Price Tag Rises On "Free" Federal Grant Financing
This year's municipal audit will cost taxpayers an additional $3,000-$4,000 as the price tag for free federal money continues to rise. Federal grants are considered by most people as financial gifts, but there are monetary strings attached. In Piedmont's case, the long-awaited downtown improvement project is now completed, but the federal requirements will involve work as late as 2006.
The auditors are missing from the City offices for a few days. Once all utility payments and sales tax reports are received, they will be back to complete the job of monitoring the City's paperwork.
City Clerk Bill Fann expects them to return after Oct. 25 and remain about two weeks.
The City received more than $500,000 in federal grant money for Transportation Enhancement Act (TEA) projects and must strictly obey federal guidelines. The grant money covered the downtown street renovations and Rails-to-Trails project.
"Although the City does its own monitoring, the auditors will make sure we adhered to federal guidelines concerning the TEA projects," said Fann. For example, they make sure posters detailing worker's rights are posted in clear view and that contractors are paid in accordance to the federal rates, he added.
"While the going rate for a contractor may be only $10 per hour in our area, we must pay the rate set under the Bacon-Davis Act. Sometimes it costs additional money, but we make sure we do what is required," Fann said.
The Bacon-Davis Act states that contracts funded by federal money must contain a clause setting the minimum wage to be paid to various classes of laborers employed under the contract. The Secretary of Labor determines such local prevailing wage rates.
When the auditors return, Fann expects some distractions from his normal routine. He will be responsible for producing purchase orders to back up expenditures. Normally 150 of them will be reviewed during a regular audit but Fann expects the number to increase due to the change in status. Auditors will also check that only authorized personnel made purchases.
"Usually we pay $22,000 to $24,000 a year for our audit. The new requirements will cost the City an additional $3,000 to $4,000 this year," Fann said.
Years passed from the time the transportation-enhancement grants were approved and the first day of construction. These projects were estimated at costing more than $600,000 from federal coffers to the state Department of Transportation. One grant was for improvements on Ladiga Street and a second was limited to Center Avenue.
The Ladiga Street money was approved, but Mayor Charlie Fagan opted to wait until both projects were funded before beginning the work. The delay, he explained, would allow contractors to bring men and equipment to the city and perform all the work at once. He reasoned that working on one street at a time would mean more time and money.
The decision may have been financially sound, but the state DOT seemed in no hurry to release the funds. After several calls to Montgomery, it was learned that the funding for these and other projects in the state had not been released from Washington. Further investigation by local officials found that Congress had not approved the transportation legislation necessary to appropriate the money.
More calls to Washington resulted in the passage of the legislation, and after nearly five years of waiting, the projects were funded.

Doctors Will Open Local Office Nov. 1
Drs. Joy and Rey Gavino have only a few finishing touches to complete before opening their medical office here. The couple will start seeing patients Nov. 1 in the building at 214 Rome Avenue.
In May, the couple agreed to open an office in Piedmont and city maintenance crews began renovations in July.
They look forward to meeting more people from the Piedmont area, they said. "From what we have seen, Piedmont is very family-oriented, much like our hometown," he said.
"Each time I have had a patient from Piedmont in the hospital, I meet a lot of the family in the room," she added. "Having a family member stay with the patient is something I encourage. It's the way we did back home."
The husband-and-wife team will split their office hours between Piedmont and Jacksonville. The local office will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. She will be in the local office on Tuesdays and he will be there Thursdays. Once established, the couple hopes to expand the days to fit patients' needs.
"We already have patients from Piedmont, and opening the office there will help those who have a difficult time getting to our Jacksonville office," she said. "Those that do not drive and the elderly can use the Piedmont public transportation system to get to the new office."
Both natives of the Philippines, the medical duo moved to Jacksonville two years ago and is affiliated with Jacksonville Medical Center. They completed medical school in the Philippines and moved to Orange County, Calif., to do their residency in Los Angeles. Both trained in internal medicine and he specialized in geriatrics.
The couple lives in Jacksonville and has two sons, age six and 17. The older son is a student at Jacksonville State University and plans to pursue a career in physical therapy.
To make an appointment with either of the doctors, call 447-6262. The phone number for the Jacksonville office is 435-5499.

Springs Announces Merger With Brazilian Textile Firm /B> Rey and Joy Gavino Textile
An off-shore merger by Springs Industries is not expected to have any effect on the local plants, but it does represent a major shift in the company's manufacturing policies.
Springs announced that it will combine its home textile business with Coteminas, a Brazilian-based textile producer. The new company, Springs Global, will combine Coteminas' large-scale and lowest-cost textile operations with Springs' customer relationships, brands, diverse product line, and marketing and distribution expertise, according to a press release.
Debbie Miller, local general manager said, "We anticipate this will have no impact on the Piedmont plants whatsoever."
Coteminas has been working with Springs since 2001 as a key supplier. "Their supplier relationship with us has been an important part of our market share since 2001, and led to this combination of two family-run companies that share common beliefs and concerns about customers, employees and communities," said Crandall Bowles, chairman and executive officer of Springs.
Ted Matthews, vice-president of corporate communications of Springs Industries said, "While plans are not finalized, we have no specific ones that affect Piedmont. All operations, whether they are in Piedmont or South Carolina, are a vital asset to Springs Global."
The merger, subject to approval, is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

Strictly Personal
Now We Have A Committee...
About the time you think Washington has reached the apex of stupidity, our government comes along with and unbelievably dumb decision.
Possibly the most serious problem currently faced by Americans is the cost of fuel. Fuel for travel is not a luxury. We have developed into a mobile society. We drive to school, work and the doctor's office. Most of our goods arrive at local stores by truck. Our everyday lives are dependent on transportation, and for transportation, the majority of the country needs fuel.
Someone once said the three basic human emotions are greed, greed and greed. This has be clearly demonstrated by the petroleum industries. I must commend the petroleum folks on their ability to continue to create excuses for high fuel prices. First we have the price of crude oil, followed by high demand and market-driven alibis, and finally we have the hurricanes.
Even federal bureaucrats should realize that Katrina's damage is being controlled, the price of crude oil is down and the demand for gasoline has been reduced. In spite of this, gasoline prices are still far higher that before Katrina.
With these facts in mind, the profits for petroleum companies have skyrocketed. On one report the company's earnings were in the billions for a single quarter.
At last, the dunderheads at the federal level have figured that something is wrong with this picture. They have responded with the least effective, most inefficient and most time-consuming method possible. My fellow Americans, we now have a committee. This committee will investigate to see if the oil barons are guilty of price-gouging. With all the factors affecting costs on a downward trend, record high retail prices and obscene profits, it would seem that price gouging, even by Washington standards, would be a definite possibility.
I doubt the committee will take a look at the gasoline prices in Rome, Ga., and compare them to Calhoun County. I was in Rome last week, and the gas prices are almost $3 for unleaded regular. That's more than we are paying for gasoline for the same companies. The reason I make this comparison is that Georgia's gasoline tax is far less than Alabama's. I don't believe it takes an Einstein to figure where all the excess money is going.
Nor do I believe it takes a crystal ball and a gypsy fortune teller to make certain predictions about the committee and its findings. First, this committee will not be as "untouchable" as Elliot Ness and his band of federal agents. Congress is doing as little as possible. The petroleum industry is not wasting those billions of dollars. They are directing a comfortable bit of it to Washington, and our national leaders don't want to turn off their personal flow of finances. Therefore, a committee is created.
The committee will not come to places like Rome, Ga., with low gas taxes and high gas prices. The committee members will stick around the Northeast and West Coast. The restaurants are better and there is more to see in those locations. Since we taxpayers will be footing the bill, the committee members will undoubtedly dawdle, procrastinate, delay, postpone and drag their feet during their alleged investigation. The weeks will become months, and the months may become years.
At last, after billions more are transferred from the public pockets to the petroleum industry vaults, there will be a report. This report will be the material of comedy writers across the world. The august panel will describe its untiring efforts in determining what it hopes the public will consider as the truth. This report will say there are numerous factors involved in retail gas prices, many of which the consumer does not understand. The document will depict the petroleum industry as a paragon of virtue that has provided fuel for our nation while other countries have seen shortages. If the profits are mentioned, they will be shrouded in protective verbiage that makes it seem appropriate to steal from the American public,
The final word from the committee will be that the petroleum is self-regulating and needs no interference from outside agencies. In short, the entire committee and its investigation will be nothing but a farce.
In the end, the taxpayers will have paid the tab for a bunch of folks to have a good time and perform as the puppets for a Washington-petroleum coalition. The same people will be forced to continue to pay exorbitant prices at the pumps. Many will suffer from cold because of the ridiculously high price of heating oil. However, the petroleum people will continue to increase their profits. In Washington, money, not people, is the name of the game.
I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.