Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Oconee County Says It Will Not Pay Full Costs For Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Water Treatment Plant

***New Elections Director Appointed***

Oconee County has told Walton County that it will not pay its full share of the costs of building a water treatment plant at the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir that the two counties built and own in Walton County.

Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell told his fellow commissioners on Tuesday night that he had met with Walton County Commission Chair David Thompson on Aug. 26.

Daniell said he informed Thompson at that meeting that Oconee County is willing to pay only $12 million toward construction of the plant.

Monday, August 29, 2022

Independent Candidates Say They Rejected Both Parties In Decision To Run For Oconee County School Board

***Made Comments In Video Recorded Interviews***

The two candidates running as Independents for the Oconee County School Board said the chair of the Oconee County Democratic Party was wrong in suggesting that the petition drive that put them on the November ballot was the work of the Democratic Party.

Both said that a large number of people were involved in soliciting signatures of voters on the petitions required for them to be on ballot, and that only about a quarter of the signature collectors were affiliated in some way with the Democratic Party.

The two said they emerged as candidates from a group of parents who wanted to see some changes in the Board of Education and that they decided from the very beginning to run as Independents, rather than as Democrats or Republicans.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Oconee County Town Hall Meeting Offered Give And Take On Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Referendum

***School Board Criticized By Speakers***

The decision by the Oconee County Board of Education to approve a 4.7 percent increase in property taxes–after first proposing a 9.8 percent increase–hung in the air at the Tuesday night Town Hall meeting of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners.

The advertised central theme of the Town Hall meeting was the decision of the commissioners to put a 1 percent Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum on the ballot in November.

Friday, August 26, 2022

COVID-19 Hospital Cases Down Slightly For Third Week In Row; Northeast Health District Reports Drop In Case Count

***Six Confirmed COVID Deaths, One In Clarke***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 44 COVID-19 patients, down from the 46 reported last Friday.

The number of ICU beds in use was 68, down by one from a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27, also down by one from Aug. 19.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Democratic Candidates For Oconee County State Legislative Seats Say Republican Incumbents Are Absent, Out Of Touch

***Focus On Reproductive Rights***

Andrew Ferguson said Sen. Bill Cowsert is not actively engaged in Oconee County.

Jeff Auerbach said much the same about Rep. Marcus Wiedower.

Mokah Jasmin Johnson said Rep. Houston Gaines is out of touch with the community he has been elected to serve.

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Oconee Crossing Residents Seeking Help From Other Oconee County Citizens In Fight Against Rezone For Grocery, Drive Throughs

***Plans For Nearby Grocery Inactive

Residents of Oconee Crossing subdivision at U.S. 78 and Hog Mountain Road have made it clear from the beginning that they are not opposed to commercial development on the edge of their neighborhood.

They said they knew that development was coming when they bought their homes.

What they are opposed to is the proposed four drive through restaurants and a large grocery that will be in their back yards if Oconee County commissioners approve a rezone request at their meeting on Sept. 13.

Friday, August 19, 2022

COVID-19 Hospital Cases Drop Slightly Again At Area Hospitals; Northeast Health District Reports 12 Confirmed COVID Deaths

***One Confirmed Death In Oconee***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 46 COVID-19 patients, down from the 50 reported last Friday and from the 53 reported two Fridays ago.

The number of ICU beds in use was 69, the same as a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 28, down from 34 on Aug. 12.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Campaign Coffers Of Democratic Oconee County State Legislative Candidates Dwarfed By Those Of Republican Incumbents

***Democrats Holding Forum For Party Candidates***

The three Democrats seeking to unseat the three Republicans who represent Oconee County in the Georgia General Assembly began the election season with a small fraction of the financial resources of the three incumbents.

Andrew Ferguson, Mokah Jasmine Johnson, and Jeffrey Auerbach had only $35,927 in unspent campaign funds among them, according to the Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report each of them filed in early July.

By contrast, incumbents Sen. Bill Cowsert, Rep. Houston Gaines, and Rep. Marcus Wiedower had $654,664 among them.

Monday, August 15, 2022

COVID-19 Cases Drop Slightly At Area Hospitals; NE Health District Case Count Up Slightly

***Two Confirmed Deaths From Disease Recorded***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 50 COVID-19 patients, down slightly from the 53 reported a week earlier.

The number of ICU beds in use was 69, down from 71 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 34, down from 38 on Aug. 5.

Sunday, August 14, 2022

Oconee County Schools Will Receive More Property Tax Revenue Than Budgeted Even After Approved Cut In Millage Rate

***Rollback Millage Rate Also Produced Budgeted Revenue***

Administrators of Oconee County Schools underestimated the size of the county’s Tax Digest in the budget the Board of Education approved on June 6 by $195 million, or 7.4 percent. (See Note below.)

As a result, that budget underestimated the amount of tax revenue Oconee County Schools would have expected to have received had the Board set the tax rate at 16.25 mills as recommended by Superintendent Jason Branch by just less than $4.5 million.

Board Member Wayne Bagley cited that underestimation of the Tax Digest when, following citizen protests, he proposed at the end of the meeting on Aug. 1 that the millage rate be dropped to 15.5 from the 16.5 of last year, rather than only to 16.25.

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Oconee County School Board Members Rejected Arguments Of Citizens For Millage Rate Cut And Then Cut Rate Anyway

***Final Conversation Missing From Video Recording***

Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Liz Harlow told Board of Education members at the start of their final tax hearing last week that state law required them to gather “for the purpose of listening to the public.”

Before citizens were given a chance to speak, however, Board Member Tim Burgess talked for 10-minutes about the importance of the proposed nearly10 percent tax increase–which most citizens present had come to oppose–for maintaining the school system’s fund balance.

Tuesday, August 09, 2022

Oconee Board Of Elections Puts T-SPLOST On Ballot, Gets Update On Secretary Of State Investigation Of Petition Drive

***Board Told Throwing Out All Petitions Not An Option***

The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration met last week to put the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on the county ballot in November and to set the qualifying dates for Watkinsville Council Posts 3 through 5.

The Board also received an update on the investigation by the Secretary of State Office of irregularities in the petition drive that put Independent candidates Ryan Repetske and Melissa Eagling on the November School Board ballot.

Monday, August 08, 2022

State Announces Award Of $42 Million In Federal Recovery Funds For Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Water Treatment Plant

***Plant Estimated To Cost $80 Million

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has informed Walton County that its application for funding for a water treatment plant for Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir has been approved tentatively at $42 million.

Walton Commission Chair David Thompson announced at a called meeting of the reservoir Management Board last week that he had been notified of the favorable review of the county’s application for funding on July 14.

Saturday, August 06, 2022

COVID-19 Cases Up Sharply At Area Hospitals; 10 Confirmed Deaths From Disease Reported By Public Health Department

***Case Count Declines In Status Report***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 53 COVID-19 patients, a 36 percent increase from the 39 cases on Friday of last week.

The number of COVID-19 cases at the area hospitals is the highest reported on a Friday since 70 were reported on Feb. 25 of this year.

The number of ICU beds in use was 71, up from 54 a week earlier but at roughly the same level as on each of the other Fridays in July.

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

Oconee County School Board Increases Cut To Millage Rate After Public Hearings

***New Rate Represents 4.7 Percent Tax Increase***

The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday evening unanimously adopted a final millage rate of 15.5 for 2022, rather than the 16.25 rate proposed by Superintendent Jason Branch.

The 15.5 millage rate represents a tax increase of 4.7 percent from the 2021 rate.

The Board would have had to have reduced the millage rate to 14.8 to have avoided an increase in property taxes for Oconee County property owners for the year.

Monday, August 01, 2022

Area Hospitals Report Increase In COVID-19 Cases; Oconee Records Confirmed Death From Disease, Clarke Records Two

***Cases In Northeast Health District Up Slightly***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 39 COVID-19 patients, up from 33 on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 54, down from 70 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 23, down from 25 a week ago.