As the Macon-Bibb County Commission prepares to finalize the millage rate rollback, Mayor Lester Miller explained why property tax bills might not reflect a major drop. (0:26 into video)
The Bibb County School System must hold public hearings after declining to reduce their millage rate to compensate for the increased value of the tax digest.
“The county’s separate from the school system,” Miller said during taping of this month’s Ask Mayor Miller program.
Without rolling back the tax rate, the school system is expected to receive an additional $4.5 million in revenue from increased property values, which means its portion of the tax bill will likely increase.
“The overall bill could be a wash balancing out between ours and theirs, but it’s a decision they had to make for themselves,” Miller said. “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully they’ll get their budget under control.”
Miller, a former school board president, cautioned against the school system making school closing decisions based on opinions and emotions rather than enrollment and other data. (2:07)
“Unfortunately, if you do the data driven (approach), they’re going to have to close some schools that they don’t want to close,” he said. “The end product is usually best. People love the new school.”
In many local cases, surplus schools have been turned into residences or office space.
Last year, the Bibb County School District sold Jessie Rice Elementary School to Next Step Macon, which planned to build housing.
Longtime Bloomfield resident Joyce Wright asked Miller if he knew what was happening at the old school, as the building was in disrepair, with overgrown landscaping and sidewalks covered in vegetation, she said. (3:26)
“I think they were looking to rehab the actual school into affordable housing, not tear it down and rebuild that. But the longer something sits there and deteriorates and people take stuff from there, it becomes a dumping ground,” he said “So, if they’re going to do something, do it now, ‘cause time is of the essence.”
Animal Welfare and SPLOST
Miller also addressed the county’s battle with stray animals and packs of dogs roaming neighborhoods. (7:40)
Although the sheriff runs Macon-Bibb County’s Animal Welfare division, Miller said the public plays a major role in pet overpopulation that has overrun the shelter and local rescue groups.
“People need to step up to the plate and do what the law requires and have your pet spayed or neutered. I think that’s the most important thing,” he said.
Jaime Rohde asked whether the county needs a bigger shelter, but Miller said the county can’t keep building bigger facilities. He does plan to make sure promises made in the last SPLOST campaigns have been fulfilled.
“If it was promised, we’re going to make sure we keep the promises, even though it’s a previous administration,” Miller said.
As the administration eyes the next SPLOST campaign to be voted on next year, the mayor is looking for projects that can boost tourism and tax revenue, such as upgrading sports facilities and event venues. (14:07)
“We need a new arena. The Coliseum’s certainly outdated. We need a convention space. And if we’re going to be competitive with everybody in the state, we’ve got to do the things that we need to do to make us more competitive,” he said.
The county’s proposed East Bank development across from the Coliseum is still in the master planning stages. (20:21)
“It’s approaching the time that we gave them to do public engagement, so that’s the next step,” Miller said.
Once the general ideas are in place, the county can take action to bring it to fruition.
“I’m excited about that project. I’m ready for it to kind of get up and running. It’s going to happen at a great time, at a time we’re voting on a SPLOST, so that whole area can be tied into one package there to make sure that everything works together,” he said.
Although Congress is in recess and there’s not much news about passage of the bill to create the Ocmulgee Mounds National Park and Preserve, Miller said he’s got a plane ticket ready for whenever a vote takes place. (21:05)
Downtown development and a third term?
The mayor also is excited about Atrium Health Navicent and the Knight Foundation holding community meetings about creating a health-focused innovation district in the heart of downtown near the Medical Center. (15:59)
“That’s going to be a very good project out there in the center of downtown, what we used to refer to as midtown, just outside of their footprint,” he said.
In a recent property swap with the hospital corporation, the county acquired the old Macon Health Club and bank building at the corner of First and Cherry streets.
“I think it’s always been part of the plan to have some apartments or housing there, restore the health club back to workable condition there, perhaps a city club and then also having a hotel in the area together with parking,” he said.
Miller also is excited that Kennesaw State University students are spending this semester drafting plans to revitalize Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. near the Greenwood Bottom Black business district. (18:08)
“Basically to give us some feedback and information and potential plans on what we can do to make that more inviting to the downtown community. So, when you come in Martin Luther King, Broadway, whichever you want to call it, and you come under that railroad trestle, it doesn’t look the most attractive there and inviting to our community,” he said.
When Ron Johnson asked about learning how to apply for contracts in infrastructure work, Miller directed him to the county’s procurement website, which lists active solicitations and bids. (15:00)
With so many projects in the works, the mayor has floated on social media the idea of requesting a change in the county charter to allow mayors to serve three terms, just as commissioners can. (11:34)
“Macon gets hurt in a lot of situations by having a mayor that’s limited to two terms,” he said. “You’ve got to have some continuity on funding, on building relationships with the state. At the same time, to me, it makes absolutely zero sense to have commissioners that serve three terms, and a mayor who is actually a full-time mayor. They’re part-time, commissioners that serve three terms and a mayor gets two terms.”
He said changing mayoral terms also could help hire better employees who could have the stability of working more than eight years before administrations and staffing change.
Cybersecurity
Macon-Bibb County’s computer system is “pretty much back on track” after the spring cyber attack. (9:57)
The inmate search on the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office website remains down, keeping a Macon woman from tracking the perpetrator of a serious crime against a family member.
The mayor encouraged her to reach out to District Attorney Anita Howard’s victim assistance division.
“You need to contact the DA’s office if you’re a victim or have a family member as a victim because they’re supposed to notify them of any proceedings coming up. The last thing I want to do is have someone getting out of jail and you didn’t know about that,” Miller said.
The Macon Newsroom has learned the county IT department is creating a more secure, public-facing way to track inmates that does not expose their website to attacks.
Although no timeline is available for when that might happen, the public could call the sheriff’s office for specific information about inmates.
Miller said the cyber incident has led to better preparedness for the county’s computer network. (10:49)
“We’ve been very much proactive on spending money to make sure this never happens again. If it does, we’ll deal with it the best way we can,” he said.
Miller also discussed the expanded role of code enforcement, (13:15), selling methane gas from the closed landfill, (6:33) and his plans to get the public on board to buy tickets early to close out the amphitheater season with a night of Christian music planned for November. (21:20)
“If you bring the acts in and they have a successful trip and Macon-Bibb County benefits because of it then it’s going to be easier to get a promoter for multiple shows in next year. So this is just kind of testing the waters, just like we did in the country, just like we did on the R&B, just like we did on the heavy metal,” he said.
Send your questions for the next Ask Mayor Miller to [email protected].
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
