The Lamar County commission voted 3-1 July 27 to advertise and hold hearings on a proposal to raise its millage rate by two mills. It also voted unanimously to borrow another $950,000, running its debt total to $2.45 million
About 275 people packed the main courtroom at the Lamar County courthouse for the hearing at which the decision was made.
Henry Hand told the commission he could balance the county budget in 12 hours. "You've got too many people on the payroll," he argued.
Our county is in a hell of a mess
The county started getting into this mess the first time they borrowed money to operate. Who was in charge then and why did it continue so long? Who thinks it is a good idea to borrow money to operate? Get rid of them.
County $ Rainbird $-1
Not in Republican land.
Personally I think the Schools should stop trying to beautify it's self and do more about education. They are the ones taxing us to death for all the pretty grounds !!!!! Dirt was here first.
Homeowners cannot keep supporting everyone.
Sorry sport, that is going to happen anyway.
There are just too many leeches taking too much from too few for the current arrangement to be sustained for much longer.
With no jobs and an economy in steep decline, it is only a matter of time before your "wild west" or "3rd world country" scenario appears.
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A federal audit of $9.1 billion targeted for reconstruction in Iraq cannot account for more than 95 percent of it, a federal report said Tuesday.
The report, by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, blamed "weaknesses in DoD's [the Department of Defense's] financial and management controls" and called on the Pentagon to improve its financial and management controls.
The audit centered on the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), which was established in May 2003 by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
After the CPA was dissolved in June 2004, the Iraqi government authorized the U.S. government to administer the funds used for reconstruction.
The Pentagon managed the DFI funds until the end of 2007, when its authority was withdrawn.
The special inspector general reviewed records from eight Defense Department organizations that received DFI funds.
"This situation occurred because most DoD organizations receiving DFI funds did not establish the required Department of the Treasury accounts and no DoD organization was designated as the executive agent for managing the use of DFI funds," the report concluded. "The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss." (www.cnn.com)
#4 would you prefer that the Lamar Co. Schools have these same problems? And the posts below criticizing the improving of facilities is even dumber than yours, if that is possible. It is beyond any sensible comprehension that anybody with an average I.Q. could question the progress that has been made in the school's physical plant and still be $7 million in the black financially. What don't you understand about getting the schools out of the dark ages, and getting them on par with the more progressive school systems in the state. This is just really mind boggling to think that folks can be that dumb. It really is...
The best thing that could happen in Lamar Co. is to load up all of the retards in the county that make idiotic statements about the progress being made, and ship them down to Bibb Co., where they could use a few more to go with the ones that they've already got...
And they walk amoung us......
Funding to the IDA should be cut. There doesn't seem to be any real progress being made by that group. What happened to the days when community "leaders" volunteered for that type of work. Why does everyone have to get paid for everything now?
When Obamacare kicks in around the first of the new year, you can kiss Aldora goodbye.
The increased costs will send the place offshore just as fast as they can unbolt those fancy machines from the floor and load them up.
Can't happen? Just watch. Meanwhile the IDA is having no success attracting new employers to the area.
economy? Wow- another example of how government works to our benefit- if only we could see that in Republican land.
this is what you get lol
groceries with. But my company cut everyone
10% in 2008 and made us pay 50% more for our
medical insurance, plus we could only have 32 hours a week. Why doesn't someone think
like business men do in this county?
A better process is zero based budgeting where you decide the goods or services you plan to provide or what is minimum requirement and then how much is required to fund the basic level. In this process you question staffing with the level of compensation for qualified personnel in the competitive labor market. You look at facilities and equipment to achieve the identified objectives and then you eliminate unnecessary overhead, equipment and facilities or add appropriately to achieve the desired end point. Obviously, this then brings into play the evaluation of competitive employee compensation, benefits and staffing levels, equipment and facilities.
Once this process has been completed and you incorporate debt retirement or the need to establish reserves it will dictate the appropriate level of taxation as an outcome to support the process.
This process passes the responsibility to the grass roots level to justify wants versus needs and establishes accountability for outcomes through ownership versus mandates from the top down.
Are you still wanting that revolution???
You wanted one before! I thought you would have a little knowledge rub off on you by now. For some it takes longer than others.
Remember everybody, you get what you paid for. Some of us are paying through the nose, while the rest are laughing their heads of. Or smoking it off in a crack house somewhere. I didn't vote for this mess, but I live here and now I have to tolerate what the rest of you have done. Will it get any better? Beats me, how did y'all vote. Now we got a new one that knows nothing coming in for district 2. What will he do, or speak for? Time will tell.
Why should the people of the county pay for a few individuals irresponsible spending? Commissioners may say that they are raising the millage but we as the property owners should refuse to pay. I’m not saying to refuse it all; just the increased amount. We should stage a tax increase revolt to send a message. It would take everyone to take a stand because just a few could not do it. Until we force responsible leadership on them, they are going to continue to be reckless. Their problem is that they started borrowing money to get by until the end of the year and now they want to continue it. They create a budget but will not abide by it. The county got 400 thousand SPLOST dollars or more back from the Ag authority fiasco and put it into the general fund. That is 400K of unaccounted tax payer dollars that was voted on by the voters for the Ag authority. The commission has obviously misused that money which is in fact against the law. If anyone disagrees, it can be shown why.
People living on fixed incomes do not have their fixed income raised enough to cover increases like this. Does anyone have family members facing this tax increase that live on social securiy? Hello: they didn't get a raise!
It is time to take a stand or in a few years it might be you. Stand up for the people, county people. The county belongs to us; it does not belong to 5 individuals and an adminstrator.
I for one and tired of financial irresponsibility. When our bankbooks are empty we stop spending. It is time we force all government to do the same.
Some one needs to do some number crunching and redo the budget and budget the county... I agree with the poster who said when they don't have money they manage around it... I do the same thing I don't go borrow money and put myself more into debt... That's the problem I see arise here... Don't they have an accountant who can manage their spending? If not where does all the money go and what exactly are the salaries of these employees? The school system salaries are public. Maybe they should all man up and tax a 5% or 10% pay cut and see where they stand after that. But I am sure that would be out of the question since some are probably living well above their means.
However, a local news channel maybe interested and do the dirty work for us citizens if we really need them to digging up the information that we aren't allowed to know and interviewing those who are supposedly in charge.
If our officials would spend money as if it were their own we would not be in the shape we are, the problem goes all the way to the White House. Next time you go to the polls think about the mess we are in and make a change with your vote.