Oconee County Releases Fiscal Year 2025 General Fund Budget Showing Drop In Spending From Current Fiscal Year

***Total Budget $76.8 Million***

The Oconee County Fiscal Year 2025 Proposed Budget, released to the public on Tuesday night, shows increased General Fund spending of $1.9 million over the original budget for the current fiscal year, but a drop in spending of $3.7 million from the budget as amended.

The General Fund Budget is balanced, with revenue and expenditures at $40.7 million.

The total County Budget, which includes the General Fund as well as Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, and Water Resources Enterprise Fund spending, will increase $1.8 million over the original Fiscal Year 2024 Budget.

Oconee County School Board Gets Tentative Fiscal Year 2025 Budget With $8.9 Million Increase In Spending

***Millage Rate Remains Unchanged***

Oconee County Schools Superintendent Jason Branch is asking the Board of Education to adopt a tentative Fiscal Year 2025 budget on Monday that increases spending by $8.9 million over the current fiscal year.

Much of that increased spending results from dictates from the state and is covered by increased state revenue, the bulk of it for teacher pay raises.

Oconee County Commission To Vote On Concept Plan For IMI Corporate Campus In Gateway Technology and Business Park

***IDA Has Modified Development Guidelines***

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night will review and almost certainly approve a concept plan for the future IMI Corporate Campus on Aiken Road in the Gateway Technology and Business Park on the edge of Bogart.

The Conceptual Site Plan shows an eight-building complex for IMI Industrial Services Group that includes a corporation office, a fabrication building, a machine shop, a stainless steel shop, and buildings for future expansion.

Early Voting Off To Slow Start In Oconee County For May 21 Primary And Nonpartisan Election

***Republican Ballots Dominate***

Only 635 of Oconee County’s 33,143 registered voters cast a ballot in the first six days of Advance In Person voting for the May 21 General Primary/Nonpartisan General Election.

The Oconee County Elections and Registration Office received and accepted another 34 Absentee By Mail ballots in the first week of early voting, meaning that only 2.0 percent of the county’s voters have cast a ballot to date.

Property Owner Demolished Historic Oconee County House That State Said Was Obstacle To SR 316 Interchange At Dials Mill Road

***County Issued Demolition Permit In January***

Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Engineer Marvin Gavins said in late March that the Department had picked Dials Mill Extension over Dials Mill Road for its preferred full interchange at SR 316 in part because of the existence of a historic house on the northwest corner of Dials Mill Road and SR 316.

The owners of that property literally have removed that justification.

UCS Dials Mill Road LLC applied for and received a permit in the middle of January to demolish the historic home, and the site is now cleared of what was the Lee Daniel Farm homestead, built in 1910, according to county tax records.

March Presidential Preference Primary Sets Stage For Conservative Test Of Oconee County In May Primaries, November Election

***Trump Support In Oconee Sixth Lowest In State***

In the March 12 Presidential Primary, Oconee County was sixth from the bottom among Georgia’s 159 counties in the percentage of Republican Party vote going to former President Donald Trump.

The only counties in the state ranking lower than Oconee County in terms of the percentage of Republican vote for Trump were Chatham, Cobb, Clarke, Fulton, and DeKalb, in that order.

GDOT Releases Preliminary Plans For SR 316 Interchanges At McNutt Creek Road, Mars Hill Road, Julian Drive

***Access To Be Closed At Mars Hill Road, Julian Drive***

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) showed plans at its In-Person Public Meeting in Statham last week for a Right-In, Right-Out Access to SR 316 from McNutt Creek Road and for closing access to SR 316 at both Mars Hill Road and Julian Drive.

The presentation was labeled as “Initial Findings of the SR 316 Planning Study,” and those in attendance at the meeting were advised that “access point improvements may be refined during preliminary engineering.”