Stephens County Commissioners Approve Bond Resolution

At last night’s Stephens County Commission meeting commissioners unanimously approved the authorization for Chairman Dennis Bell to sign the bond resolution to regulate and provide issuance of   initial $4.5 million dollars in general obligation bonds to forward fund road work in Stephens County.

Those bonds would then be paid back with SPLOST VI revenues designated for roads as the county collects that penny sales tax.

Stephens County already has in place a road priority list that was approved in February.

When Stephens County voters approved SPLOST VI, that approval included a provision allowing the county to borrow up to $8.5 million by issuing bonds in order to forward fund SPLOST projects.

Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers recommended the $4.5 million figure to start, to ensure that the county can handle the payments based on the current SPLOST projections.

Other motions approved from last night’s meeting included the approval of the fiscal year 2015 budget amendment resolution for various county departments, approval to authorize the name change from Longford Road to Rolling Hills Farm Road, approval to award Stephens County Fire personnel Nafeco protective gear, and approval of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield 2016 group health benefits including dental and vision renewal.

Stephens County Commissioner Stanley London said that it was great to finally give back to the county employees. “I’d like to say thank you to the staff for working on this. It has been six years since we (the employees) have not had an increase.”

London’s fellow commissioners echoed those sentiments as did Administrator Phyllis Ayers. Ayers also added that there has been some discussion concerning the recycling issue and that would be revisited at the next meeting.