Commission Reduces 2014 Budget Thursday

The Jasper County Commissioners voted, at a called meeting last Thursday, to set the county’s millage rate at 15.446, and the hospital rate at 0.85, the same rate as was charged last year.

This is down 1.11 percent from what was advertised and previously agreed to by the commissioners. The reduction came as somewhat of a surprise, as the commissioners had worked on the budget for the past few months, and the millage rate of 15.640 had been advertised, and only two people had commented at the public hearings about the budget increase.

District 2 Commissioner Bruce Henry made the motion, saying that once they had balanced the budget, there was a small surplus. He said he did not think they should raise taxes because of that.

District 4 Commissioner Craig Salmon agreed, saying they could reduce contingency by $57,400, which is the approximate cost of four employee furlough days. So they reduced the budget, and did nothing with furlough days.

District 3 Commissioner Gene Trammell said he did not like balancing the budget on the backs of employees, but went along with the motion.

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After much discussion, the commissioners voted 3-1 to adopt the same millage rate as 2012 for a budget of $8.23 million. Commissioners Henry, Salmon, and Trammell voted for the motion. Commission Chairman Carl Pennamon dissented. Commissioner Doug Luke was not at the meeting.

The commissioners approved the county wide tax levy that is actually a reduction in taxes, as the county tax rate remained the same, and the school tax rate was reduced slightly. A copy of the tax levy resolution is on page 9 of today’s paper.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the commissioners adopted a curb side fee of $167 per year. Advanced Disposal Service (ADS) charges the county $11.94 per month per cart, with a possible gasoline surcharge.

The commissioners, at their regular meeting on Monday, revealed that the curb side collection enterprise fund has a surplus of money. They agreed to move some of that money from curb side to general fund, and to reduce furlough days from 12 to 9, basically doing away with furlough days for July-September, and agreeing to revisit the funding later to see if furlough days can be eliminated.

Also at Monday’s meeting, with all five commissioners present, they agreed to lease three new motor graders, while acknowledging they do not have enough personnel to keep three motor graders on the road.

New County Manager Karen Degges said she would get back with the commissioners showing the funds available in the budget for public works, and some options. Some $3,200 a month was budgeted for motor graders, and the cost that commissioners voted on was $2,441 a month. The difference could help fund another person, or be used to purchase gravel.

The commissioners heard from Mary Patrick who wanted to know when they vote to approve the checks on the check register. The commissioners approved a policy some time ago for the automatic signing of the checks, but the policy requires a vote each month to submit the checks. The commissioners have not done that. However, when Mrs. Patrick asked previously, the checks were still being signed by the commissioners. She said she thought that changed in May.

Also, Mrs. Patrick asked about the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) agreement that had been determined by the city of Monticello and Jasper County. Negotiations took place much of last year, and were supposed to be complete by December 31. However, the judge called in to do arbitration had an emergency, so the groups did not meet the deadline. There has been mention of LOST, and presumably those numbers were used to help determine budget figures, but Jasper County has never voted in open meeting on the LOST settlement, she said.

Also at Monday’s meeting, commissioners:

•Set the next meeting for Monday, July 15, at 5 p.m.

•Discussed the Emergency Medical Service Committee that is supposed to get together and come up with suggestions for improvements to the EMS service, including the possibility of privatization. The county has not received names of committee members from the cities of Monticello or Shady Dale. In addition, commissioners agreed Ms. Degges would be facilitator, and the county would not have a representative of its own. The county will ask the school board to name someone to take part in the discussions.

•Agreed to look at roads to determine which ones to submit to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) for LMIG funding.