Tax commissioner would rather have cable than money

Grady County Tax Commissioner Phyllis Gainous will be taking a $6,623.75 pay cut after agreeing with the Cairo City Council on a modified contract for services agreement Monday night.
On Sept. 24, 2010, the city and the Grady County tax commissioner entered into an agreement for the county tax commissioner to perform tax billing and collection for the city of Cairo.
The terms of the agreement called for the tax commissioner to be paid a fee of $1.25 per taxable parcel, of which there are 5,299 parcels currently in the city of Cairo. For the past two years, Mrs. Gainous has been paid $6,623.75 per year by the city to collect municipal ad valorem taxes.
However, a bill pending in the Georgia General Assembly that could possibly end the practice of municipalities paying tax commissioners directly to collect city taxes prompted the tax commissioner and city officials to agree to a contract modification.
Under the terms of the modification, which was approved unanimously Monday night, the city will no longer pay the $1.25 per parcel, but will provide and install CNS Cable TV service to the tax commissioner’s office located at 114 1st Street N.E.
Cairo City Manager Addleton says the initial cost of equipment and installation would be valued at $1,600 and the monthly cost for Super Basic Cable TV is $55.95 per month or $671.40 annually.
“Due to the significant cost saving involved, I recommend approval of the new agreement,” the city manager told councilmen this week.
Addleton says CNS will charge the general fund for the monthly cable bill.
Mrs. Gainous says she wants to have cable TV available for her employees in their break room. She also plans to install televisions that can be seen by customers waiting to pay taxes or buy tags. The cable will also be run to her private office.