SCBC will meet in the Grand Jury Room for regular meeting

The Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet this evening for its regular scheduled meeting. The meeting will be held in the Grand Jury Room in the Stephens County Government Building at 5:30 p.m.

The meeting will begin with three land use public hearings, two are rezoning requests and one is a conditional use request.

The first rezoning request is from Jimmy and Anitra Wood Mitchell for the property located at 81 Currahee Trail, in Toccoa. The property is currently zoned as residential single, and the request is to rezone the property to Agriculture Residential to be added to another parcel.

The second request is from Bernard Wood for the property located at 130 Slice of Heaven Drive, in Toccoa. The property is currently zoned as residential single, and the request is to rezone the property to Agriculture Residential.

The conditional use request is from Crystal Woods for the property located at 875 Tahoe Trail, in Martin. The property is zoned as residential single, and the proposed action is to have a home-based business at the residence.

There will also be two public hearings, the first is a second reading of a new alcohol license for Tasty Treatz. The second is the second reading and public hearing of the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 Budget.

Following the public hearings, the board will go into its regular scheduled meeting.

Up for consideration include motions to approve Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Amendments; an amendment to section I-5 of the Family Medical Leave of the Employment Handbook; approve or deny an annexation request from the City of Toccoa for the property of Brittsco, LLC, located at Fernside Drive; to enter into a fire protection services agreement with Banks County for Tates Creek Fire Department; to adopt the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget and Budget Resolution.

As WNEG News previously reported, the County Commission held the first reading and public hearing for the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 Budget at its last meeting.

At that meeting, County Administrator Phyllis Ayers provided a summary of the proposed budget, noting that the millage rate will remain at 14.76.

“In the general fund the millage rate remains the same 14.76 with the value of a mil projected at $676,500 which is an 8 percent increase in the digest,” she said.

Ayers noted that originally the commission had planned for a 2 percent pay increase for all employees; but added that they have now decided to increase that to 4 percent.

“This particular budget has a pay increase of 2 percent for all employees. I’ll stop right there because after we left the budget workshop, I went back to give you all some information on, I picked five ranges of employees with a 2 percent pay increase and a 24 percent increase in health insurance and that would have our employees working at a pay cut next year. Some of the pay cuts were anywhere from $3,700 a year to $1,500. We all know that we’re in a time where you don’t have to work for a pay cut. You can drive to another county; you can drive to work for another business. So, we went back offsite yesterday and spent most of the morning and walked away with an agreement to add 2 percent more. So, we will end up with 4 percent for all employees and covering 100 percent of the insurance increase,” she said.

Again, the Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet this evening at 5:30 p.m. for its regular scheduled meeting inside the Grand Jury Room in the Stephens County Government Building.