Opponents of the court settlement allowing for construction of Oconee Crossing Shopping Center turned out in the Commission Chamber at the Oconee County Courthouse on Tuesday night, but they didn’t change the minds of the needed two commissioners.
After detailed arguments by two residents of Oconee Crossing subdivision, the vote was unchanged from March 7.
Oconee County Schools released its tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2024 on Monday, showing revenue of $103.9 million, up from $91.9 million in the current fiscal year, and expenditures of $106.0 million, up from $90.2 a year ago.
The revenue projection is based on growth in the tax digest of 7.3 percent and an unchanged millage rate of 15.5 mills.
The tax digest grew by 15.4 percent last year, and 5.6 percent the year before that.
Opponents of the new plans for the Oconee Crossing Shopping Center are hoping that their presence, their arguments, and their red T-shirts on Tuesday will persuade at least two members of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to change their minds.
Commissioner Chuck Horton is seeking another opportunity to voice his opposition to the plans by the Oconee County School Board to increase the fees it charges the Oconee County Parks and Recreation Department for use of school sports facilities.
Oconee County Sheriff James Hale is not in favor of putting deputies in Oconee County Schools.
He does not rule out changing that position in the future, but he does not believe the current situation in Oconee County Schools warrants inclusion of a security officer.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 76 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 26, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 67.
Young Democrats from Oconee County High School, North Oconee High School, the University of Georgia, and the state, in their meeting with Oconee County Democrats last week, had some tips for those in the audience less young than they are.
They said that the party should pay more attention to gun control, to climate change, to affordable housing, to issues facing the LGBTQ+ community--and to them.
The new site plan released last week for the Oconee Crossing Shopping Center on U.S. 78 at Hog Mountain Road moves the proposed grocery store and increases the size of the buffer with the adjoining Oconee Crossing subdivision.
It also reduces the number of drive-through restaurants and moves the car wash.
