Hart County Administrative Offices
From Jon Caime, County Administrator
February 6, 2008
The Hart County Board of Commissioners continues to meet the challenges of today while planning for the future. Our strategic location on the I-85 corridor, and our 218 miles of lakeshore on one of the most visited lakes in the USA, continues to attract people to visit or to live, and is attracting much needed economic development.
The Hart County Board of Commissioners lowered the tax millage rate for the sixth year in row and has progressively moved up in the ranks and now achieved the lowest County tax rate in the Georgia (out of 159 counties). This lower millage rate is 28% less than the millage rate five years ago. At the same time the County continues to invest in sewer, water, economic development, roads, recreation, and fire protection using the voter approved SPLOST III sales taxes and other non-property tax revenue sources.
The Board has placed economic development as one of our top priorities.
Our economic development marketing and strategy plan is producing results. In the past two years the Hart County Board of Commissioners Economic Development efforts have successfully secured an estimated $200,000,000 in new industrial investment resulting in approximately 800 new jobs for Hart County. Most of our economic development investments have been paid for using grant funds and SPLOST sales taxes (minimal property taxes).
Fenner-Dunlop will complete construction of its new 300,000 square foot industrial plant at our Gateway Industrial Park and will be twice as large as the recently constructed TI Automotive plant at Gateway constructed in 2006. With this second tenant, the 150 acre Gateway Industrial park constructed just three years ago will only have space for one more large industrial plant. In response to this the County has recently purchased an additional 120 acres of land adjacent to Gateway and now owns approximately 1 mile of I-85 road frontage. This new acreage will be a combination of industrial and commercial land use that will eventually generate additional money for future economic development.
The recent extension of our Hart/Franklin County Airport runway extension to over 5000 feet using State grant funds will help further our economic development goals. Pharmatech pharmaceutical manufacturing company has announced plans in 2007 to increased production at their Royston manufacturing plant.
Country Boy Meats have moved their headquarters and opened their first East Coast Operation in Hart County this past year. Their unique products have achieved great success and we welcome them to our Hart County Industrial family. We also welcome Milbro Refractories who has also moved their operation to Hart County and join newcomers Country Boy Meats Inc. and Zymark Industries at our 29 Highway industrial park. These industries represent the diversity we are seeking in our economic future. Through diversity we will avoid the devastation of the loss of Textile manufacturing over the past few years.
The Hart County Board of Commissioners also continues to support additional economic development efforts included increasing tourism to Hart County. With three cents of every dollar being spent in Hart County coming back to us as sales tax revenue, tourism helps to keep our property taxes at one of the lowest rates in the state. Every tourist dollar generates a penny to directly offset property taxes, a penny to build new schools, and a penny for fire department, recreation, economic development, new water lines, and for road construction. Tourism efforts will include the construction of a Lake Hartwell Mega Ramp to attract large fishing tournaments to Hart County and the City of Hartwell. This Mega Ramp will primarily be constructed using State funds.
In 2007, the Hart County Board of Commissioners continued to implement their long range road maintenance plan. Since implementation of this plan in 2001, the Hart County Board of Commissioners has repaved 106 miles of county road (29% of all paved county roads), resurfaced 100 miles of tar and gravel roads (extending their life another 10 years), and paved 40 miles of our dirt roads (40% in just four years). Most of our road projects have been funded using grant funds and our SPLOST sales taxes (minimal property taxes).
This year the Hart County Board of Commissioner has placed a higher emphasis on road safety. We have budgeted to spend $1,400,000 on road safety (50% of our 2008 road budget). We will be fixing or replacing bridges, and installing new safety features on many of our roads.
The county continues to improve rural fire service and has successfully made a transformation from a fully volunteer fire department to the first ever full time fire service. The county now has a full time fire chief and full time firemen to support our dedicated volunteers. Long range plans are now being put in place to lower home owner’s insurance costs through lower ISO ratings and long range plans to bring fire hydrants closer to many homes. Our fire department efforts have been funded through SPLOST sales taxes and through insurance premium fund taxes (no property taxes).
The County is continuing to move forward on the process for the replacement of the courthouse and the Sheriff offices/jail. These very costly projects will take several years to fund and complete. The county has purchased approximately 14 acres of land for a new governmental campus. These investments will be a Century (100 year) solution allowing the county to expand to meet the future needs of the county as the county continues to grow.
The first phases of these projects have been started in 2007 and will be completed in about 18 months. The first phase of this governmental campus will be the construction of a new 10,000 square foot building to relieve overcrowding at the courthouse by providing office space for the Tax Commissioner, Tax Assessors, Voter Registration, Economic Development, and Veterans Offices. A second 6,000 sf building will be built to house the Sheriffs office. Both of these building will be built using State prison labor which will cut the cost of construction by more than half. These projects will be funded using General Fund Reserves and will not require a property tax increase.
With the state of the economy in Hart County, Georgia, the US, and Globally, we expect 2008 to be a challenging year. When the economy is weak, people need the services of government more. Unfortunately when the economy is weak, our ability to fund governmental services is also lessened. Consumer spending is a key part of our financial future with our utilization of sales tax revenues however, so far our sales tax revenues have remained strong in spite of a general downturn in consumer spending.
We will rise to meet these challenges by continuing to implement sound financial practices and promoting growth while providing the services the community needs.
©
2002-2005 Hart County Board of Commissioners 
Hartwell, GA 30643