AMERICUS — The Americus Mayor and City Council and the Sumter County Board of Commissioners held a joint meeting in the board room at the Columns at Boone Park Monday night. The quarterly meeting provided the two governing bodies an opportunity to speak with state Sen. George Hooks D-Americus and state Rep. Mike Cheokas, D-Americus and voice some of their concerns and ideas.

Hooks , who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, went over the newly released net revenue collections for the month of September with the group. Hooks said that the collections for the month of September 2009 (FY10) totaled $1,371,956,000 compared to $1,632,334,000 for September 2008 (FY09), a decrease of $260,378,000 or 16 percent. Hooks also went on to report that the percentage decrease year-to-date for FY10 compared to FY09 is 14.2 percent. “This is the largest drop in revenue that we have since the 1950s,” said Hooks. Cheokas echoed the senator’s sentiments, stating that the economic outlook was not that great for the state, saying “They are talking about nothing but cuts in Atlanta.”

It was with those numbers in mind, that Commission Chairman Brent Williams asked the representatives about a possible closure of the courthouse on Fridays. The move had been discussed at previous meetings of the Board of Commissioners, but due to a state law, the board has been unable to act on the measure. The purpose behind closing the doors to the courthouse one day a week would be so the County could save the money on having to heat, cool and light the building and have a total furlough day for the building. Williams also urged the representatives to try and persuade the state to allow counties the ability to use SPLOST funds for operating expenses. Currently, SPLOST funds are only to be used for capital expense projects such as the new court house, and the Columns at Boone Park. “SPLOST has been set up well and the restrictions are very good,” said Williams. “If there is any way that we could take a percentage of SPLOST and use it for operating the facilities that we are able to build with SPLOST it would help us tremendously.” Commissioner Rick Davis then interjected and said that the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCOG) was looking to present a plan similar to what WIlliams was talking about, and that “it seems to be a cry from most of the counties in Georgia.”

The group then moved on to the next item on the agenda which was the hot button issue of County fire services. City Administrator Charlotte Cotton passed out a detailed list of 14 items to commissioners laying out the emergency services that the City provides to the County. According to Cotton, these services will stop once the County/City contract expires at midnight on Dec. 31.