Residents concerned with school board’s post-Helene meeting

By RODNEY MANLEY

The Dublin City Board of Education met in a special called meeting last Monday, planning to vote to advertise a proposed millage rate, but postponed action because a tax digest had not been finalized.

The meeting drew an unusually large crowd. Some came concerned about their taxes, others about the meeting being held in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene with little public notice, and some about both. 

The only item on the agenda was advertising the property tax digest and proposed millage rate for the Dublin City Schools. The item was tabled, but board and school officials discussed deadlines for three public hearings that would only be required if the millage rate is not rolled back enough to offset a net tax increase.

The special meeting was called at lunchtime on Friday, Sept. 27, hours after the category 1 hurricane ripped through Dublin and Laurens County, causing widespread wind damage, power outages and road and street closures, and killing two people.  

Georgia’s open government laws require that an agency provide at least 24-hours notice to the county’s legal organ prior to “any meeting other than a regularly scheduled meeting for which notice has already been provided.” The board of education office emailed the agenda for the special meeting to The Courier Herald at about 1 p.m. on Sept. 27. However, the newspaper, like many businesses, was without power and internet for days after the storm. The agenda also was posted on the door of the board office.

The notice fulfilled the letter of the law, but whether it met the spirit of it was a hot subject on social media among residents, who accused the board and school officials of being less than transparent – particularly with city property owners facing a potential tax increase after a property revaluation.

“This board of education is not trying to pull nothing on nobody,” said Superintendent Fred Williams. “We’re working feverishly to do the right thing by the citizens.”

No one spoke during the public comments period of the meeting. The board requires that residents give notice to be added to the agenda and speak, but the meetings rarely draw public comments.

Several uniformed Dublin Police Department officers, who normally do not attend the meetings, were there at the board’s request but waited in the lobby.

School Finance Director Chad McDaniel told board members that the city, the taxing authority for the school board, had not provided a certified tax digest to the schools, so it could not proceed. However, the board has called another special meeting for 6 p.m. to discuss advertising the tax digest and millage rate.