After hearing from 13 speakers who opposed the proposed 15.0 mill school property tax rate or at least the way the Board managed it, the Oconee County Board of Education adopted that rate unanimously on Monday evening.
Opponents focused on the 9.53 percent tax increase the rate represents, the way the Board handled the budget process, and questions about the need for the $34.8 million budget surplus in the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Oconee County Schools.
The Oconee County Board of Education and school administrators received a report on the size of the county’s tax digest in late June or early July, and they revised the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Oconee County Schools sometime after that date.
The new budget shows a reduction of the millage rate to 15.0 from the 15.5 in the budget the Board passed on June 5.
Because of the exceptional growth in the tax digest, however, the 15.0 mills produces $2.1 million more in revenue from local property taxes than the original budget the Board approved.
Decisions by the Georgia Secretary of State Office and by the Georgia Department of Transportation last week have had reverberations in Oconee County.
Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger announced on July 18 that he was sending a mailed notice to 677 registered Oconee County voters who have been on “inactive” status for two general elections and have failed to update their voting records within that time.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday will hear requests from two petitioners, each seeking permission to build a gymnasium.
Core Blend Training LLC wants to change the conditions of an earlier rezone for 2.1 acres on Jamestown Road off Hog Mountain Road west of Butler’s Crossing to allow for an office building and a gymnasium.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has changed its plans for the three western most SR 316 interchanges in Oconee County and is now proposing to build a full access interchange at McNutt Creek Road, to close access at Dials Mill Road, and to build a full access interchange at Dials Mill Extension.
Earlier plans had called for a full access interchange at Dials Mill Road and flyovers at McNutt Creek Road and Dials Mill Extension.
A lively crowd of local government leaders, county employees and their families, former employees, and local residents filled the atrium of the new Oconee County Administrative Building on Tuesday afternoon for the building’s official ribbon cutting.
County Administrator Justin Kirouac did the honors, at the request of County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell.
“We’re going to ask Justin to do the ribbon cutting for all of his hard work on everything he has done,” Daniell said.
Only four persons spoke on Monday at the first two public hearings on the proposed 9.53 percent increase in property taxes for Oconee County Schools.
All four asked the Board to reduce the millage rate below the proposed 15.0 mills.
The two who spoke on Monday evening also were strongly critical of the Board for embargoing the legal advertisements announcing the increase in the county’s legal organ, The Oconee Enterprise.
