were going to turn against the SPLOST,” said Paulk.

“Voters are disenchanted with the way their local governments have gotten greedy and they're tired of the arguments over money. They voted SPLOST down because they don't trust us with their tax dollars, and it's a real shame.”

I would agree bickering over the LOST pie was one of the reasons SPLOST lost, and add to that the opaque back-room processes by which the SPLOST VII projects were selected. While the library needs updated and expanded facilities, the lack of documented decision process for the architect and lack of adequate explanation for that probably didn't help, either, nor did the county's puzzling lumping of the library in with Parks and Rec. which they later tried to clarify. Perhaps the voters are tired of seeing transparency be a constant source of tension. And I'm using the library as just one example. I could equally cite the project for a farmers market under the overpass, which I think is a bad idea because the farmers market already has a fabulous location at the historic Lowndes County Courthouse, and so far as I know none of the vendors who sell there were even asked if they wanted a new location, much less the public who buy there.

At the public-not-invited SPLOST VII kickoff speeches the last speaker said they were not there

LOST Lawsuits Ahead?

Looks like history may repeat itself like last decade, now that LOST negotiations between the cities and the county have failed. Except this time apparently the law has changed so they can't sue each other directly. Instead next it goes to Superior Court "baseball arbitration". However, I bet that still involves lawyers at taxpayer expense, not to mention the Court's time.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Tax Negotiations Hit Another Dead End In Lowndes County, and asked Gretchen down at the County Extension, who said,

It's sort of sad because it is a waste, if you will, of taxpayer dollars. That the elected officials can't get together and come to some agreement to say that they all understand how the money has to be divided up Yeah, it's sad that more money has to go to lawyers insted of being spent on services.

I continue to think the local governments could spend their time together better trying to increase the size of the pie instead of squabbling over slices of it.

-jsq

“It's almost like they are out to take advantage of the rubes,” —an economist

Do big box stores count as development? Are they worth millions in tax incentives and bond investments? Maybe we can find something better for local industry and jobs.

Rumors have been flying for years about a Bass Pro store coming to Valdosta, like this one on a Georgia Outdoor News forum:

01-22-2008, 09:05 PM, bear-229
ive heard the land has been bought. very close to the new toyota lot but it has not made it to the "new locations" on the web site

That's on James Road, in that huge proposed development that Lowndes County approved around that time.

Scott Reeder wrote for The Atlantic 13 August 2012, Why Have So Many Cities and Towns Given Away So Much Money to Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's?,

Both Bass Pro Shops and its archrival, Cabela's, sell hunting and fishing gear in cathedral-like stores featuring taxidermied wildlife, gigantic fresh-water aquarium exhibits and elaborate outdoor reproductions within the stores. The stores are billed as job generators by both companies when they are fishing for development dollars. But the firms' economic benefits are minimal and costs to taxpayers are great.

An exhaustive investigation conducted by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity found that the two competing firms together have received or are promised more than $2.2 billion from American taxpayers over the past 15 years.

Where does all that money come from? Bonds, usually. Which is yet another reason why last legislature's HB 475 to give unelected bodies bond issuing privatizing power would be a bad idea.

What does all that money go for?

SPLOST VII, Millage, Library, and two road repairs @ LCC 2012-07-23

Two kinds of taxes: Lowndes County Commission Work Session Monday 8:30 AM and Regular Session Tuesday 5:30 PM, with a property tax millage hearing 5PM before the Regular Session. Apparently the cities and the county have come to some agreement about Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) VII. Road repairs are being contemplated for Cat Creek Road and Cameron Lane. And there's something about an RFP for an architect for the library.

Update: SPLOST, not LOST. -jsq

Here's the agenda.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2^nd Floor

Chatham County calls in LOST mediator

Chatham County and its cities appears to be the future of Lowndes County and our cities. On LOST negotiations, Chatham got tired of listening to the cities and called in the mediator.

Eric Curl wrote for Savannah Now today, Chatham rejects cities' sales-tax proposal, calls for mediator

With a month of negotiations still remaining, Chatham County has given up on working solely with the eight municipalities to determine how an estimated $600 million in Local Option Sales Tax revenue should be split up during the next 10 years.

Chatham County Chairman Pete Liakakis requested Tuesday night that a third party be brought in immediately to help determine distributions, instead of waiting the full 60 days available to reach an agreement before mediation is required.

“I believe the parties are so far apart, that the current process is at an impasse,” Liakakis said.

Liakakis said a proposal presented by the cities two weeks ago that would lower the county's share by about 7 percent while boosting the municipalities' portion was flawed because it is built around the concept that the county's share should be based on the residents living outside city limits.

“It ignores the fact that the county provides services to all citizens of the county,” he said.

Yep, sounds familiar.

-jsq

SPLOST, LOST, TSPLOST Forum: Tuesday, July 10

The Chamber is holding a T-SPLOST event tonight. According to the announcement:

Make Sense of the 1 Cent Tax and know before you vote. Valdosta Lowndes Industrial Authority to host TSPLOST, LOST and SPLOST Forum for Young Professionals providing an opportunity for an informative discussion regarding the upcoming referendum.TSPLOST Referendum

Presenters at the forum will be Mayor John Gayle (City of Valdosta), Larry Hanson-City Manager (City of Valdosta), Andrea Schruijer (Valdosta Lowndes Industrial Authority) and Caitlyn Cooper (ConnectGeorgia).

At this forum YPs are encouraged to exchange and share ideas, questions and concerns about the legislation above. Leave more informed as a knowledgeable voter regarding the upcoming referendum on July 31. Please join other YPs in a supportive setting to listen, learn and voice your opinions.

LOCATION: bas bleu 123 N. Patterson Street. Valdosta, Ga 31601

TIME: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Click here to RSVP or call 229-247-8100 *Drinks and menu items available

Of these speakers, Mayor Gayle is famously for T-SPLOST, Larry Hanson previously appeared to be against it. I don't know Andrea Schruijer's position on T-SPLOST. ConnectGeorgia is pro-T-SPLOST, so presumably Caitlyn Cooper is, too. So this is likely to be a pro-T-SPLOST forum.

In any case, remember T-SPLOST is on the primary ballot for 31 July 2012, and early voting has already started, so you can vote on it today.

-jsq

Videos of Mayors and County in Hahira @ LOST 2012 05 02

The five local cities (Valdosta, Hahira, Remerton, Dasher, and Lake Park) presented their case in terms of changed demographics from the 2000 to the 2010 census. Much of the presentation was explained by Hahira City Manager Jonathan Sumner.

Lowndes County wasn't interested in discussing, and is waiting for arbitration, which will happen in 60 days (presumably from when they started negotiating). The VDT writeup protrays that as a surprise, but it's what County Chairman Ashley Paulk has been saying since before these negotiations began.

I would have preferred to hear what services the cities do now or could with more tax revenue provide that would benefit the entire county.

Even more, I think the local governments could spend their time together better talking about how to increase the pie, for example through solar energy for municipal revenue or through county-wide fast Internet broadband access, either of which would help attract knowledge-based jobs, which would provide employment and increased tax revenue.

However, I salute the cities and the county for being transparent about their positions, as you can see in these videos.

Here's a playlist:

Videos of Mayors and County in Hahira
LOST Negotiation,
Mayors and County in Hahira, Lowndes County Commission (LOST),
Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 May 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq