The good news is that the Jackson County government was in the black for 2008 and the county has around $7 million in reserves on hand.
The bad news is that 2008 may be the last time the county government is in such good financial condition for several years to come.
Compared to a lot of local governments, Jackson County is in fairly good shape. While county leaders have made some boneheaded financial decisions from time to time, the county’s financial gurus have managed to keep the ship afloat and solvent — at least so far.
But even the smartest of financial advisors can’t control the international economic contraction that is hammering local government revenues.
That’s why it is imperative leaders manage the county’s limited financial resources with extreme caution in the coming months. In the current environment, any mistake could lead to serious financial problems and toss Jackson County into the kind of financial crisis other nearby counties are struggling with.
Jackson County is facing several issues as it looks at the remainder of 2009 and the start of the 2010 fiscal year:
• Revenues are likely to remain flat or down. Sales taxes are below budget and trending down by double-digits. The property tax digest could decline for the first time in decades. Construction and real estate related fees are down. No new sources of revenue are in the cards.
• The county has already budgeted to use up $2 million of its reserves this year. That’s because county leaders weren’t willing to make difficult choices in the 2009 budget to cut expenses further. But such a dip into the bank account can only be a one-time thing; the county cannot afford to go into its reserves again in 2010. Unless the economy makes a dramatic turnaround, the county will have to make some major cuts in its 2010 spending to stay within its income — or, God forbid, raise taxes.
• Long-term debt is weighing heavily on the county’s books, having exploded in recent years with a rash of building projects. Some of that debt will, in the long run, probably pay off. The various economic development roads will eventually generate new businesses and tax base. The key word here is “eventually.” The county has to survive through this economic crisis before it can get back into any kind of growth mode. Other county debt — the courthouse, fire training facility, jail, etc. is just added cost with little direct tangible return on investment. In fact, the county can’t afford to fully staff the new jail during the economic downturn.
All of these things are on the table as the county starts to look at its budget for 2010. It’s likely the county will have to make some very critical decisions this fall and make far deeper cuts than it’s had to do so far.
Jackson County is in fairly good shape to survive this economic storm, as long as its leaders are willing to make some difficult choices in the coming months.
I would site more examples but I don't touch an actual paper much and there are no photos on the website for me to ridicule.
Are you kidding - Better question why not spend that money on some full time fireman and medics for daytime coverage and why did the BOC and Volunteer thieves excede the amount of SPLOST to build this "Training Center" ???
Since the BOC is paying the Water Authority debt let's see the main street news print those salaries ! Would love to see what there hot air and rude manager is stealing from his water customers sitting on his every widening backside.
We where better off when Jerry was running it !
Last but not least why are we going to move the JCCI and pay rent when we already own the currant facility?
Seems like Hunter Bicknell is Harold Fletcher revisited !
I have been a firefighter in this county for about 18 years
and there is a driveing course that firefighters are to take
also this is a requirement I have heard for the insurance
the county has.. However I think spending $440,000.00 on a
parking lot is not right, when the fire depts can use like
WJFD YearOnes parking lot for free , all of the fire districts
as of now such the county is growing has plenty of areas to
do driver trainig... There is alot of depts who need to improve
on driver training and how to position the trucks to help
keep the scene safe.. I would rather loose a fireturck than
the life of a citizen , patient, EMT , police officer, or
a firefighter... Also why spend that much money when oneday
this county will have to go to a fulltime fire dept, nobody
wants to admit this but the days on counting on volunters
is comeing to an end, the county is getting to big. There
is alot of improvements that need to be made in alot of the
fire depts, I know of one who is going down fast becasue
nobody cares abou the stations and if the trucks run or not..
It is a fire dept on the North end of the county...
The driving course at the Tom Crow training center costs $440,000. The total project is over $5 million. This at the worst time. The county has too much debt to pay $5 million for something they can get free. The BOC's reasoning is that other counties will pay to train here. Why would anyone pay for something they get free? Then they tack on the sheriff's department onto the facility. They also get free training!
There is no guarantee that this will lower insurance rates. That is just a "selling" point commissioners have tried to use. This whole ordeal should have been stopped years ago!
So far as the tax rate drop for ALL Jackson County residents, you need to speak with someone beside Mr. Crow. First of all, the tower has NOTHING to do with your fire tax. That is set by the fire department each year, if you want that to go down, you need to go talk to your local fire board. You meant to talk about your homeowner’s insurance, so since you brought it up. I was told that ISO (folks that decide your insurance rate) bases the training facilities on a points scale, and it is based on distance from the training area. So, Jefferson will see the biggest benefit, (What else is new). But once you get 15 ROAD MILES from the training area you receive NO ISO credit. So not everyone will benefit from this, AND even if you do benefit from it, your local fire department MUST train at it on a regular basis. Then they’d have to have ISO come rescore them which means that they look at EVERYTHING. Chief Stephens told me they look at training, staffing, equipment, etc for the station. They also look at the water system and 911 and then give you a score.
So far as the “empty parking lots” in the county that the rest don’t have:
Nicholson’s fire station is on the parking lot of the Benton Elementary School. I wonder if they use it for training. In fact, just about EVERY fire department in the county has a school parking lot in their area. If they don’t then there is a warehouse or two nearby that they can use. I got my information from my local fire chief and from the “fire services” link on www.jacksonemergency.com. Go check it out for yourself, unless of course you already know all of this because you are a volunteer firefighter “in the county”.
Now, where did I “Dump” on the volunteer firemen in any post I have EVER put on ANY of these blogs? I appreciate EVERY FIREFIGHTER on Earth! You folks are THE BRAVEST individuals I have ever known! God bless you all!
The problem in Jackson is the Fireman's association is no longer looking after the best interests of the firefighters but after the best interest of one currant Fire Chief and two former Chiefs with political interests.
The BOC needs to forget that $440,000 and hire a public safety director who oversees the Fire,EMS and EMA.ALL fire departments would report to him and thus we would have some control of your tax dollars. Before all my fellow firefighters get bent out of shape you still get to have your Chief but he is now accountable to someone else.
This includes the afore mentioned Dept( That took guts Ricky) which will get someone killed soon. Thus ends the good old boy Fireman's association and the start of an upgraded public safety program by Jackson County.
To the Firefighter or politician who posted about the ISO rating ...quit lying. Water supply and equipment are a bigger part of that score then training. Been there done that.
I helped push this training center through SPLOST and would like to apologize to the general public. It was to be an $800,000 burn building not this fiasco.