By Stephanie Johns
staff writer

The millage rate and what goes into it came up for discussion during the recent work session of the Madison City Council. The council heard from Chuck Anglin, chief appraiser for the County, and from Karen Guinn, Madison finance officer.
Guinn shared the steps involved in setting the millage rate in a document titled “Millage Rate 101: A Guide from Budget to Millage Rate.”
First, the city creates its budget for the next fiscal year, which is where the city council is now, she said.
Second, the tax assessor assesses and values all property before providing the city with its net tax digest.
As shared during the work session, the 2013 net digest of $192,721,156 is a decrease of $8,452,716 from the 2012 net digest of $201,173,872.
In a later interview Anglin explained that the information he shared at the work session was preliminary.
“Probably by the first of July, that’s when everything becomes more concrete and less fluid,” he said. “It’s pretty close to what they’re going to need as far as budgeting purposes.”
Third, the city can calculate the millage rate, which was set at 6.351 for 2012.
As noted for the fourth step: “If the ad valorem tax revenue is constant from the prior year, the City should be able to adopt the rollback rate.”
The rollback rate, as defined in the packet, is “the previous year’s millage rate plus or minus the millage equivalent of the total net assessed value added to or deducted by reassessments of existing real property.”
A rollback rate then, according to Guinn, is basically the millage rate government would need to adopt this year in order to collect the same amount of tax revenue as collected last year.

By Stephanie Johns
staff writer

During their May meeting, members of the Morgan County Resource Preservation Advisory (RPA) Board discussed the demise of House Bill (HB) 474 as well as the possibility of having a summer intern.
According to the Georgia General Assembly Legislation website, HB 474 was meant “to clarify additional uses which are not prohibited by historic preservation laws.”
Tara Cooner, county staff to the RPA, shared via email: “We talked about the demise of HB 474, which apparently did not even make it to the state legislature.”
As to the RPA intern, Cooner wrote, “We have been contacted by a student who is interested, so we are going to meet with her next week to talk.”

Printed in the May 23, 2013 edition.

By Patrick Yost
editor

Two men have been arrested and Morgan County Sheriff's Office deputies are seeking a third in relation to alleged illegal four-wheeler activity in Bostwick.
According to Morgan County Sheriff Robert Markley, Kevin Dwayne Smith, 26, Madison, and Phallon Robertson, 17, Bostwick, were both arrested on Monday, May 20 and charged with obstruction of law enforcement officials after they allegedly fled an attempted stop by deputies while the two were operating a four-wheeler on Paxson Dairy Road.
Markley said authorities have several counts of fleeing and attempting to elude law enforcement officials and obstruction of law enforcement officials pending against Donta Robertson, 23, Bostwick in relation to the four-wheeler activity.
Markley said officers were called on Monday to Paxson Dairy Road after a citizen had reported that someone was blocking the road with a four-wheeler. When deputies arrived, he said, they observed a silver pickup truck in front of a four-wheeler. A man in the back of the truck was allegedly filming the driver of the four-wheeler as he performed "wheelies" on the road. Officers attempted to stop the four-wheeler, Markley said, but the vehicle fled.
The four-wheeler was later confiscated from a Carter Street, Bostwick residence in which both Phallon Robertson and Donta Robertson reside.
Markley said authorities also had received video tape evidence of persons performing "donuts" and "wheelies" on the Bostwick baseball field on Saturday while young children were attempting to play ball.

Printed in the May 23, 2013 edition.

By Stephanie Johns
staff writer

Early last week the Georgia Department of Natural Resources ordered that Bibles be removed from state park lodge rooms and cabins.
As found on Gov. Nathan Deal’s website, “Out of an abundance of caution to avoid potential litigation, the commissioner removed the Bibles from rooms – though they were still available on site – after a complaint from a visitor.”
Lauren Curry, DNR Public Affairs Director, said the citizen complaint came in early May at Amicalola Falls. Beginning on May 10 DNR management directed park staff to remove the Bibles until they could get legal clarification.
Curry said removal of the Bibles was “in process” when Gov. Nathan Deal reversed that order last Wednesday.
The state has about 30 parks and lodges with overnight accommodations, she said.
“Bibles were in many of those,” she said, noting that The Giddeons International group had donated Bibles to those sites. “It would certainly be in the 100s.”
Tim Logan, assistant manager at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge, said that Bibles were back in place in all 20 of the cottages there.
As to the governor’s decision to repeal the DNR’s order, Deal shared, “The attorney general and I agree that the state is on firm legal footing as we move to return the Bibles to the rooms. These Bibles are donated by outside groups, not paid for by the state, and I do not believe that a Bible in a bedside table drawer constitutes a state establishment of religion.”
Deal concluded that “any group is free to donate literature.”

Printed in the May 23, 2013 edition.

By Stephanie Johns
staff writer

Members of the Bostwick City Council heard from one concerned citizen, Dave Dantice, during their May meeting.
The first question Dantice had was about his address. He noted that his mailing address is through Bishop but that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) did not recognize this address when his wife went to have her driver’s license renewed.
“Bostwick, Georgia 30623 is not in the DMV’s computer,” he said. He added that his wife’s voter registration card fell out and the person at the DMV said the address on that card would work.
Mayor John Bostwick explained that Dantice could find out his legal address from the Morgan County Tax Assessors Office.
During a later interview, Deputy Registrar Sue DoorenBos with the Morgan County Board of Elections and Registration said that she gets information about voter addresses from both the Morgan County Tax Assessors Office and the U.S. Post Office.
Another concern Dantice had: the city’s water. He said they had brown water a few weeks ago and wondered if there was a way for the city to inform water customers about such occurrences.
Bostwick said they would look into putting an emergency contact number on the water bills.
Dantice then shared a concern about people riding four-wheelers on Fairplay Road.
Councilwoman Angie Howard said she has complained about this, too. She said they have torn up the baseball field as well as the park.

Printed in the May 23, 2013 edition.

Board reacts to council’s decision not to allow use of the Madison Municipal Complex as a polling place