DAHLONEGA, Ga.- The City Council approved the first city license for the sale of distilled liquor after the lottery drawing that took place last week.

The council also approved the fiscal year 2023 budget presented by Finance Director Allison Martin. Martin also reviewed the tax digest and millage rate that the council approved. With a 5 to 1 vote the council also approved going forward with the housing assessment.

Sonika Ahluwalia while receiving congratulations from the council.

Gold Rush Spirits LLC run by Sonika Ahluwalia is the first city-issued license for the sale of distilled spirits and liquor in the City of Dahlonega. Ahluwalia still needs the state license to officially operate the business.

Her location for the liquor store will be at 19 Choice Avenue. She plans to open sometime in November before the Christmas crowds begin to gather.

“I wanna say congratulations and looking forward to having you as a business in our community, wishing you the best of luck,” congratulated Councilmember Ron Larson.

The council also approved the fy23 budget. Martin and her staff have been working on this for months to try and balance the budget with the current inflation conditions. She did balance it with both the revenues and expenditures totaling $5,083,868.

The beginning fund balance for fy23 is $2,938,757. In order to balance a portion of the fund balance may need to be used. The city has also received its most recent APRA fund allocation for projects.  To look at the full breakdown of the budget please visit https://dahlonega.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Budget-Documents-1.pdf.

Finance Director Allison Martin while presenting the budget and millage rate to the council.

The millage rate that the city approved is 4.558 mills. The net tax levy at that millage rate is $1,135,758. This is a 0.82% decrease over the previous year’s millage rate of 5.508 mills.

This rollback will have a minimal effect on the taxpayers. Martin felt that with the uncertain times and the possibility of a recession rolling back any more than the 100% they currently are would not be possible at this time.

Heard in the clip above is councilmember Johnny Ariemma congratulating staff on their work on the budget. Also heard is Martin explaining the hard work her team puts into the budget.

At the July 18 work session, Mayor JoAnne Taylor brought the council a proposed housing study. To view the full discussion visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/07/19/city-discuss-housing-study/.

The council approved 5 to 1 to move forward with the full study. Councilmember Ross Shirley voted against moving forward because he felt the study was too broad and needed to be focused on one or two key steps. Once complete the council will then take further action based on the results of the study.