Hardin County Animal Control Committee

Phase I of motivating Hardin County government to return to animal control is now complete, thanks to the efforts of all the folks who have helped keep the animal situation here in the county front and center in the minds of the people and in The Courier for the last 6 months.

A special thanks is in order for the folks at The Courier for providing the continued exposure for the issue by putting out stories and article virtually every week and to Brad Silliman for his contributions of both paid ads and editorial articles. But we’re not done yet, by a long shot.

Now that the County Commission has approved the appointment of a Hardin County Animal Control Committee that has been charged to expedite the conceptual plans for the local governments role in moving forward with a comprehensive plan for animal management in the county we should see some significant progress over the next few months.

The members of the Animal Control Committee are as follows:

Representing the County - Commissioners White, McFalls and Coleman.
Representing the City of Savannah - Mayor Shutt, Mr. Lerry Arendall and a yet to be designated City Commissioner.
Representing Horse CreekWildlife Sanctuary and Animal Refuge - Mr. Ron Pickard.
Representing Hardin Metro SPCA - Mr. Chris Jerrolds
Representing the County Health Department/Veterinarians - Dr. Don Edwards, D.V.N.

Let's wish these folks God's speed and provide them with any assistance they may ask for or need.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,


Ted

A Spell Worthy of Harry Potter

This is one of those, 'I couldn’t have said it better myself,' things.

From page 1 of the Courier July 19, 2007 by Ron Schaming, Jr.
(Reprinted without permission)

"Only in a reappraisal year can the illusion of raising taxes be lowering the property tax rate be performed.

If the Hardin County Commission approves a proposal from its budget committee to increase the property tax rate by 30 cents this month, that’s exactly what will happen.

Every six years, a county-wide reappraisal takes place to determine what changes have occurred in property values, based on comparable sales.

According to the Hardin County Assessor of Property’ office, the county experienced an average increase of 37 percent.

But state law says such a reappraisal cannot be used to generate more revenue for ta county. So, the tax rate has to be adjusted downward to a point where it is ‘revenue neutral’ for the county as a whole.

The current property tax in Hardin County is $1.82.

The revenue neutral rate, or ‘certified tax rate" in Hardin County is to be set at $1.37, or 45 cents less than it is now.

Raising the property rate by 30 cents would bring the new rate to $1.67, or 15 cents less than it is today.

And Presto Chango, by a wave of the magical wand of government accounting, a 22 percent tax increase can be disguised as a tax reduction."

Good Job, Ron.

Respectfully,

Ted

Mr. Maytag Is Alive and Well

A good friend of my tagged me with the nickname of Mr. Maytag some time ago, because he thought that I was an agitator that just didn’t quit and never need servicing. Ya, thanks Paul.

As some of you might have noticed, the Tablet has been silent for the last couple of months. Some folks think that was a good thing and others think otherwise.

There are several factors that have contributed to the silence, but, the major factor was that since Blogger.com switched to this new and improved Google thing, I have had a lot of trouble logging in to post anything. Got that fixed.

One of the other factor is that standing up Hardin Metro SPCA to be a professional organization that could give legitimacy to a shifting paradigm in animal control has been pretty much a full time thing. Ya know what I mean?

You might be surprised to learn that trying to shift the dominant paradigm in Hardin County Government, and the citizens, as it relates to animal management and control, is not the easiest thing to get your arms around and doesn’t happen overnight. More on that in future posts.

It seem that more folks follow my ranting than I thought, so, for both of them, we’ll get back to work and try to catch of the happenings in the community and our local governments like the proposed property tax increase, the County budget, animal control's future and inter-governmental relations to name a few.

Respectfully,
Ted