JONES COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Jones County Board of Commissioners set next year’s budget and the county’s tax rate for 2023, with a little good news for taxpayers, at a called meeting last week.
The Aug. 24 meeting was called to order by Board Chairman Chris Weidner. He also led the opening prayer and pledge.
All Jones County Commissioners attended the meeting.
The first agenda item was a resolution to adopt the 2024 budget presented by CFO LaVita Crutchfield. She said the budget includes a contingency line item of $2,023,334.60 that has been approved for capital projects. The water fund budget includes a contingency amount of $239,267.50.
Crutchfield also went over the different funds in the budget. At the conclusion, Commissioner Daylon Martin made the motion to adopt the budget resolution, and it was approved unanimously.
The next item was adoption of the 2023 millage rate, also presented Crutchfield. She read the resolution that spelled out a net millage rate of 15.971 for the unincorporated area of Jones County. The millage rate for the incorporated area of Jones County (City of Gray) is 17.541 mills.
The rate for both the incorporated and unincorporated areas include a 3.342 rollback for local option sales tax funds. The unincorporated area has an additional rollback of 1.57 mills for the insurance premium tax.
The special service tax area in River North has an added millage rate of 1.093 mills.
Martin made the motion to adopt the millage rates and the motion to approve was unanimous.
The 2023 tax rates are lower by .201 mills for the unincorporated area, .078 mills for the city and .063 for River North. The difference in the reduction for the county and city is an 0.123 increase in the county’s insurance premium tax rollback.
Board members approved the resolution for the annual Transit Contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation and approved an application for a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts for improvements to the W.E. Knox Center Auditorium. If approved, the grant would be for $35,000 and requires a 50 percent match from the county.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Weidner thanked everyone for their work.
“This is a partnership to keep us where we are,” the chairman said.
