Planning commissioners approved subdivision plans that will create up to 330 residential building sites in Columbia County.

The approvals include the rezoning of a 33.5-acre tract on Wrightsboro Road outside Grovetown that will have 72 lots.

Originally zoned R-1, the site’s rezoning to R-2 had been postponed since the previous Planning Commission meeting at which the site’s developer sought more time to respond to conditions placed on the project.

A year after sudden hikes in property values brought on by the end of a state moratorium on tax re-evaluations, this year’s new assessments of Columbia County property generally are more modest.

More than 57,000 notices on more than $10 billion in real and personal property were mailed last week, said Chief Assessor Debbie Robertson.

“My assessment went down $4,000 this year, and I am quite surprised seeing how it went up $10,000 the year before,” said Grovetown resident Stephanie Borchik.

A restructuring of some Columbia County government departments will shift how some employees are funded.

Approved during Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, the restructuring is “pretty significant,” said County Administrator Scott Johnson.

The plan realigns the administrator’s office and Development Services division, and divides the Construction and Maintenance Division into separate Engineering, Roads and Bridges and Facilities Maintenance divisions.

A friend the other day called Columbia County School Board member Mike Sleeper “courageous” because he was the only trustee to vote against a 1-mill tax hike.

I disagree. Not because I disagree with Sleeper, but because these days voting against a tax increase is easy. Voting for a tax increase at the local level is just about the hardest thing an elected official can do.