Bryan County Commissioners last week approved an agreement with Pembroke and Richmond Hill on a potential new penny sales tax, but this one could help homeowners when it comes time to pay property taxes.
The proposed FLOST, or floating location option sales tax, still has to be approved by the respective city councils before it can go before voters in a November referendum. The city of Pembroke passed the measure at its July 14th meeting.
The measure is part of last fall’s HB 581 which gave local governments the opportunity to opt in to a statewide floating homestead exemption limiting increases in property assessments to the previous year’s inflation rate. It allows county and city governments to put a FLOST before voters.
If passed, revenues raised from the FLOST will be split three ways between the three local governments, with Bryan County getting 76 percent while Richmond Hill will receive 21 percent and Pembroke three percent. That distribution is based on where the county’s property taxes come from, according to officials.
District 5 Commissioner Gene Wallace said FLOST revenue will strictly be used for reducing the county’s millage rate, which is currently 5.9 mills.
“It can’t be used for anything other than the reduction of the property tax millage rate, as far as the county is concerned,” he told those who attended the Commission’s July 8 meeting.
Wallace noted the county’s rate could “go down maybe into the 3s, maybe even a little bit lower than that," he said.
"We’ll have to see when all the numbers come in. You’ll be paying a penny more every time you buy a loaf of bread or whatever, but come tax time in November, you’ll have a fairly substantial reduction as far as the county is concerned".
Still waiting
Groover Hill resident Juanita Baker spoke at the July 8 meeting, asking commissioners on the status of a grant for her community – which sits off Highway 280 near the Hyundai Metaplant.
Baker, who waited nearly two and a half hours to speak, said she’s been trying to get an answer on the grant since 2023.
“I stand before you yet again,” she told Commissioners, later adding, “We were included as a priority along with the senior community center (in Pembroke) as something equally important. They’ve finished the building, but this is dragging on and on and on. We gave you all the information you needed, all the forms have been filled out, but every time I come before you, this is getting put off. The community deserves to know something.”
As Commissioners tried to find out what happened – a county employee handling the Groover Hill grant application was on vacation -- Baker politely pointed out Groover Hill is “affected more so than any other community,” in Bryan County by the Metaplant and that the grant from the Department of Community Affairs is supposed to help with community improvements.
“Housing improvements, sidewalks, we have no fire hydrants, so if one house burns I’m afraid the whole community will burn down,” she said. “We’re going back four generations (in that community), and we’ve been put off, everything else has taken priority. Last time I was here I mentioned the fact we weren’t even mentioned on the agenda for y’all for the year 2025.”
Work on the application is ongoing, county officials said. Commission Chairman Carter Infinger promised Baker he would ensure she was informed when the issue was on the agenda, and gave her his cell phone number.
Baker’s lengthy wait to speak was in large part due to the large number of residents who spoke out against new developments in Bryan County. While some were opposed to another phase of the Lakes at Black Creek subdivision in North Bryan, many were against a proposed Parker’s at the Highway 144 and Belfast River Road roundabout that would sit next to historic Burnt Church Cemetery in South Bryan.
That prompted Bryan County resident Stephanie Falls, the vice chairman of the Bryan County Planning and Zoning Commission, to suggest the county create a historical preservation board.
“I think with the growth in the community we’re running out of land,” she told them, and said it would be helpful to have guidelines on development at or near historic sites.
Falls, who was among those who voted to recommend denying the rezoning for the convenience store when it became before Planning and Zoning, said she’s done background on the issue of historic preservation and believes there is plenty of local interest in such a board.
“There are a lot of people willing to jump in and be boots on the ground immediately if (the commission creates a board),” she said.
Projects move ahead
A roundabout at Highway 280 and Wilma Edwards Road in Blitchton moved forward after Commissioners approved a $2.45 million contract with Platinum Paving.
County Commissioners also approved spending more than $4.2 million on a new transfer lift station at the water treatment plant in Waterways in South Bryan. BRW Construction will build the station.
Commissioners approved a $224,664 contract with BladeOne to upgrade cybersecurity for county emergency personnel radios. More than $193,000 of the money came from a Georgia Emergency Management Agency grant. The contract will cover 59 radios used by Bryan County Sheriff’s Office and 75 radios for Bryan County Fire and Emergency Services.