Dougherty County Commission formally OKs millage rate increase | PHOTOS

ALBANY — Despite entreaties from three citizens during a public hearing Monday morning, the Dougherty County Commission voted formally to raise the county’s millage rate 0.75 mill to 12.594 mills to finance a cost-of-living pay increase for county employees.

District 1 Commissioner Lamar Hudgins, who serves as chairman of the commission’s Finance Committee, called comparisons of county digests a “fallacy” after developer William Hancock said Dougherty had one of the highest tax digests in the state. Hancock said the tax office’s recent revaluation of county properties and the millage rate increase represent an “almost 20 percent” increase in property taxes for property owners.

“We’re not raising the millage rate 7 percent, we’re raising it seven-tenths of 1 mill,” Hudgins said. “And comparing digests from county to county is a fallacy, unless you also compare the services in each county. This increase, which is the first we’ve had in 10 years, allows us to give our employees a raise.”

Thelma Glover asked commissioners why taxes on her home went up “$58 a year” when none around her had seen an increase, and Lula Davis asked the board to “find another way” to raise needed funds rather than implement the increase.

The public hearing was the third held to discuss the millage increase, as required by law, and the board voted 7-0 to move forward with the increase later in the meeting.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to purchase two ambulances for Emergency Medical Services at a cost of $274,966, approved the purchase of a tractor and mower for $56,824.14, and OK’d Morgan III Properties’ request for a waiver on a 70-day deadline under which the commission must act on a rezoning request by the developer.

The waiver allowed the commission to table a vote on Dr. Tripp Morgan’s request to rezone 29.1 acres of land at 5626 Walker-Ducker Road from agriculture to commercial so that Morgan may build a microbrewery on the property. Such “value-added” agribusiness additions are not permitted under the county’s current zoning ordinances, but County Attorney Spencer Lee noted that the Albany-Dougherty Planning Commission is expected to discuss in August changes that would allow such additions in AG districts.

Albert Etheridge, who manages Morgan III Properties’ business issues, said before the meeting Morgan wanted to waive the time limit on a commission vote to give the Planning Commission time to discuss the AG zoning changes.

“It would be premature to ask for a ruling on our (rezoning) request until Planning has completed the discussion of AG rezoning,” he said. “We will give commissioners an updated rendering of our plans and ask that they wait until September to rule on the rezoning request.”

A change of the AG zoning requirements that would allow value-added improvements could make Morgan III Properties’ request moot.

In other meeting activities:

— County Extension Coordinator James Morgan introduced new 4-H Youth Development County Extension Agent Jazmin Thomas;

— Assistant County Administrator Mike McCoy brought up student members of the local commission-backed Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students program and members of the group’s board for introductions;

— Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas read a letter sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking the agency to deny Sabal Trail Transmission a construction permit to build a natural gas pipeline that would go through Dougherty County;

— District 2 Commissioner John Hayes formally rejected a $1,500 contribution offer from Sabal Trail on behalf of the GCAPS program and said the group “reluctantly” accepted a check in that same amount from Gloria Gaines. Gaines, a former commissioner and pipeline opponent, made the offer to counter the donation offer by Sabal Trail.