Millage rates are going down in Columbia County.
On Tuesday, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners rolled back a millage rate for ad valorem taxes and approved the establishment of a millage rate for the purposes of computing ad valorem taxes on property in Columbia County.
“Our total millage rate is going to be rolled back to a tax rate that we last saw in 2011,” said Scott Johnson, county manager. “As our county as grown, we were able to go back to a tax rate that we had 10 years ago. Most communities aren’t doing that, so I congratulate this board, our staff and the folks in Columbia County that make this a great place.”
The commission voted to withdraw a rezoning request for a Dairy Queen on North Bel Air Road.
Aizazehra Inc. had submitted a request to the planning commission to rezone a parcel located at 453 N. Belair Rd. from a single-family residential district to a general commercial zoning district in order to build a Dairy Queen.
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At the planning commission meeting on July 15, Commissioner Russell Wilder made a motion to disapprove this request and approve instead that the parcel be rezoned to a community commercial district.
This motion was voted down at that meeting. Commissioner Don Skinner ultimately approved a motion to allow the applicant to withdraw the request without prejudice. The board agreed.
The Columbia County Fire Department presented a check for over $63,000 of funds raised from its last Boot Drive in May to two organizations, Burn Foundation of America and Columbia County Community Connection. Capt. Robert Yahn presented the check to Steve Chalker, director of operations, and Linda McKnight, CEO of the Burn Foundation. Capt. Gary Griffith formally presented a check to Teka Jenkins, executive director of the Columbia Community Connection.
MORE: Columbia County Board of Education Makes Slight Millage Rollback
“This means so much to our organization, we are dependent upon grants and money from the community,” said Jenkins. “So, to get this we can ensure that we’re having afterschool programs, and making sure that our children are safe, but also that we have voluntarism from our firefighters. They come up and our children are absolutely excited to see them. We are so thankful for the citizens of Columbia County for all the work that they do.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
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