From left, Barry Irwin and Ray Cross of the DCSO, Trenton Mayor Alex Cross and Christy Smith, Trenton's pulchritudinous police pontiff.
"Townhall Tuesday," Dade's new informational session that follows the livestreamed daily COVID-19 briefing once a week, today was all about SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) and how it benefits Dade law enforcement. Special guests were Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross and Chief Christy Smith of the Trenton Police Department.
SPLOST is the one-penny sales tax Dade residents vote on themselves that pays for everything from police cars to capital projects such as animal shelters and courthouse renovations. In theory, that is. In practice, Dade has allowed those capital projects to languish uncompleted and in fact unbegun from year to year, decade to decade, as it spent its SPLOST money on cars, radios, computers, more radios, computer software, updated radios, road equipment and encrypted radios. Now SPLOST is up for renewal by the voters on the general primary ballot June 9.
During 2019 and 2020, as Dade County and Trenton finalized plans on how to share out between themselves money from the new SPLOST, which if approved would start in summer of 2021, and what they would spend it on, the Dade County Commission promised to bring the voters in on the process by holding public meetings.
Those meetings never materialized. In mid-March, public meetings were in any case banned by state and federal executive order as potential disease vectors in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the county government having learned during the crisis the usefulness of livestreaming in imparting valuable information to its constituents, the daily briefing segued last week into the weekly town hall, then this week into the elusive SPLOST public meeting. Minus, of course, the public part.
The session today began with an avowal by the Dade officials not to promote renewal of the SPLOST, but the middle part consisted of the sheriff and police chief wondering how they could possibly manage without SPLOST dollars, and the session ended with a reminder by Dade Emergency Services Director, Trenton Mayor and chief radio purchaser Alex Case that completed absentee ballots could be dropped off in Dade's new ballot box outside the Administrative Building.
But first, the daily COVID briefing:
In Georgia, according to Department of Health numbers, virus cases are up almost 1000 to 34,737 at noon today from 33,833 yesterday, and deaths went up 24 overnight, from 1441 to 1465. Dade, however, remains steady at 17 cases, 11 of which, Dade County Executive Chairman Ted Rumley reminded as he does every day, were from antibody tests that DPH decided later not to count in the active case total. Dade's neighboring counties as has become the pattern either remained the same or added a few cases--Alabama's DeKalb, which seems to be gaining cases the fastest, went up 10 today, to 158 from 148 Monday.
Rumley said Dade's numbers, too, would probably go up soon with the results from last Thursday's in-county testing, and he reminded all that there will be another test day in Dade this Thursday, the 14th. Again, the tests, provided by DPH, are free, open to any Georgian with or without symptoms, and will be performed in a safe drive-through process at the Four Fields athletic complex on Highway 11 South from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday. Please call for an appointment--(706) 802-5329.
"It's that time of year again," said Dade County Chief Appraiser Paula Duvall, appearing at the afternoon briefing to announce that tax assessments are going out. "Some property values did increase, some did decrease," she said.
When tax valuations change, taxpayers have been known to scream, and Ms. Duvall clearly wished to obviate some of that by explaining the revisions. Dade property values had proven to be out of line with fair market value and the state criteria, she explained. "That tells us that we've got some issues," she said. So she and her staff set out to determine: "What exactly is causing our property values to be so low?"
The first thing they changed was the base area they used for valuation, from 1500 to 2200 square feet. "Most modern houses are going to be a little bit larger," said Ms. Duvall. They also readjusted their base construction costs, though Ms. Duvall said they were told it was still low. "It would be hard to build a house for $85 a square foot," she said builders tell her. Other changes included basic values for HVAC, vinyl siding and depreciation."Now we're back in line, our statistical values look good," said Ms. Duvall.
She said the office's next goal is to have a total, countywide revaluation. It's just time, said Ms. Duvall.
If you're confused by your assessment, Ms. Duvall invites you to read an article she wrote about it in other local publications, though she did not share it with The Planet, or to call her office at (706) 657-6241. The office can also mail you an appeal form if you wish to question your valuation.
Ms. Duvall answered a question from the viewing public: What is the final date to apply for the homestead exemption. April 1, answered Ms. Duvall; you can apply any time but if you apply after that, the tax exemption doesn't apply until next year.
Another question was if she had an average valuation increase for properties. No, she said, but call her office at the number above and she can get you one shortly.
Ted Rumley also fielded a question from a viewer, this one about wearing masks in public and whether businesses could or should force patrons to do so. Use your common sense, said Rumley. "You're all grownups out there and you know this is real," he said.
Town Hall Meeting
Dade County Emergency Services Director Alex Case emceed the town hall portion of the session about SPLOST. "We're not promiting it," he said. "We're just giving the facts on how this provides public safety equipment."
Sheriff Ray Cross attested how utterly the sheriff's office depends on the sales tax. "One thing I pride my administration on is that every year we've been underbudget," he said. "Part of helping us stay under budget is the SPLOST money coming in."
He gave the statistics. He had 31 sworn law enforcement officers who answer 18,000 calls a year. "We have to keep those officers supplied with vehicles and equipment," said he sheriff.
A police cruiser costs about $40,000 a pop, plus cameras, computers, safety equipment, cones and lights which bring the total up to about $55,000 each. "That's where SPLOST helps us out bigtime," said Cross. Under the current arrangement, the sheriff's office gets three new cars a year for the six years covered by a SPLOST period.
Then there are rifles, sidearms, shotguns and let us not forget Kevlar vests. They cost $8500 apiece and need to be replaced every five years, sooner if the officer wearing them sweats a lot. "If we have a person that sweats a lot, the Kevlar breaks down faster," said Cross. Then, if an officer moves on and is replaced by a new one who is much larger or smaller, another vest is required in the new size. "That adds up quick," said Cross. "If I have to take that out of my budget, that hurts."
SPLOST had also recently paid for the jail boiler system for $40,000, the court X-ray machine for another $20K, two jail fire escape doors at $12K and a new fence around the jail kitchen area for $6K.
"I can't say enough: If we lose SPLOST we're going to be hurting at the sheriff's department," concluded Cross.
Christy Smith, Trenton's pulchritudinous police pontiff, backed the sheriff up with similar statistics. The TPD puts a lot of mileage on its vehicles patrolling, she said, and has to replace them regularly. SPLOST pays for that, and also has recently allowed her to replace the department's rifles, side arms and TASERS. "They're a need to keep our officers safe and keep you safe," she said. "I don't see how we could have budgeted for them." we get three or four estimates trying to get the best system we can. tech upgrades so fast you can't get a replacement part.
The county's daily COVID-19 briefings begin each weekday promptly at 3 p.m., and next Tuesday's will be followed by another "town hall" session. "Like" the Dade County Ga. Facebook page and you will be alerted when the county goes live.
