Commissioners Approve 2025-2026 Budget

By JACK BAGLEY
The Meriwether County Commission approved the county’s 2025-2026 budget at their meeting September 23.
Before the vote on the budget, Jane Fryer, Director of the Industrial Development Authority, spoke to the board asking for an increase in the Authority’s budget. The county currently gives the IDA $300,000 a year, but Fryer said that with rising costs and personnel, it is not enough, and she asked for an additional $100,000. The Commissioners discussed with Fryer the reasons for the request, but in the end voted 3-2 not to increase the budget. Commissioners Bryan Threadgill and Vice Chairman Emmett Collins voted yes, while Chairman Adam Worsley and Commissioners Jennifer Snelson and Gene King voted no. By the same vote, the board kept the IDA budget as is, but said that if Fryer has need for adjustments during the year she could come before them and ask.
A public hearing concerning a rezoning request from Stephanie Harris for a parcel of land on Bishop Circle in Warm Springs from RD to A1-Special Use to allow for a camping facility took a large portion of the meeting time. During the question-and-answer with the Commissioners, it was learned that a bathroom facility had already been constructed on the property in August of 2024, and that tents were on the property as well. Initially, Harris wanted to use the land for family camping, but now wishes to expand it to the general public. The discussion centered on engineering studies of the building, and why it was in place before the rezoning request was made. In the end, however, the Commissioners voted to approve the rezoning with some stipulations: a limit on the occupancy of the facility; no disturbance to property lines; getting the Health Department to rate the septic system; and limiting exterior lighting and noise during the hours between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
In other business, the Meriwether County Commission:
• Approved a rezoning request from Tammy Argroves to rezone a parcel of land on Gay Road for use as a taxidermy ship;
• Tabled to the October 6 meeting an appointment to the Recreation Advisory Board to fill an unexpired term in District 3;
• Tabled to the November 10 meeting a consideration of a proposal from Kudzu Networks regarding the county’s internet infrastructure;
• Discussed the Meriwether County Water and Sewerage Authority budget;
• Approved a request from the Meriwether County Airport Authority to continue funding loan payments of new hangars at Roosevelt Memorial Airport;
• Approved the appointment of River City Contracting as Construction Manager for the repairs to be done on the County Courthouse in Greenville;
• Approved placement of a historic marker honoring Brig. Gen. David Meriwether, for whom the county is named, near the Veterans Memorial at the Courthouse;
• Approved releasing the road bond for Chambless Village;
• Approved waiving $2,319,63 in back taxes and penalties for a one-acre tract of land mistakenly listed as the property of Patricia Burns, while it actually belonged to another nearby landowner;
• Approved setting the price of a two-acre tract of land on Harmony Church Road at $10,000 an acre for consideration of a buyer who wishes to move the historic Old Plantation House, now at the airport, to the land to repurpose as either a museum or a bed-and-breakfast;
• Approved surplussing the old County Elections Building on Court Square in Greenville (the building had been approved for sale at the last meeting but had not been properly surplussed); and
• Approved a request for an additional $100,000 in T-SPLOST funding for the road widening project.
The next regular meeting of the Meriwether County Commission will be Monday, October 6, at 6 p.m.