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Revenue shortfall hits county hard

Posted by
Walter Geiger
in Top Stories
Tuesday, July 6. 2010
Comments (17)
The Lamar County commission has published a proposed budget in anticipation of setting its millage rate at a called meeting July 27 at 6:30 p.m.

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#1 Anonymous on 07/06/10 at 12:58 PM
Police, Fire, and EMS are always the first to be hit. All three of those are already working with bare minimum. Hate to see what this budget means for them.
#2 GMAC on 07/06/10 at 02:40 PM
A view from outside looking in:

A county administrator was hired at a cost of many thousands of dollars. Therefore, now we have duplicated efforts in the position of administrator and commission, (or one worker with five overseers). We have a police department (cities of) and a sheriffs department (county). Combining law enforcement should benefit city residents as well as provide expanded county coverage at lower cost. All we need is a sheriffs department. I won’t add any more because I’m sure these two are going to be beat up enough. But, there are many ways to find solutions other than camouflaged tax increase hidden agendas aimed at its citizens. Additionally, just want to add; city and county working closer to control the IDA would probably go a long way to eliminate budget destruction too.
#3 Anonymous on 07/06/10 at 03:15 PM
Bend over and get ready!
#4 Anonymous on 07/06/10 at 04:57 PM
News Flash for the poorly informed. We are in the middle of a deepening economic downturn in a area with a poor outlook for improvement

Where are all those "industrial prospects" we heard so much about? All we seem to have here is a Chinese con man and whining about a smelly compost operation. Of course I suppose Billy Kitchens raising hell at the noisy railroad train should count for something, just what however, is a mystery.

"Police, Fire, and EMS are always the first to be hit."

The worthless sheriff can spend more time on his 15,000 foot long I-75 revenue source, the fire department can cancel that unneeded fire station, and EMS can have their contract renegotiated.

What part of CUT BACK does these people not understand?
#5 Anonymous on 07/06/10 at 06:48 PM
Well said and definitely needed to be said. But I can bet you none of those will even be given a second though, imagine that. Barnesville as well as Lamar are already top heavy so we need to lead by example and start trimming at the top.
#6 Anonymous on 07/07/10 at 09:03 AM
Combining law enforcement should benefit city residents as well as provide expanded county coverage at lower cost. All we need is a sheriffs department.

What? Give Larry Waller even more power? No! Make that hell no!!!!
#7 the truth on 07/07/10 at 09:55 AM
Anon 5:57 ask "Where are all those "industrial prospects" we heard so much about?" you want to know? i'll tell you,they saw how the people of lamar county think when they decided to send the county back into the past and not bring it into the modern times by electing the people they did in the last election.the people of lamar county are scared of the future,they have been lead around by the hand for so long by the tiny few "old money" folks that they would pee all over themselves if they were to actualy see the real world.keep lamar county in the past folks and let the good ol boys keep telling you that if you venture to far from lamar county you will fall off the face of the earth.
#8 GMAC on 07/07/10 at 01:45 PM
Sounds like you have a problem with the present sheriff and are afraid to identify yourself to boot.

The solution was not giving anyone any power. It was addressing the budget. It would affect any sheriff that is holding office.

Anyway, if you are afraid to confront your problem head on and address the issue that you have with Waller. What do you think whining anonymously is going to accomplish? Why don’t you crawl out from under your rock and go discuss your grievances face to face. You might not get what you want but you will get respect.
#9 The Snarky Georgian on 07/07/10 at 05:59 PM
Lower taxes are fine, but at the end of the day, people expect to get paid for the work they do to help the community. As dedicated as the folks at the sheriff's office and the fire department are, it is unreasonable to expect them to work for free or at less that market value. They have families to feed too.
#10 isa on 07/08/10 at 06:12 AM
The free money the sheriff and county collect
should be put to better use for the county,
like paying some of the taxes for the property
owners, instead of buying more toys for the
police and county to play with.
The free money I am talking about is the money
collected from stopping drug traffic on I-75.
They sometimes collect $100,000.00 at a time.
#11 isa on 07/08/10 at 08:13 AM
The free money the police and county get from
drug traffic on I-75 should be put to better
use in helping the tax payers of Lamar County,
instead of them buying toys with.
They sometimes get $100,000.00 at a time.
That would help us with the tax problem.
#12 The Snarky Georgian on 07/08/10 at 10:19 AM
The problem goes deeper than you think. Conservatives blame the government for their failures and want it smaller; Liberals blame the government for their problems and want it larger. Either way, the responsibility for failure or success lies with the individual. But if you want any government services, you just have to pay for them. Tax rates here are really very low, and sure, everyone would like to pay less, but we have to have police and fire protection. Those folks do thankless jobs, and they deserve our respect.
#13 Anonymous on 07/08/10 at 01:25 PM
Sounds good on paper, but the Georgia law dictates how funds are to be spent.
#14 anon tribe southern district on 07/13/10 at 09:46 PM
You complain about one worker with 5 overseers. If you want problems in the county , take out the one and see what a mess the other 5 would have the county in. Employees can not serve that many masters and the game of favorites is on in the county. Comm are to set the budget and policy, let The Adminstrator run the day to day operations.
#15 Anonymous on 07/14/10 at 03:37 AM
Hey isa, guess what? when the sheriff's office buys what you call toys and vehicles with the money from I-75, it is helping people with the taxes because it keeps the people from having to buy them with their tax money! And the sheriff's office dont get all of the money that comes from these stops, a portion goes to the DEA and other agencies, so after that is said and done you can buy about 2 cars fully equiped and a few guns needed to help protect you. Bet you wouldnt complain about the toys and things they have and bought when you need them and they show up and save your un-educated butt! know what your talkin about before you start typing!
#16 isa on 07/14/10 at 10:53 AM
Hey Bud, I can take care of myself.
#17 TTerry on 07/15/10 at 06:18 AM
You must not own anything. Every time and every thing is based on taxes for the property owner. As far as the toys in question goes, you people do not need any more money to control the population. I can get you all types of guns and cars at a very good price-used.
If you are going to call someone uneducated have a pair big enough to print your name. You people should not get a penny from any bust or any crime. That is a motivation to be stopping people because of the way one looks. It was never that way before the first Bush made that law. How in Gods name did the Law Department ever make ends meet before that debacle was ever put in place> It should be repealed today and go back to county provided. Maybe we can get the top heavy management part removed and get better qualified law men without smart mouths--If you are a cop, you sound like one, smart mouth and all. This county was run by one Sheriff and four or five deputies. I think it was run very good. It was good enough the Sheriff at that time was in office for about 30 yrs. Go figure.
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