Sept. 27th Fannin BOC: Updating Fannin’s Future, Tax Negotiations, Missing County Property and Unfulfilled Requests

Fannin’s Future

An opportunity for everyday Fannin voters to influence the economic, environmental and community well-being for the next twenty years surfaced at the Board of Commissioners Sept 27th meeting.  The Board of Commissioners is looking for seven people to appoint to the Fannin County Comprehensive Plan Committee.  These seven will join with representatives from McCaysville and Blue Ridge to write the next version of Fannin’s Comprehensive Plan.  A comprehensive plan sets out  the twenty year goals for  economic development, housing, community facilities and services, transportation, natural and cultural resources, land use and intergovernmental coordination.  All three governments use the comprehensive plan to put together funding for projects. (click here to read the current Fannin County Comprehensive Plan)

FetchYourNews spoke to Post-Commissioner Johnson about who will be appointed to the Committee.  Johnson, speaking for himself, said that people who are interested in being on the committee can contact him.  The Board of Commissioners has not yet set up a process for vetting or appointing potential members.  There is not yet a set date of when the committee will come together except it will happen in the near future.  FetchYourNews was not able to contact Commission Chair Simonds or Post-Commissioner Sosebee before publishing this article to find out their criteria for selecting committee members.

 

Tax Negotiations

Post-Commissioner Johnson is speaking with the Fannin Chamber of Commerce about changing the County/Chamber division of the hotel/motel tax.  In 2015, the tax brought in $1,495,392.  The current division is 70% Chamber and 30% County for revenues outside Blue Ridge and 60% Chamber and 40% Blue Ridge for revenues within the city.  State law mandates that Chambers of Commerce receive at least 40% if the hotel/motel tax for “promoting, attracting, stimulating and developing tourism and conventions.” The formal contract between County and Chamber will end in 2020.

Johnson is currently speaking with the Chamber about changing the revenue division between the County and the Chamber.  He is suggesting a 50/50 split.  Johnson met with Jan Hackett, President of the Fannin Cunty Chamber of Commerce, to discuss the effect of changing the ratio.  Johnson would like to move the ratio .5% at a time to see how it affects the Chamber.

Johnson also wants to see the hotel/motel tax revenues move out of the county’s general fund into a “special projects” fund.  He wants to see the money transform into a project everyone in the county can see and use; projects people can point to and say, “This is paid for by tourist tax.” If the negotiations go well, Johnson wants to look into outlining potential projects for the increased revenue.

Simonds strongly stated that the County and Chamber should have a 50/50 split.  He believes that the approximately $750,000 the Chamber would still receive if there were a split is sufficient for the Chamber to continue promoting tourism.

 

Missing County Property

Fannin Road Department gave an update on how many signs having gone missing from around the county, 33 within the space of one month.  At $35 a piece, it means that thieves have made off with $1,155 of county property in one month.  This estimate does not cover the cost of labor to put up the signs.  The thefts are taking place all around the county.

The other piece of property that went missing was bleachers from Tom Boyd Recreation Complex.  Turns out that they were rented to Fulton County for $300.  Simonds told John Scalera, Recreation Department Director, that sending county property out of town is something we don’t do and Fulton County has enough money to buy bleachers if they want to.  Simonds also reminded Scalera that the Board of Commissioners sets fees, like rental fees, not department heads.  The County  does want to make money off the unused bleachers, by selling them.

 

‘Flesh-eater’ Revisited

In several Board of Commissioners meetings, John Drullinger, Manager of Fannin’s Animal Control Center, has spoken about a group of vicious dogs currently housed at the facility.  FetchYourNews contacted Drullinger to find out more about these dogs and the state of the facility.

The four dogs that haven’t responded to rehabilitation and Drullinger believes they are a liability to the community and to Animal Control employees who go into their space. Animal Control only has 18 kennels, with four taken up indefinitely by the group of dogs.  The facility has some overflow capacity.  As of yet, the facility has not had to house animals for a long time in the overflow areas.  Drullinger is concerned about kennel space to dogs that he feels can’t be sent into the community.  “Fannin County has grown. More people means more dogs,” said Drullinger.

Post-Commissioner Johnson agreed that existing animal control ordinances need to be reviewed.  He made a motion for the Commissioners to revisit the ordinance to see what is there and what needs to be changed.

 

Project Specifics Required of County Employees and Denied to County Voters

At the September 13^th Commissioners meeting, Johnson told Fannin Fire Chief Randy Thomas that the county needed more specific information about what the Fire Department was going to do with $150,000 and why they needed it.  Johnson was referring to the renovations the Fire Department wanted to make at Fire Station #3 in Dial.

Thomas got the project statistics to Johnson. Johnson thanked him for the details.  Johnson said that $150,000 was too much for the county to spend, but the county could afford renovations between $100,000 and $120,000.

However, the Commissioners still have not responded to a similar request from Fannin citizen Joe Webb.

At Aug. 23^rd, Sept. 13^th and Sept. 27^th meetings, Webb made an Open Records Request to the Board of Commissioners for function, size and cost for the facilities and building projects the Commissioners want the citizens to approve on the Nov. 8^th SPLOST referendum.  As of yet, it has been five weeks that Webb has been waiting for his Open Records Request.  Law requires that Open Records Requests are filled within 72 hours.

Currently, the SPLOST referendum only states how much money goes towards a project, but not what the project is specifically.  One item even states 10.5% for Parking Deck/Administrative Building, without saying which one or both SPLOST will fund.  Another line gives 5% to the Recreation Department without stating any project for the Recreation Department.  1990 Opinion of the Georgia Attorney General states that “the list of projects on the referendum must be specific enough to place the voters on fair notice as to which projects the tax proceeds will be devoted.” (see related article, “Commissioners Avoid Required Transparency in Setting SPLOST”)

47% of all SPLOST revenue comes from the everyday purchases of people within the county, not from tourists. Using the County’s estimated revenue of $30,000,000, this translates into $14,100,000 coming out of the pocket of Fannin residents.