Commissioners Discuss Budget

The Jasper County commissioners met for four hours Monday night, spending the majority of their time discussing finances.

The meeting began with an hour-long work session on the budget, and after the items on the agenda were taken care of they went back into a “work session” to discuss the budget further. The lengthy session could have been predicted when it took the commissioners 10 minutes to agree on the agenda.

Basically, the commissioners need to set a 2011 budget, and also still need to make cuts to the 2010 budget. Chief Financial Officer Lorri Smith and long time financial consultant Sabrina Cape were both on hand to discuss the issues with the commissioners and get direction on where to make cuts.

Setting the budget at $7.7 million will require close to a million dollar cut in expenditures, they determined. However, on Tuesday, Commissioner Mary Patrick said she was reviewing the numbers from the previous night, and said if the commissioners stick with the current budget, they only need to reduce $500,000 more. The higher number is based on departmental requests for next year.

In the discussion of revenues, Ms. Cape said that she tries to always be conservative with revenue, estimating on the low side of what is anticipated.

Commissioner Jack Bernard said that they need to take a real look at any expenditures that could have been taken out of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) fund and impact fees fund and make those adjustments.

The first issue they tackled considered the level of collections at which the budget should be set. The commission has traditionally set the budget at 100 percent of collections, which is not practical. The accountants gave the commissioners scenarios based on collections at 95, 92, 90 and 88 percent. Based on the audit, 90 percent of owed taxes were collected in 2007, 84 percent in 2008, and 95 percent in 2009 for an average of 90 percent.
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Commissioner Bernard said that he wasn’t comfortable taking action until an “executive session” to “see what legal action we can take to make the tax commissioner actually produce the funds.” He said the statewide average for collections is 95 percent and neighboring Newton County collects 98 percent of what’s owed. Several times during the course of the meeting, he continued to harangue the tax commissioner.

When the commissioners entered the work session just before 7:30 p.m., they told Mrs. Smith that they want her to break out the salaries of the constitutional officers separate from the salaries for the department, so the commissioners can see how much each of those officers make and how much additional goes to salaries for their employees.

They talked about making major reductions to various agencies, some of which are considered “component units” of the county. They discussed eliminating funding to the Development Authority of Jasper County and the Health Department because each of those entities has cash in the bank.

Commissioner Alan Cox suggested cutting 20 percent off all departments except constitutional officers, and cutting them five percent. Mr. Bernard said to get to where we want to be we have to cut more.

Ms. Cape asked from where the 20 percent should be cut, the 2010 real numbers or the 2010 budgeted numbers.

Mrs. Smith said, “as much information as you can give me tonight will help me show you scenarios.”

Ms. Cape recommended that the commissioners look at service delivery in all non-mandated services before cutting constitutional officers.

County Attorney Jim Alexander said that it is hard to defend across the board cuts. He recommended the commissioners closely examine each budget, and try to determine where cuts can be made that can be defended. He referred to Newton County where the clerk’s office cut its budget by 50 percent because it is doing so much less work in this economy.

He indicated if the county is sued, budget cuts would be easier to defend if the commission can show logic in the cuts that are made.
Ms. Cape asked if the commissioners wanted the contingency fund to be cut from the $400,000 that is currently budgeted. Commissioners initially said no, but finally at the urging of their attorney agreed to cut it in half. Mr. Alexander indicated it would be hard to justify cuts to constitutional officers if contingency was not cut.

Ms. Cape asked if the commissioners were still certain about the $7.7 million cap on the budget, and the consensus was yes. They also talked about 12 furlough days. Mrs. Smith asked about health insurance cuts, and commissioners indicated they should look at them too.

County Manager Greg Wood said he would mention the “elephant in the room, and said the court won’t like [constitutional officers] being cut while the county is supporting a for profit agency.”
Commissioner Alan Cox said Mr. Wood is right, “we can’t cut employees’ insurance and pay while funding the hospital at $300,000.”

Commissioner Mary Patrick said the hospital in Butts County is paid $250,000, and suggested Oconee should pay Jasper Memorial Hospital since it is responsible for sending so many patients to them.
(At the conclusion of the meeting, Jasper Memorial Hospital Comptroller Stuart Abney, who was in attendance throughout the meeting, told this reporter that the hospital is a 501(c)3 non-profit agency.)

Before adjourning, Ms. Cape asked the commissioners several direct questions to be clear on where cuts should be made. Mrs. Smith and the commissioners agreed they could go back and forth with suggestions through e-mail between then and next Wednesday, Nov. 24, and make some progress before the next scheduled meeting on November 29. She plans to meet with department heads and constitutional officers between now and then. The county has Thanksgiving holidays November 25 and 26.

Before the commissioners closed the meeting to go into “executive session,” this reporter suggested they should try to act like adults and respect the constitutional officers, and in turn they might gain respect. To that, Commissioner Bernard said, “when she collects the million dollars a year she doesn’t collect, I’ll treat her with respect,” apparently referring to Tax Commissioner Merry Faulkner.

The difference in 90 percent collection for the county and 95 percent for the county would be about a quarter of a million dollars. The collection rate posted by the Department of Revenue (DOR) is only current year. Prior year taxes are subject to interest and penalty. Mrs. Faulkner said her posted numbers are based on what she submits to the DOR on April 1 each year. Not every county submits its report at the same time, she said.

Commissioners also agreed to try split billing for taxes. Property owners will get their first bill in July, and it will be due in September, and the second bill will be due in December. It is up to the Tax commissioners on whether she will bill twice or bill one time with two coupons for the separate due dates.

Early in the meeting, the commissioners held public hearings on four items, then passed each of them unanimously.

Recreation Director Wes Chester came before the board with a proposal to purchase new bleachers for the recreation fields at a cost of about $30,000. He showed the commissioners what he had in mind, and said it was at great deal. County Manager Greg Wood asked if he was purchasing them on a state contract, and said if not he would have to get three quotes.

Commissioners considered the renewal of beer/wine/alcohol licenses for 2011, but delayed action.

The information provided to the commissioners showed the license costs as $300 for beer, $200 for wine; $1,000 for alcohol (liquor) pouring, and $500 for beer and wine pouring.

Lakeview Restaurant, Frank’s Restaurant, Hwy. 142 Bar and Grill and Bear Creek Marina Social Club Inc. were listed as requiring Beer and Wine Pouring for $500 each.

Larry’s 4-Way, Martin’s Marina Store, Shane’s One Stop, Susie Q’s Store, Ancient Secrets & Gifts and Bear Creek Marina Store were each listed as Beer and Wine Retail, to pay $500 each.
Bear Creek Marina Social Club, Inc. was listed as alcohol pouring, $1,000 to renew.

Turtle Cove Property Owners Association was listed as alcohol pouring, beer and wine pouring, and beer and wine retail for a total of $2,000.

Commissioners approved a cost of up to $500 for website enhancements. Selective Solutions has gotten the website workable, but Mr. Wood said he wanted county employees to be able to update it. So, they agreed to link different departments to the site, and make it more useful for all.

Commissioner Mary Patrick said the county would probably save that much for not requiring the services of Selective Solutions. Mr. Wood has been actively working to update the website and make it viable. He said that many county employees now have county e-mail addresses such as his, gwood@jaspercountyga.org.

The commissioners also named Mary Alice Carter to the Jasper County Water & Sewerage Authority, and re-appointed Debby Dammann and Lee Holman to the Planning & Zoning Board.

Commissioners Mary Patrick and Alan Cox tried to reinstate “agenda comments” to the regular agendas, whereby the public could address the commissioners both before and after the main business portion of the meeting. The other three commissioners did not agree, however, and the motion failed.

The commission will meet again on Monday, Nov. 29 at 5 p.m. to discuss the budget, and review cuts made by staff with the input of commissioners through e-mail. Persons interested in various departmental budgets may want to attend or contact their commissioners now so they can be represented.

The meeting is billed as a work session at which the commissioners do not typically take action. They are not likely to adopt any budget until December.