Council Returns to Alcohol with Citizen’s Speak

Several citizens and business owners from downtown attended the Ellijay City Council Monday night, October 17. They arrived to speak out on issues at the Council.

However, the majority were there not to speak about the 3.70 Millage Rate, but rather to return to discussion on the Downtown Boardwalk and Alcohol on it. With much discussion revolving around Bunk’s on the Boardwalk, one owner went so far as to say the lack of an exemption to allow alcohol on the Boardwalk was driving out business for her and she was close to closing her shop due to it.

This issue has been discussed since January of this year with a couple of Ordinances coming to proposal in an effort to solve the problem of the Boardwalk being considered City property. That said, current ordinances do not allow open containers on City Sidewalks, which the Boardwalk is considered to be. These ordinance proposals have yet to pass the council.

Discussion spilled over to the City Council’s September 29th meeting where the issue was once again brought up. Citizens began suggesting the meeting was not properly advertised to allow that topic as several of them did not attend the meeting. Standing upon that allegation, one citizen went so far as to request the Council void the meeting, which would negate everything done. The suggestions of mis-advertisement were strongly denied by Mayor Al Hoyle. However, the Mayor did instruct Attorney Kayann Hayden West to look into the advertisements to see if any errors had occurred.

Moving on with the topic, two final suggestions seemed to arise, with Councilman David Westmoreland offering a new look at an exemption for a smaller area of the Boardwalk, and another coming from the downtown Businesses offering to buy or lease the Boardwalk for their use. Though the suggestion hit a snag as such a sell or lease would need to be put to bid, it did not seem that those at the meeting were opposed to a bid process with one questioning if the council would prefer the local businesses if a bid process came with tie bids.

Still, other topics did arise during the Citizen’s Speak portion of the meeting as local Jeff Riblet questioned the council about any alternative options to raising the Property Tax to help the City’s Budget. Riblet suggested the possibility of a Municipal Sales Tax, or a city increase to Sales Tax, but Mayor Hoyle stated he was assured that the City did not currently have the authority for such a tax according to current state legislation.

Mayor Hoyle went on to say that though the Millage Rate was required to be advertised as a tax increase, it would actually bring in less money for the council. This occurs due to the change in Property Taxes and an increase in exemptions in the city. However, when you look at an individual’s taxes, though last year’s Millage Rate was 3.470, this year’s 3.70 rate would give a property valued at $100,o00 for a $14.28 increase.

The finance focused meeting also received a presentation from Matt Bidwell to offer options for the City’s Healthcare. Bidwell urged the council to take some form of action soon as Open Enrollment Changes for the City are due by November 4. Currently the City of Ellijay is a part of Blue Cross Blue Shield through GMA (Georgia Municipal Association). This Medical insurance is presenting a 14.03% increase for next year.

With the increase, Bidwell took the city to the Affordable Care Act’s Healthcare Market to find the lowest option for the City. This option was given by Humana for the city representing a 42.82% increase over their current plan. For employees of the City, the GMA plan’s Employee cost will increase from $32,332 to $36,868 as opposed to Humana’s option of Employee cost going to $45,134. Though the Council moved to approve continuing with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia through the GMA, they did not approve any Dental or Vision Plans. This hold of the other plans also was recommended by Bidwell to the Council.

Be sure to check out the details on this proposal below.