During the Appling County Commissioners final Public Hearing on the FY2009, held on Tuesday, August 19, three citizens expressed thoughts about the proposed budget. The first person that spoke (unable to get the name of the lady) told the commission that she was having difficulty paying her annual taxes and asked the commissioners to cut back on spending.

Bob Wiggins followed and stated that local businesses are cutting spending and questioned why the county is not doing the same. He reported that Jeff Davis County has an annual budget of approximately $7,000,000.00 and Appling County is more than $14,000,000.00. Wiggins added that he is concerned about people who can’t pay their taxes. He stated that his mother could not afford to pay county taxes if it were not for his assistance. Wiggins also pointed out that the county has less dirt roads now than years back and now the county has more equipment to maintain less.

Commissioner John Tillman stated that revenues from Plant Hatch continue to decrease annually and also pointed out that some things, such as state and federal cutbacks, are things the county has not control over.

“Things we can’t control, we can’t control. But things we can control, we need to control,” said Wiggins.

Tony Douglas also spoke to the commission and addressed several concerns about the FY2009 Budget. Douglas stated that after studying the proposed budget, one major area of concern was the solid waste contract currently held by Sullivan Environmental. He stated that the county had budgeted to spend $644,140.00 on the contract with Sullivan and expects to collect approximately $441,000.00. Douglas stated that this looks a little funny when you project to spend more than you collect. He also asked, since Sullivan’s contract is soon to be complete, if the county was prepared to open bidding on the solid waste service.

Commissioner Mike Dyal told Douglas that the county has been working hard to get a handle on the solid waste issue by working with Sullivan to get an actual count of the number of containers that are being serviced in relation to the number the county is being billed for.

Chairman Virgil Carter thanked the citizens for their comments and reported that the commissioners had talked about some of these items at length.

Regular scheduled meet-

ing

Following the Public Hearing, the commissioner entered into their regular monthly meeting. County Public Works Director Tommy Davis reported that he and County Manager Mike Phillips had met with the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) and First District DOT Board Member Roy Herrington concerning Red Oak Road. The DOT told the county that they would do a total reclamation on a portion of Red Oak Road if the county would agree to give three roads currently on the LARP Road List. The commissioners questioned how long it would be before the other roads could be put back on the LARP List. Davis stated that at the earliest it would be 2010. The question was also asked if Red Oak could be patched. Davis said that it could but it would be expensive. Commissioner Ronnie Rentz stated that the county never would have known, in the past, that Red Oak would have the type of industry it has on it now. Commissioner Dyal made a motion to move forward with the reclamation of 5.8 miles on Red Oak Road, Rentz seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

The commissioners approved three solid waste issues for accounts 10972, 14085 and 15723.

The commission approved to renew the contract for the Bacon County inmate work detail. The contract for this year will be $39,500.00.

The purchase ($1,000.00 cash match grant) of two trailers to be used for recycling was approved by board members.

The commissioners approved opening Hilton Baxley Road, Sycamore Lane and Kate Mann Road up for bidding to be paved.

The commissioners made a motion to pay for a repair to a motorgrader that was not covered by warranty. The amount of the repair will be $13,050.00.

Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Troy Rushing reported that the multi-purpose building at Ernest J. Parker Park should be completed in the next few weeks. He also reported that the new windows for the library had been ordered.