7/9/09 Budget Work Session with Departments
The BOC held a budget
workshop on 7/9/09. The following departments
spoke to the BOC about their budget cuts and how they planned to implement
them.
EMS and Ambulance Service
EMS Director Ed Westbrook
presented the cuts in EMS
and they were far less drastic than his first proposal. Starting July 12th, he said the
EMS billing clerk will be furloughed 1 (8 hour) day every two weeks (one pay
period), and all full-time EMTs and Paramedics will be furloughed 12 hours over-time every three weeks. This will require shutting down the ambulance at Station 1 (Jackson Lake Rd.)
12 hours on Sunday and Wednesday nights from 9:00 PM to 9:00 AM next morning. Mr. Westbrook indicated this is when the
fewest EMS calls are made.
A correction from my last
email—Mr. Westbrook has found there were only six times mutual aid was called while Jasper’s ambulance transported hospital patients 83 times
to a higher level of care during the past 12 months.
Recreation
Recreation continues to overspend
in what is called the Recreation “concession” account. As of June 30th approximately
$18,000 has been spent over what has been brought in. Director
Ira Warnock indicated he couldn’t operate within the cuts made. He also asked for money to put in an
irrigation system that would improve the fields enough to bring in
tournaments. He told the BOC that
tournaments would help make money for the department as well as generate sales
tax for Jasper County.
The BOC will discuss use of SPLOST money for the irrigation of
recreation fields at its 7/20/09 meeting.
Landfill
The new C&D trench is
still not open due to EPD still not granting a permit to operate it. Landfill fees without the trench are not
enough to cover expenditures. Director
Ken Tillman informed the BOC that ADS is charging the county $45 per ton plus
$130 “pull fee” while the county is only charging $30 per ton for waste brought
in to the landfill. The county is
guaranteed to lose money when we charge less that it is costing. The landfill is taking in between 400-500
loads of waste a month. In order to cut
some costs it was proposed to close the landfill on Wednesdays. The landfill has been operating 6 days a
week—Monday – Saturday.
Building Maintenance
Maintenance Director Marty
Boyett discussed some ongoing problems and his need to have an open purchase
order so he could repair things quickly.
The BOC allowed him to spend up to $200 per month without a purchase
order but stressed that the budget could not be overspent.
At this time the BOC also discussed the
temperature in the room, the courtroom during the last meeting, and the
courthouse in general. 70-72 degrees is
much too cold and the utility bills show it. The County Manager
was directed to send out a memo stating the temperature should be set at 75 or higher in the courthouse and at
night it should be set at 80 to prevent the air from running excessively to
cool an empty building. Mr. Boyett
said he could do that but at times others would change the temperature. The BOC continues to direct the County Manager
in areas to save money. We are hoping
that all county offices will pitch in and help not only in this area, but any
place money can be saved.
Sheriff & Jail
Sheriff Roper spoke about
several errors in his budget including the way holiday pay is figured and the
omission of one officer. The Sheriff was
asked to cut approximately 9% of his budget ($136,670) but said he could only
find a little more than $97,000 to cut, and that would include not buying a
vehicle in 2009. Between the Jail budget and Sheriff’s
department budget, there will be approximately $78,000 overspent if more cuts
are not found. The BOC also learned that
the Sheriff’s department has approximately 23 vehicles and the maintenance on
them for the first 6 months was approximately $33,000. Several commissioners questioned why someone
at Public Works couldn’t change oil in all county vehicles including the
Sheriff’s vehicles to save money.
The Probate Judge and the Clerk of Courts did not appear, nor did the Tax Commissioner. All have
been given cuts. Clerk of Court Dan
Jordan sent a letter that said he couldn’t cut more than $7000 of the $50,000
requested in all
“court” categories other
than Probate. Probate Judge Linda Mock
also sent a letter stating that she would bring in fees to cover her expenses;
however the fees she expects are approximately $100,000 less than
budgeted. Probate was requested to cut
approximately $14,000.
Kathy Mudd questioned the commissioners at the end of
the meeting on how expenditures would be handled if the Constitutional Officers
will not stay within their new budgets. There have been some rumors about some spending “what
they have to” no matter what the budget is.
In my
opinion, there are two options if the budget is overspent as it was in 2008. One,
there will be more money borrowed, interest to be paid, and likely further tax
increases. Or two, some departments will
be cut out completely because others will not make cuts. CItizens
speaking at the last meeting suggested departments to cut to reduce the budget—Recreation,
Sr. Center, and Library were those suggested.
Citizens, the BOC needs your help in
urging all elected officials to stay within their budgets and make the
necessary cuts so the county can continue supporting all departments.
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