City asks for 37.8 percent of LOST; County says no
5/14/2012
By Pamela Permar Shierling
Let the games begin.
The City of Brunswick hired a consultant, Phil Sutton of Sutton Consulting, LLC, to help them negotiate the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) split with Glynn County.
It was Sutton who did most of the talking at the brief City-County joint, negotiation meeting last Tuesday, May 8.
Sutton presented the City's argument for their share of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). He used the eight criteria required by the state for the LOST distribution and asked for a 37.8 percent share for the city. That's a 2.8 percent increase over the 35 percent the City currently receives.
Along with his calculations Sutton presented the sources of his data.
County commissioners had a problem with the 'Point of Sale' percentage calculation which is one of the eight criteria required.
Based on 2007 census data, Sutton calculated that 60 percent of commercial sales occurred within the city of Brunswick while only 40 percent occurred in the county.
This point brought comments from county commissioners.
"I can't see any way possible that the city generates that much revenue," County Commissioner Clyde Taylor (At Large Post 1) said.
Taylor continued, "There are 19 vacant store fronts in downtown Brunswick. That's 30 percent of downtown's available commercial space."
"The central business district (city) is not contributing that much. It is impossible to generate those kind of numbers," Taylor said.
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BOE budget news improves
5/14/2012
• Furlough days reduced
By Pamela Permar Shierling
During the Board of Education's finance meeting last Tuesday, May 8, school system CFO Andrea Preston told board members, "We have been planning for the worst case scenario and now we are seeing some light."
Preston delivered the bad news first.
According to Preston, the federal government uses the census to derive Title I allocations.
"A 10 percent, or $400,000, cut in our Title I funding is definite for the 2012-2013 year," said Preston.
"The general fund would have to pay for more positions for the 2013-2014 school year or we would have to cut more positions," she said. "We have $300,000 currently which will carry over from 2011-2012 to the 2012-2013 school year. This will help offset the cost of our Title I positions."
Title I positions include homeroom teachers, resource specialists, intervention specialists and para-pros. According to Preston there are about 40 Title I positions in the Glynn County School System.
The good news is that the state QBE (quality basic education) funds will increase.
"Decreases in the digest are starting to offset our local fair share," Preston said. "Which means that Glynn County will receive an estimated $1.7 million from the state."
Prior 2012-2013 budget projections included an estimated $500,000 QBE decrease.
Furlough days have been reduced from 10 to six adding $1.4 million back to the expense budget; the archeology program has been dropped saving the system $21,000; the administration budget cuts are up to $403,500.
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