SPLOST, LOST collections up; Helton says county under budget
Fannin County Board of Assessors Chairman Troy Junnier’s term came to an end after three years of service as Post One Commissioner Earl Johnson used his nomination to appoint local business owner Brian Burgess to the position.
The vote to replace Junnier at the end of his term came during a Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, July 28.
Johnson said Burgess was interested in looking at the job and a “good asset to have.”
Chairman Stan Helton thanked Junnier for his service as he stated, “You put a lot into it, and I know a few years ago we probably had a little different thoughts about the board, which direction it wants to go, but I really felt like what we needed to do was a little bit more management. We expanded from a three-member board to five, and I think that’s been helpful. I think every department can continue to improve in all areas, but again I want to thank you for doing that and the time you took and put it into.”
The board also reappointed Richard York to the serve another three years on the Development Authority board.
According to Helton, the county is currently 7% under budget as of June. He presented the Financial Report in Finance Director Robin Gazaway’s absence, and reported that the Special Option Local Sales Tax (SPLOST) and Local Options Sale Tax (LOST) collections for May totaled $590,770 and $447,542 respectively.
Last year, the county had brought in $2,125,279 in LOST and $2,805,492 in SPLOST by May, and the collection has reached $2,235,488 in LOST and $2,933,420 in SPLOST so far this year.
“It’s amazing that with what’s going on worldwide right now, especially here locally, that we’re ahead on the LOST and SPLOST collections,” Johnson said. “There’s not of people coming to Blue Ridge and renting I guess.”
Helton believes a fear of flying airlines at this time has resulted in more people vacationing in the Fannin County area.
He said,“Fannin County usually does pretty well when the nation as a whole has recession problems, because folks still want to vacate, and they come up here instead of taking some of these long expensive trips. Thank goodness they do. That’s helped us quite a bit.”
He also announced that the county received a $6,000 ACCG Group Self-Insurance Workers’ Compensation Fund Employee Safety Grant. The grant was applied for by the the Emergency Management Agency/9-11. The funds have been used to purchase around $4,000 in personal protective gear for personnel, and the remainder was used for a dryer for the fire department.
The board will meet again Monday, August 10. Their next meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday, August 11, however it conflicted with the General Primary Election run-off.