TRIM HEARING

LEVY COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

 

 

The Trim Hearing of the Board of Levy County Commissioners was held on September 9, 2010, at 6:30 P.M. in the Levy County Board ofCountyCommissionersmeeting room, with the following Commissioners present:

 

Chairperson Nancy Bell

Vice Chairperson Danny Stevens

Comm. Marsha Drew

Comm. Lilly Rooks

Comm.ChadJohnson

            Also present were:

Danny J. Shipp – Clerk of Court

CountyAttorney– Anne Bast Brown

CountyCoordinator– Fred Moody

Assistant to theCountyCoordinator– Dick Tummond

 

 

Chairperson Bell called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M.  Mr. Shipp gave the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Mr. Shipp presented for Board approval Resolution 2010-51 for a tentative trim hearing to levy ad valorem taxes.  Mr. Shipp stated the rollback rate is 7.8436 and the proposed millage rate is 7.4212, which is a -5.39% change of the rollback rate.

Comm. Bell asked if anyone would like to speak for or against.  There were none.

Comm. Rooks made a motion to approve Resolution 2010-51 as presented.  Second was made by Comm. Drew and the MOTION CARRIES.

 

Mr. Shipp presented for Board approval Resolution 2010-52 to adopt a tentative budget.  Mr. Shipp stated the total budget amount is $58,834,867.

Comm. Bell asked if anyone would like to speak for or against.  There were none.

Comm. Drew made a motion to approve Resolution 2010-52 as presented.  Second was made by Comm. Stevens and the votes were as follows:

 

Yes                                          No

Comm. Stevens                        Comm. Johnson

Comm. Rooks

Comm. Bell

Comm. Drew

 

The MOTION CARRIES.

 

 

Comm. Stevens spoke to the Board regarding a pay raise for all full-time Board and Constitutional employees, excluding the Sheriff’s Department and part-time employees.  Comm. Stevens stated he had excluded the Sheriff’s Department because they had been given a raise earlier this year already.  He stated after speaking with Mrs. Rees, the amount necessary for this would be $332,000.  The funding for this could be supplemented by using $200,000 of the fiscally constrained money, leaving roughly $100,000 to come from Reserve.

Comm. Stevens made a motion to give a 3% pay raise to all Board and Constitutional officer full-time employees, excluding the Sheriff’s Department.  Second was made by Comm. Rooks.  As Comm. Bell called for a vote, Comm. Johnson asked if discussion could be done before voting.  Comm. Bell then called for discussion.

Comm. Johnson stated if the raises were given, this would pull from the current reserve amount which is $1,297,849, leaving a balance of $967,845 with a total budget of nearly $59 million.

Comm. Stevens explains where the money had been found within the current budget to fund the raises.

Comm. Johnson explains his view of why he is not in favor of giving the raises.  He states he is afraid if reserves are used up with no additional revenues projected to come into the budget, people will be sent home and does not feel giving a raise is the right thing to do right now.

Comm. Bell asked if anyone from the audience would like to speak.

Pam Owens from the Mosquito Control Department spoke in favor of raises.

Larry Feldhusen from Yankeetown spoke against raises.

Comm. Rooks stated the funding Comm. Stevens had identified would not have been possible had it not been for her work inTallahasseeto get the fiscally constrained money for this county in the amount of $2.7 million over the past three years and is in favor of using this money for raises.

Comm. Johnson stated he would like to fight for State funding sources for some of the unfunded State mandates and wait until after March to then look into the possibility of giving raises to all employees, full and part-time.

Comm. Bell called for a vote and the votes were cast as follows:

 

Yes                              No

Comm. Stevens            Comm.Bell

Comm. Rooks              Comm. Drew

Comm. Johnson

 

The MOTION FAILS.

 

 

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE COMMISSION, THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:15 P.M.

 

 

ATTEST:                                                                                             BOARD OFCOUNTYCOMMISSIONERS

LEVY COUNTY,FL

 

 

____________________________________                                    ____________________________________

Clerk of Court, Danny J. Shipp                                                 Chairperson, Nancy Bell