LEE COUNTY, GA (WALB) - Garbage was the big issue on The Lee County board of Commissioners Tuesday night.
In 2009, the board voted to add the garbage bill onto the county tax payroll because 20 percent of residents were not paying their trash bill.
The chairman of the Board of Tax Assessors requested board members to repeal the garbage ordinance.
They will not because it costs the county roughly half a million dollars a year when residents don't pay their garbage bill.
The garbage bill is separate from water and sewer for people on well water.
"The Board of Commissioners is firm in its decision to put this on the tax roles simply because we cannot afford to continue losing over $400,000 a year in revenue," said County Commissioner Chairman, Ed Duffy.
The tax commissioner has said she won't go along with the change. Ultimately, a judge may have to decide what happens.
Lee County neighbors also had a chance to attend a community hearing about the new Leesburg Bypass.
DOT representatives answered questions people had about the new road that would connect Highway 19 north of Leesburg to Old Leslie Highway.
Engineers tweaked part of the bypass near Highway 129 so that it doesn't run into one resident's yard.
Roughly 6,500 kids travel through the congested downtown by bus or car during the school week. Duffy says the new bypass would cut down heavy truck traffic by roughly 30 percent in downtown Leesburg.
The DOT hopes to begin construction in 2013.
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