The Baldwin City Council held its first of three millage rate public hearings Tuesday evening during its work session to a nearly absent audience. The meeting was held in the Baldwin Police Department Training Room behind the police department.
Other than city staff, council members, and the media, only one citizen attended the work session. The lone citizen didn’t speak during the public hearing for the proposed millage rate increase.
The city is proposing a .689 mill increase, taking the millage rate from 8.481 to 9.170 mills. Baldwin will collect 16.53% more in property taxes from Habersham County property owners compared to last year’s collections. The city will collect 53.15% more from Banks County property owners over last year.
The next millage rate public hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 15, during the city council’s regular meeting.
In other business
The council discussed a fire service automatic aid agreement between the city and Lee Arrendale Correctional Institution Fire Department. The open ended agreement provides that LACI will respond with personnel to structure fires in Baldwin’s Fire Department response area.
There was a consensus among the council members to take action on the agreement at the next council meeting.
The water and wastewater department had requested to purchase SCAG mowers for the property at the respective facilities. According to City Engineer Fletcher Holliday, the mowers the departments currently have are quite old and were “hand-me-downs” from other departments.
The council agreed to take action on the purchases at the next council meeting.
The next Baldwin City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 15, at 6:30. The meeting will be held in the Baldwin Municipal Courtroom located at 155 Willingham Avenue in Baldwin.
