Oconee County Schools took in a little more than $1.2 million in Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) revenue in January, but the amount was nearly a percentage point lower than the system took in from the sales tax in January of 2023.
The decline, which actually was for taxes collected in December of 2023, compared with a 5.1 percent increase in December of 2023 over December of 2022 and was the first decline in ELOST collections going back to April of 2022.
When he stood before the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 6, Engineer Jeff Carter didn’t present an attractive picture of what’s on the property at the eastern intersection of Ruth Jackson Road and U.S. 78.
Carter, representing Rick Bradshaw’s Mulberry Property Investments LLC, told the Board the property owned by Mulberry Property Investments is “in bad shape,” and “the owner wants to revitalize that corner” by putting in a “general retail facility.”
Oconee County Schools Superintendent Jason Branch on Monday will ask the Oconee County Board of Education to award a $2.6 million contract to Amacher Bros. Construction Company of Atlanta for modifications and renovations to Rocky Branch Elementary School.
Branch also will ask the Board to spend $732,954 for purchase of five 48-passenger buses and one 72-passenger bus from Thomas Peach State Freightliner, based in Norcross.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 485 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Feb. 7, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 544 cases in the week ending Jan. 31, 406 cases in the week ending Jan. 24, 481 cases in the week ending on Jan. 17, 403 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Jan. 10, and 278 cases in the week ending on Jan. 3.
Oconee County picked up only 12 new registered voters in the last month, with Monday (Feb. 12) being the final day of voter registration before the March 12 Presidential Primary.
As of Tuesday, when the Oconee County Board of Elections and Voter Registration met, the county had received only 77 absentee ballot applications for the Presidential Primary.
Watkinsville Attorney Pamela Lohr Hendrix is working with a group to organize a slate of candidates to run against all of the Oconee County Republican incumbents in the Republican Primary on May 21.
Hendrix said she has decided to run for the Board of Education, but she hasn’t decided which of the three Posts up for election in November she will seek.
Politicians have had many ways to mislead the public in the past, but the advent of AI chatbots is making political deception even more effective, communication researcher David Clementson said at a meeting with Oconee County Democrats last month.
Clementson said AI can be used to improve campaign solicitations, create better tailored campaign messages, tell implausible lies, and manipulate visuals.
