2013 Busy Year for Stephens Co. Government

Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers said that the county accomplished quite a bit in 2013.

Ayers spoke about the year that just wrapped up earlier this week with AM 630 WNEG.

She said that while 2013 was a challenging year, it was a good year for the county in the sense that it moved forward on a number of projects.

“The Land Use Regulations Committee worked on an ordinance and a land use map in most of 2013,” said Ayers.  “We also took down the old Middle School, negotiated the 10-year Local Option Sales Tax agreement, and passed a SPLOST VI that came out very favorable for us.”

Ayers said that SPLOST VI especially is very important for the county moving forward from a financial perspective.

“The SPLOST for the county was mostly items that are operational to us that the general fund would have had to fund,” said Ayers.  “It will be very important for the county going forward to help keep the millage rate as low as possible.”

Ayers went on to say that the county accomplished a number of other things in a lot of different areas.

Those included the start of a litter pick up crew, the elimination of stickers at the county’s convenience sites, improvements at the Recreation Department, re-surfacing five miles of roads, closing the C&D landfill, and moving to a single voting precinct, along with striping numerous roads.

Looking ahead to 2014, Ayers said it looks to be another challenging year.

She said financial issues will be one of the top items on the agenda.

“We are going to have our second very tough budget year,” said Ayers.

Also, Ayers said the county will look to get started on SPLOST VI projects, work on road resurfacing, and move forward with a vote on land use, perhaps in March.

Stephens County Commissioners will get their year started on January 14 with their first regularly scheduled meeting.