Ask The Mayor

April 2010

This month’s question:
“You took our garbage cans away, so where are we supposed to put our garbage?”

The City decided a few years ago to implement a new trash collection system for the south end business district, and taxpayers invested a significant amount of money in the area in the winter of 2008, but we were still left with the problem of trash receptacles in plain view which made certain areas of our business district relatively unattractive.

We decided to do what many municipalities (including Savannah) have done to address this problem: using strategically-placed, relatively out-of-sight trash compactors.  We placed one on Atlantic and one on Lovell.  We did everything we could to minimize the hardship this created for the businesses in the area and tried to explain that it was being done in the final analysis to help the businesses by improving the appearance of the area.  However, there are problems with the system.  (Photo 2 was sent by the person who submitted this month’s question.) One of them is that sometimes the compactors are filled to capacity prior to pick-up with things like cardboard boxes.

One of the major problems we have is that many businesses simply place boxes adjacent to the compactors without placing them inside and hitting the button to compact the trash.  We are looking at the possibility of adding cardboard recycling in this area so that businesses who wish to recycle such material don’t have to bring it to the Department of Public Works which may help, and we may need to add one or more additional compactors.  We encourage our businesses to let the City know if and when the compactors fill up so that we can arrange for pick-up, and to use either compactor should one be full. The bottom line is that any new process will encounter some hiccups and problems.  We will do our very best to address these issues in a timely manner and are exploring long term solutions so that our businesses have a location to process their trash and recyclables.

Thanks for the great question.
Until next month,
Jason Buelterman

Send questions to “Ask the Mayor,” City of Tybee Island, P.O. Box 2749, Tybee Island, GA 31328, or e-mail them with an “Ask the Mayor” header to buelterman@hotmail.com.

Photo: Mayor Jason Buelterman assisted by Randy “Hatman” Smith, poses (while drawing names from the raffle basket) with limo ride winner, Alec Fanning and his mom, Deanna at The Last Song “Flip Flop” Pre-Movie Gala at the Tybee Gym on March 31st.  (Photo by Nancy Heffernan, The Tybee Times, copyright 2010)

Ask The Mayor

This month’s question:  How do I know how much money I pay to the City of Tybee in property taxes?

For whatever reason, the powers that be have devised a mechanism for calculating property tax bills that is relatively complex.  Be that as it may, the Tybee mill rate is currently about 3.7.  To calculate your tax rate for Tybee municipal taxes, you take the value of your home, business or land (according to the county’s determination as to it’s value) and multiply it by .4 (you are taxed on 40% of the assessed value).  This number is then multiplied by the mill rate.  So, for example, if your home is valued at $400,000, this number is multiplied by .4 equaling $160,000.  This number is then multiplied by .0037 ( a “mill” is a tenth of a cent).  This gives you your taxes owed to the City of Tybee, in this case $592.00.

However, of course, this doesn’t take into account homestead exemptions. If your property is owner-occupied and is not used for business purposes, it generally qualifies for homestead exemptions.  The most significant of these is the county-wide Stephens-Day exemption, named for the authors of the legislation which created the exemption, State Representatives Burke Day and Ron Stephens.  It essentially locks in the value of your home at the time you purchase it.  So in the example above, if the home currently valued at $400,000 was valued at $200,000 at the time of purchase, then there is a $200,000 exemption on the property and for tax purpsoes it is valued at $200,000 as opposed to $400,000.

Also, in 2003, the City of Tybee enacted a $200,000 exemption for Tybee city taxes.  So again using the example above, since the home has a locked-in value of $200,000, the home owner pays $0 to the City.  About half the homeowners on Tybee have homes with a locked-in value less than $200,000 and pay nothing to the City in property taxes.  There are also additional senior citizen and other exemptions.  I have talked to many property owners who wait a few years to go to the County to sign up for the homestead exemptions that they are entitled to.  Because of Stepehens-Day (at least up until recently), this delay costs these folks thousands of dollars over the long haul.  I should also add that the millage rate referenced above does not include county and school tax rates, which are about 10.5 and 13.5, respectively.  Given Tybee’s relatively low millage rate coupled with the $200,000 exemption, the proportion of taxes paid to the City relative to that paid to other governmental entities is fairly small.  This is why we work very hard to recoup as much county, state and federal funds as possible for various projects on our Island.

Thanks for the great question!
Jason Buelterman

Send questions to “Ask the Mayor,” City of Tybee Island, P.O. Box 2749, Tybee Island, GA 31328, or e-mail them with an “Ask the Mayor” header to buelterman@hotmail.com.

Tybee Post Theater Board Hosts Ribbon Cutting!

The Editor

“Getting the doors of this theater open is the one thing that most Tybee folks can almost agree on!” These words of Mayor Jason Buelterman rang true as he addressed the crowd gathered for an official ribbon cutting ceremony for the theater’s newly installed facade windows and doors on Dec. 17th, 2009. “Back in 2000 when the Tybee Island Historical Society purchased this building, it was one week away from the wrecking ball, and here is stands today a testimate to the dedication of those whose vision will surely prevail!”

In early December the Friends of the Tybee Theater received a letter from W. Ray Luce, Director of the State of Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division stating that the Tybee Post Theater had been awarded a Georgia Heritage Grant for $20,000 funded with proceeds from the sale of the historic preservation license plate.

The Friends of the Tybee Theater grant application was one of 37 received this past summer as part of the SFY

2009 cycle totaling almost $800,000.00 in grant requests, but due to state budget constraints the only license plate money to be available at this time was awarded to the top-scoring Tybee Theater project. Competition for the Georgia Heritage Grant Program is strong, and the group is very proud of this accomplishment. The $20,000 grant award for further rehabilitation was used to complete the purchase and installation of new facade windows and doors for the building. The license plate can be purchased at county tag offices for a $25 specialty tag fee.

The group announced several months ago that grant monies had been requested for this purpose. The grant was facilitated by Executive Director of the Tybee Island Historical Society, Cullen Chambers, and the work was completed by J. T. Turner Construction Company. Chambers, Mayor Buelterman, David Crass, Director of the Historic Preservation Division from the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources, and FOTT President Pam Lappin were on hand to address the gathering.  Several board members were also present along with Jim Kluttz President of Tybee Island Historical Society and Sarah Jones, Assistant Tybee Light Station Director. City officials and members of the council also attended.  The public enjoyed refreshments and tours of the site, and the very first live performance of music to take place in the building since rehabilitation began.

The theater has been in the news several times this fall including an interview by WSAV-TV reporter Randi Hempel about the grant award.  In October the Tybee Arts Association raised funds for the project by producing an original community musical, “The Treasure of Lefty the Pirate.” building was also recently toured by art patrons from The Landings, and featured during “Tybee for the Holidays” 1st Annual Realtor’s Tour of Homes. Plans for more events at the theater site are now in the works, and excitement is building community-wide. If you haven’t seen the new windows and doors, drive by and take a look.  The old theater, once so much a part of Tybee’s past is beginning to come alive again.  2010 may well be the year!  Next month the Friends of the Tybee will announce a new Board of Directors, so stay tuned…

Ask The Mayor

January 2010

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and of course a happy new year!  This month’s question is: “Are we voting again on four year terms for mayor and city council?  I thought we just did that a few years ago.”

The simple answer is that there is a referendum on the ballot for Tybee voters in November 2010 about this issue.  A vote in the affirmative would give the mayor and council four year terms.  Should the referendum obtain a majority of votes, the first election cycle which would be affected would be the 2011 Tybee municipal elections.  For the first election under this possible new system, the winning candidate for mayor and top three council candidates would get four year terms and the fourth through sixth place council candidates would get two year terms.  In 2013, those three two year council seats would be on the ballot.  The three winning candidates and would get four year terms.  In 2015, the mayor’s seat three seats that were in the top three in 2011 would be on the ballot and subsequently all successful candidates for mayor and council would serve four year terms.

The issue was placed on the ballot for 2010 after the previous council (the one that served from 2008-2009) voted to ask the state legislature to place it on the ballot.  Our state legislators all agreed to this and consequently the referendum is on the ballot for 2011.

It is also true that this issue was recently on the ballot on Tybee and was emphatically rejected by the citizens.  Many felt that the referendum was defeated because it took place during the same election cycle as a Tybee municipal election leading to some confusion over which candidates would get four year terms.  Some felt the ballot language wasn’t clear enough.  And of course many others simply felt that the voters wanted to keep two year terms for the mayor and council.  I am optimistic that the next eleven months will give us a chance to analyze the pros and cons of four year terms and we can–one way or the other–put this issue to rest once and for all.

Thanks for the great question!
Jason Buelterman

Send questions to “Ask the Mayor,” City of Tybee Island, P.O. Box 2749, Tybee Island, GA 31328, or e-mail them with an “Ask the Mayor” header to buelterman@hotmail.com.