Public Speaks Out on Budget

The Jasper County Commission meeting room on the ground floor of the Courthouse was filled beyond capacity as three members of the County Commission hosted the annual budget hearing. The commission staff has prepared a budget based on departmental requests that is balanced, and shows only a 2.8 percent increase over the current budget in maintenance and operations. However, some $800,000 in capital expenditures is included in the budget which increases it significantly.

Staff prepared the budget anticipating the county to borrow money for capital expenditures, and then the payments would be budgeted in over the next five years.

Since the commission has been reviewing the budget, Commission Chairman Jack Bernard has continually said he wants to see $300,000 cut from the expenditures in the budget, and has alluded to several places to get the money. At Monday’s hearing, he repeatedly said, “there are no sacred cows,” as citizen after citizen stood up to speak to their priorities.

The two main topics of comment were the funding for Jasper Memorial Hospital, and the capital outlay expenditure outlined for the public works department. As a matter of fact, Mr. Bernard opened the meeting, laying the ground rules and saying, “we’re not here to close the hospital.”

The speaking policy outlined–no more than three minutes per person and no more than 30 minutes total–is what the commission adopted for its meetings some time ago. It was somewhat unusual for veterans of budget hearings to see a time limit set on how long the public could speak at session advertised as a public hearing. Mr. Bernard said the commission would also welcome written comments.

Rev. Jimmy Horton encouraged the commissioners to maintain the hospital funding at the current level or increase it. He said he was speaking for a lot of people about the importance of the hospital. He encouraged the commissioners to do the right thing, and said, “I don’t want to have to come back down here again about the hospital.”
Chairman Bernard responded to Rev. Horton saying that as far as he knew all the commissioners support the hospital.

Dr. Jessie McWhorter said that she felt like it seemed like the same song, second verse, also encouraging the commissioners to at least maintain funding or increase funding. She also encouraged the commission to do the “right thing.”

Ken McMichael and Tate Turner both spoke to the anticipated expenditure of equipment for public works. Mr. McMichael said to spend the $600,000 in the budget would be a $1 million mistake. No one at PWD is qualified to pave roads, he said. He praised the commissioners for trying to hold the line, and said, “Don’t do deficit financing.”

He said he didn’t want his taxes increased but that would be preferable to borrowing money to balance.

Mr. Turner said it would be a “terrible mistake” to spend that money on equipment. “We don’t have anybody at public works that can grade and pave a road.” If you can’t patch a road, how are you going to build one?

Monticello Mayor Susan Holmes thanked the commissioners for working so hard on the budget, and said she understands how hard it is to balance budgets. She said she had three points to stress. Her first priority is the funding for the hospital. She spoke to the vital importance of the hospital, both for providing quality health care and for the importance in attracting retirees and others to our community. (As our country ages, more and more communities are seeking to increase it retiree base as a form of economic development. Retirees don’t have children in school, and retirees are generally good for a community in a number of ways.

Retirees look at the availability of quality health are before locating in a certain place.)
The mayor also urged the county not to cut funding for economic development, saying we need a professional working with economic development every day. It is a very competitive business, she said. Lastly, she asked the commission to remember that city of Monticello residents pay county taxes, and when considering road projects to remember there are roads in the city that need attention.
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Charles Forsythe said it is the commissioners’ responsibility to have a balanced budget, and to not consider otherwise. He said he still has reservations about the county accounting system and how accurate it is. He then inquired about a recent offer from a hospital group to purchase the hospital. He said he wondered why his taxes had to go to the hospital if it is already making a profit. A letter from the group suggested that the county supplement could be cut or even eliminated if the hospital were sold.

Dave Adman said road paving is waste of money. He said the county could contract the work, and suggested the county could encourage the contractor to hire local people, for example the Georgia-Pacific employees who are currently laid off. He said the county could require affirmative action. He said how the county should be run like a small business. A small business can’t go over budget, he said. You make cuts, he said. Someone will hurt. But it’s necessary. He said the managers should show where they can cut. He said he pays a lot of taxes and he does not want to pay more. He reminded commissioners he had already submitted his opinion in writing.

Stacy James said that she is speaking to the proposed funding cuts for the hospital, and said she was glad to see the facility could make a profit. “I’m happy to see it,” she aid. She said she totally disagrees with considering cutting funding. She encouraged commissioners to keep funding at the current level or higher.

She said the over-50 crowd wants health care.
Bob James said he could echo so many comments. He pays a lot of taxes, too, eh said. He just finished a class at Athens Tech on economic development, he said, and an exercise in that class revealed how important the hospital is to the community. He also told commissioners how Greene County citizens were taxed $200 each for that hospital two years ago. He said he did not want to see the local facility get to that point.

He said fund at current level, let it get on its feet and maybe we can get a new facility.

Steve Jordan explained that the Jasper Memorial Hospital Authority is not in a position to discuss sale of the hospital, as the authority is in a binding lease agreement . Pacer, or anyone else wanting to purchase the hospital, would have to negotiate with Jasper Health Services, and Pacer has not contacted that entity. He said that the hospital does not want to cut services, and it depends on county funding.

Joanne Jordan said that she returned to Monticello as a retiree because she loves the community, it is a caring place, and it provides good, basic services. Everywhere I go, she said, I hear about commission cuts. “I can’t believe that you, as the leaders of this county, are seeking ways to cut services, rather than seeking ways to support services.

After Ms. Jordan’s remarks, Mr. Bernard said that ended the public comment portion of the meeting, and it was time for a discussion between board members. He repeated that as far as he knows every county commissioner supports the hospital.

He said he’d like to see it expand to offer mammography and other services. Then he talked about the hospital not being Joint Commission accredited. He talked about his background in hospitals, and the difficulty in trying to find the money to pay for services. He said he likes health care, he thinks it’s great. He said that the county does not have a contractual agreement with the hospital, and questioned whether the county will need to continue $400,000-$500,000 supplements, or grants to the facility.

He said that the county must borrow $900,000 or find areas to cut. He mentioned economic development, and then said “we’re looking at all areas.” He said they were thinking of cutting one administrative body from the county commission budget, for example. He said that many folks are overworked and [cutting] is not an easy task.

He talked about how many calls he gets about roads, and how much it costs to pave roads.

Neither Commissioner Charles Hill nor Bob Yarbrough made any comments. Commissioners Greg Johnson and Carl Pennamon were not at the meeting.