Budget Committee Meeting 25 Jan. 2011

This committee met this morning with the following members and substitutes Commissioners Adams, Howell, Brown, Campbell, Woodard, Jackson and Chairman Flacy.
Also at the table were the County Executive and the Financial Management Director.
The first item of discussion was the problem of dead animal disposal. After Griffin Industries closed the county entered into a contract with a local company to pick up and dispose of large dead animals. This contract was for six months at a cost of over $29,000.00 and was for the most part a means of giving the county some breathing room to decide what to do on a more permanent basis. To purchase an incinerator would cost over a hundred thousand dollars and would then have to be staffed at additional cost. It was reported that through discussions by commissioners in their districts the response has been about 70% opposed and 30% for continuing the service of disposal of dead animals. The Budget Committee without exception voted to recommend to the full commission that the county no longer provide, at taxpayer expense, the service of dead animal removal.

Mr. Sam Collins with the Historical Society made an impassioned plea for the county to pay for half the expense, $3500.00 the other half has already been paid by the city, of a heat/air unit for the area of Library Building where the Historical Society provides their services. He also reminded those present of some benefits provided by the Society and the fact that membership is open to anyone interested in county history and only cost $15.00 a year.
The vote to recommend this to the full commission was 4 to 3.

Mr. Whitt director of the rescue squad reported to the committee that he had $60,000.00 left in his budget but that he currently was experiencing problems with radio equipment being broken, a motor in an important vehicle was down and sub-par construction had resulted in one building's roof sweating and creating damage to the ceiling.

The Courthouse foundation is crumbling in some areas and must have an engineer inspection which will cost in the neighborhood of $2000.00.

One last item was the problem, the long time problem of the traffic light at highway 166. It is not working properly as many have observed. The cost to repair and adjust will be approximately $2500.00.

Financial Management Committee Meeting 25 Jan.2011

This committee met this morning, for the first time since new commissioners were appointed, and elected Commissioner Campbell as the chairman and Commissioner Flacy as Vice Chairman.
Committee members present or sitting in for other Commissioners were Commissioners Campbell, Pollard, Pope and Flacy, School Director Jackson, Highway Director Hyatt and County Executive Vanzant. The Financial Management Director served as secretary.
Four main items where discussed.
1) Disposition of Hwy. Dept. excess/obsolete equipment which will be sold in a sealed bid auction or posted on the gov.com website for sale. A third option was to sell as scrap. The best possible means of disposal will be checked before any action will be taken.
2) The county is required to have a disaster recovery plan, now additionally a disaster recovery plan must be made for each office.
3) The Financial Management Director is exploring the possibility of obtaining credit cards for use by county employees when no other means of payment is easily available.
Rules for usage will be drawn up and implemented with the assistance of CTAS and the state auditors.
It was proposed that if an employee should use a card for an unauthorized purchase they should reimburse the county when it is discovered. It was suggested that if an employee misused a county credit card they should be severely punished along with having to reimburse the county.
4) Three deficiencies were discussed that resulted from the state audit. (1) An employee had left his county job and taken several items of county property. This had been turned over to the Sheriff's Office but was still considered a deficiency. (2) Some deposits had not been made within the required three day limit. Now an individual is assigned to that specific duty. (3) There is a need to establish an audit committee for the county. This will be presented to the full commission and commissioners appointed to serve on that committee.

One item of discussion that did not have a conclusion was the question raised by Commissioner Pollard for some constituents, "Does the current Financial Management Office actually save any money over the old system"?
While there is no definitive study on the issue my belief, and no one disputed it at the meeting, is that other than the elevated salary cost of the Director and Asst. Director the amount is monetarily about the same. The biggest benefit to the county both administratively and monetarily is the increased accountability that has been created through tighter controls on bidding, accounts receivable and expenditures, etc. A huge additional benefit is the decrease in deficiencies found by the state auditors.
Except for the excessive salaries and manipulation of the committee the Financial Management Act has been a major plus for the county booth monetarily and administratively.