County finalizes new contract to be delivered to WastePro
News August 6, 2022
GILMER COUNTY, Ga. – The county has been very happy with the services of WastePro since the transition to them for solid waste haul off. It is one of the reasons the Board of Commissioners has stated that they want to be helpful in recent negotiations as WastePro has returned in the last two months seeking a change to their contract.
With inflation continuing and gas prices higher than normal, the company has sought to change the contract rates. During talks with the county, this has taken the form of a diesel fuel surcharge to be included in the contract. In a Special Called Meeting on August 4, 2022, the Board of Commissioners received calculations from WastePro and looked to establish a base price that the surcharge would use as an anchor point.
They way that County Attorney David Clark explained the surcharge in this meeting, the base rate of $4.29 unit price was established from an average in July. This $4.29 is before added taxes. Originally planning to use a higher price that included taxes, the board decided against it as Georgia’s State Government has a fuel tax suspension that is still in place and the county did not want to have an “artificial increase” when the suspension is lifted.
As such, this base rate will be used in comparison for future months, each month’s cost for fuel as the company hauls off full dumpsters will be calculated as it increases or decreases from this base rate. Then, a surcharge will be added to the county’s monthly fees based on a percentage of that increase or decrease, meaning that increases will charge more, but the county has included decreases in fees in the contract should the average price of diesel fuel for a month go below the $4.29 base rate. The contract still includes charges based on taxes paid, but they will be calculated separately according to Clark.
The contract change discussed in the meeting, they did discuss these changes specifically for the diesel fuel costs, it will not include regular gasoline as is contracted for maintenance vehicles and such that visit sites when needed rather than the continual hauls.
From here, the county will move into regular session next week, giving Clark the time to prepare the contract and write it, then an approval will be needed to allow the chairman to sign the contract. At that point, the BOC will send the contract to WastePro for their signature putting the final approval on the changes to the adjusted contract to be set for three years.
Those meetings will be held on Wednesday, August 10, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. for the Work Session and Thursday August 11, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. for the Regular Meeting.
Financial approvals come as BOE finishes fiscal year
Board of Education, News June 26, 2022
EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. – June marks the end of Gilmer BOE’s fiscal year and the preparations for the new year are receiving final approvals before July. With fuel bids, natural gas, and the FY 23 budget all on the agenda, the school system prepared for its new school year.
Already approved as the tentative budget, this now moves into official status as the actual FY 2023 budget with the final touches and modifications made for the $45 million budget. This did increase slightly since the tentative budget approval as it went from $45,012,326 to final approval at $45,739,326 in June’s meetings. The difference in revenues and expenditures also slightly increased from $2,788,218 of expenditures over revenues to $2,810,338 of expenditures over revenue.
Just like the tentative budget approval, the BOE adjusts for changes like the governor’s $2,000 increase in teacher’s salaries, cost of living increases, and QBE Allotment changes, and an increase to all classified salary schedules to a minimum starting hourly pay of $12 and an eight hour workday for those classified staff.
This final budget approval is expected to take the BOE’s fund balance from $22,066,332 in July 2022 to $19,255,994 in June 2023.
The BOE also approved the 2022 Amended Budget in June and was approved for the expenditures total at $43,101,121 in the general fund.
In addition to general budgets, the Board of Education approved SCANA Energy for natural gas provider with the contract set to go from July 2022 through June 2024. Prices were set at $0.749 per therm plus $8.50 times the Dedicated Day Design Capacity.
Morgan and Hunt Oil Company were approved for Fuel with their bid of 0.0375 over cheapest rack price plus a freight cost for both Diesel and Ethanol Free Gasoline.
Other bidders on fuel included Petroleum Traders Corp at 0.0334 over highest rack cost and Gladieux Trading at 0.0693 “over rack price.”
With unanimous approvals these bid approvals were accepted for the new year.
BOE bids for Legion Road gas tank sees stark difference
Board of Education, News April 12, 2022
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Gilmer’s Board of Education saw a stark difference in two bids collected this week for installing a new 10,000 gallon gas tank on Legion Road.
The tank will be an above-ground storage unit with dispensary installed for the school system’s storage and use at their Legion Road annex and will be split, according to the bids, as a 6,ooo/4,000 gallon tank that holds both diesel and gasoline. According to reports the tanks could split as 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 4,000 gallons of gasoline or the split could go to 8,000 gallons of diesel and 2,000 gallons of gas if the board wished.
The bids include the required equipment needed for the tanks and pumps. The bid totals came in at $230,371.43 for JF Petroleum Group and $97,810.00 for McNally & Associates, INC. According to the bid paperwork, JF Petroleum is based out of Morrisville, North Carolina, and McNally & Associates is based out of Kennesaw, Georgia. Gilmer Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said his intent on Thursday will be to recommend the $97 k bid for approval as the low bidder.
The large disparity in the bid was questioned at first. But it was not the only surprise in pricing that the board of education saw in relation to the gas tanks. Ridley also stated that he has already approved the removal of the tanks at the high school transportation department. Costing roughly $13,000, this did not require board approval. The board discussed the removal costs some expected it to be much higher. Dana Berry, Assistant Superintendent – Operations, stated that the company has been asked to confirm the bid several times. He also stated that the school system would make sure it was a fixed bid.
Berry said the school system has been in contact and following EPA guidelines for tank removal, he noted that filling the tanks with sand was another option, but with the low bid, the board did not speak further on this option.