In last Tuesday night’s meeting, the Putnam County Board of Commissioners (BOC) moved forward in purchasing playground equipment for Jimmy Davis Park, talked about funding for planned TSPLOST road projects, received the 2023 audit report, and heard about a nuisance “disco light show.”
The people of Putnam County were granted the opportunity to choose what playground equipment the county would install at Jimmy Davis Park in a Town Hall meeting on Feb. 9, and Tuesday night, County Manager Paul Van Haute presented the community’s selection to the commissioners.
A full mock-up of the equipment (depicted in The Eatonton Messenger, Feb. 22, 2024) is displayed on page 35 of the corresponding meeting’s agenda packet, available for public view on the board’s meeting webpage.
The equipment will cost about $50,535, to be paid by Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds. The BOC unanimously voted to proceed with the purchase of the equipment.
TSPLOST remained on the agenda after District 3 Commissioner Stephen Hersey presented item number 13: “Discussion of road projects approved under TSPLOST #2.”
Hersey said the board approved current road projects in 2022 (alongside a voter referendum), which include about 90 miles of road resurfacing.
As of last Tuesday’s meeting, about six miles have been completed, he said, notably on Pea Ridge Road and Old Phoenix Road in Eatonton.
In 2022, when these projects were approved, it cost an estimated $200,000 per mile to resurface, meaning the whole project cost around $18.5 million. However, due to factors including inflation, it now costs approximately $250,000 to resurface a mile of road. This raises the total price of the project to an estimated $23.5 million.
Hersey presented a couple of ideas on how to properly fund this project in its entirety now that the cost has increased. He reported that SPLOST brings in about $4 million a year and suggested the county issue up to $22 million of General Obligation (GO) bonds.
Additionally, Governor Brian Kemp has recommended the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), amend its 2024 budget to give projects like those in Putnam County an additional $1.5 million in the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG).
The $22 million in bonds, plus $1.5 million from Kemp’s proposed LMIG boost, would give Putnam County the $23.5 million needed to complete the road resurfacing projects already in the works.
An alternative proposed by Hersey has the board dividing up the project into two bids, one being this spring and the next being the summer of 2025. Nothing was considered or voted on by the board as this was a discussion, not an actual space to authorize anything or make any concrete progress.
The only special presentation made to the council was the 2023 Audit Report by McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks & Company, LLC. Putnam County has been awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 2022 report, the ninth year the county has received this certification.
“General fund revenues were higher than the amended budget amount,” according to the presentation. “Expenditures in all function areas were less than budget amounts.”
This means no notable or concerning deficiencies were reported in the 2023 audit.
Other topics of discussion included a request to waive late fees by the tax commissioner for two residents in Putnam County who attempted to pay their property taxes on time but had their checks stolen in the mail and deposited to unknown accounts.
The combined late fees for the two households would equal more than $400, and the board unanimously agreed to waive these additional costs.
One individual appeared for public comment, asking the board on behalf of himself and his neighbors to consider implementing some sort of sound and light ordinance in his neighborhood. He claimed a new neighbor moved in and plays music so loud it shakes his home all day in addition to what he describes as a “disco light show.”
The rest of the meeting passed largely uneventfully, marked by routine approvals of minutes and discussions. The next scheduled meeting is Friday, March 1 at 10 a.m. at the county commission building.