Disaster Relief Headed for Haiti Earthquake Victims

Press Release by Michael Bodine

WJCL-TV The Coastal Source/Fox 28 News is partnering with Horizon International Medical Mission, the City of Tybee, and Savannah Country Day School to get 15 doctors, nurses, and aides to Haiti by February 28th to March 7th.

The emergency trip will be led by Dr. Kennedy Okerre, head of HIMM. HIMM is headquartered in Savannah, and he maintains an office in Rincon. He is a former Memorial Health doctor. Tybee’s Julia Pearce joins the group as a nurse. Both Okerre and Julia appeared on WJCL-TV Fox, Coastal Source news telling viewers about their mission.

Space has been provided in the City Hall lobby for donations by citizens of emergency supplies such as blankets, medical wraps, canned food, clothes, syringes, old prescriptions, over the counter pharmacy items, and masks. All such items will be moved as needed to a secure location until the mission’s departure to Haiti.

WJCL has also set-up a truck in the front yard of the station for folks to contribute. Savannah Country Day is asking its students for help by bringing in goods and doing odd jobs for cash. Dr. Okerre is also asking for contributions for air fare and accommodations through the Red Cross.

Tybee’s Michael Sullivan can be reached at 921-2222 in the WJCL newsroom for updates on this mission, or visit http://www.thecoastalsource.com.

There are a number of other local avenues for making donations to help earthquake victims in Haiti including Saint Michael’s School 912-786-4507.  The Red Cross is a great destination for cash contributions – they accept donations right on their web site, www.redcross.org.  The City encourages donations to any and all these efforts! Please don’t delay in providing whatever help you can. The list of suggested disaster relief contribution items can be found on the City’s website at
http://www.cityoftybee.org.

The Planner: Travel Agent for the Public!

By Jonathan Lynn, Planning & Zoning Director, City of Tybee Island

There seems to be confusion many times about the process of city planning. I have to admit that when I first began my career in the planning field, I was as confused as anyone could possibly about the basic process of planning. It was one thing to read about the process and learn from a professor in college but being involved in the process on a daily basis made everything seem brand new. What I would like to share here is a guide to understanding the planning process through comparing to something that most of us do routinely: planning a trip. In this comparison, the planner takes the role of your travel agent.

When planning for a trip with your family or for yourself, the first thing that you must decide is coming up with a location, an ending point of some sort. The same goes with planning as you begin with an ending concept in mind for where you want to end up. Once you decide on where you want to go, that’s when the logistics of the trip come in to play such as how you get there, what you need to pack, how much is it going to cost, who is going to watch your pets, and what to do when you get there. I did leave out the most important question of all when planning a trip and that is will this trip be approved by your traveling companions, which may be friends, family, spouses, or children.

All of these questions in one fashion or another are involved with the planning process as well. Once you have the results in mind you will need to start the process for reaching the final goal and that can involve reviewing of project plans (trip itinerary), guiding applicants through the process of having their proverbial ducks in a row like drainage plans, parking calculations, permits, and licenses (travel means, lodging accommodations, and what to pack). Serving as your planner/travel agent, I provide aid through the process of planning your trip and getting the paperwork in order to ensure that you have every facet of your trip in line before presenting it to your travel companions, normally the decision makers. In the case of planning, the final decision makers, normally the City Council, will approve your trip as is, approve with a few adjustments to your itinerary/project, or encourage you to find another destination as where you decided to go would not be a place they would like to visit.

As a planner, or in this case a travel agent, it is our duty to work with the client to allow them to have appropriate measures in place to ensure that they are ready for their case to be heard before the elected officials. And just like any travel agent, if they are approved and take their trip, the planner is there with them during every step of their trip to ensure that they have the best possible experience that they can. I do hope that this comparison has helped with the general understanding of the planning profession and routinely takes place in this arena. If you have questions about any part of this article, please do not hesitate to get in contact with me.

Jonathan

Planning & Zoning Director Jonathan Lynn may be reached at jlynn@cityoftybee.org

A Better Hometown

By Chantel Morton,
Better Hometown Coordinator

February 2010

Happy February, Tybee!

Spring is right around the corner and Tybee has so much to look forward to this year! As we look forward to warmer and hopefully dryer weather, we anticipate the crowds to return, especially with “the movie” being released in April. Residents have been preparing for the season as have businesses by sprucing up their locations inside and outside.

Better Hometown Start up members continue to facilitate and assist with revitalization efforts and to work with businesses. Have you seen the new turtle wayfinding signs? The City of Tybee has been working with the President of the Tybee Arts Association who partnered with Tybee Island Customs for the design and creation of these signs. The Tybee Turtle signs will help people find their way around the island more efficiently. Banners messages hanging from the turtles will also assist people visiting and the City.

One banner message is “Show Respect. Don’t Litter.” This is a concern for many as we continue working together to keep Tybee clean. In another effort to help keep the Island clean the Design Committee implemented a trash container donation program a few months ago. Through generous donations made and city assistance, the Island will have a few additional trash containers in the corridor by March. Another banner message is “Pay for Parking.” Tybee is a pay to park community in order to keep critical island services available. This message will help with one of the parking concerns many have conveyed. Additional parking concerns continue to be addressed.

As we build a Better Hometown, members of the Design Committee and I have been meetings with City Officials and staff to seek and implement positive solutions before the season begins. Tybee only has so much capacity and we must work with what we have while preserving the sense of community and quality of life for Islanders. On another note (the pun IS intended!)…Mark your calendar for the Thursday following the Mardi Gras and Tie the Knot event filled weekend! Thursday, February 18 at 4:30pm will be the first “THIRD THURSDAY” ON TYBEE near the Tybrisa / Strand roundabout! February 18 is the first of three free family-friendly outdoor music concert series made possible through a Grassroots Arts Program grant awarded to Tybee’s Better Hometown Initiative.

Beginning at 4:30pm on February 18, the astonishing Viguba Trio will perform. This Trio will bring an enjoyable mix of jazz, tango, classical & pop music arranged for violin, guitar & bass. The music will serenade you until 5:30pm near the Tybrisa / Strand Roundabout! Then on March 18 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm, nationally known contemporary folk artist, Lauren Lapointe will amaze those joining the musical celebration in the lot at Tybee Oaks. The final performance for this series will be April 15 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm. Enjoy Tax Day this year with this free musical performance. The amazing vocals of sixteen year old Lacey Caldwell will charm those strolling around Tybrisa and The Strand!

Residents, merchants and guests are all encouraged to take advantage of these mini-concerts while enjoying the outdoors! With assistance from a variety of sources, Third Thursdays on Tybee will continue the awareness that Tybee Island is an inviting and thriving arts community. Look for the posters around town soon! For more information on these events, visit: www.cityoftybee.org/BetterHometownProgram.aspx.

Music. Artwork. Nature. These are just a few ways everyone enjoys Tybee. Tybee’s variety of nature and cultural experiences abound from the waterways to 178 steps up towards the sky. Plus it’s easy to BUY LOCAL TYBEE with over 35 hot spots to quench your thirst and satisfy your hunger, personal services just right for you and more than 30 shops to find everything you must have from whimsical art to sunscreen to vegetables.

Please feel free to contact members of the Better Hometown Board of Directors or me with suggestions, concerns, or to help. Contact information for the Board can be found on the City of Tybee Island’s website.

See you around town!
Chantel
912.844.9771
cmorton@cityoftybee.org

Concerned About Your Property Tax Bill?

If you’re unhappy with your Chatham County property tax bill for 2010, now’s the time to file an appeal! Decreasing property values have prompted some Tybee property owners to head downtown to the Board of Assessors office on Montgomery Street in Savannah to request a re-appraisal. These folks are reporting good results. It’s a simple process, and county staff members are very helpful. You may call them with specific questions. Inquiries should be directed to the Assessor’s Office at 912-652-7271. You may also e-mail them at boa@chathamcounty.org.

Specific questions regarding county taxes should be directed to the Tax Commissioner’s Office at 912-652-7100. Specific questions regarding county homestead exemptions should be directed to the Receiver of Returns Office at 912-447-4856.

Might save a few dollars, but you better hurry.
The deadline for filing such appeals this year is MARCH 1st, 2010.

Visit the county’s website at www.chathamcounty.org/assessor.html

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.

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