{"id":13168,"date":"2015-05-19T09:54:40","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T13:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=13168"},"modified":"2015-05-19T11:45:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T15:45:09","slug":"videos-budget-work-session-lcc-budget-2015-05-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/videos-budget-work-session-lcc-budget-2015-05-18.html","title":{"rendered":"Videos: Budget Work Session @ LCC Budget 2015-05-18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/OYEwegp_0g0\/mqdefault.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n&#8220;Once you put in your transfers in and out, you have a balanced budget,&#8221;\r\nsaid Finance Director Stephanie Black.\r\nTransfers in from where?\r\nHow does this magic work?\r\n<p>\r\nEven the Commissioners had no agenda to look at,\r\nalthough they did have printed copies of the draft budget,\r\nwhich the public could only see as it scrolled by on the screen\r\nat yesterday morning&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/budget-work-session-lcc-budget-2015-05-18.html\">Lowndes County Commission Budget Work Session<\/a>,\r\nwhich was over by 10AM even though it was announced as 8:30AM to 5PM.\r\nHowever, it is good that they had this Work Session in public.\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/lowndescounty.com\/131\/County-Clerk\">\r\nCounty Clerk Paige Dukes<\/a> told Gretchen afterwards that no draft\r\nbudget would be available to the public until after two changes\r\nrequested by the Chairman were incorporated.\r\nShe did not say when that would be finished or when the draft budget would be\r\navailable so taxpayers could comment.\r\nShe did refer people to\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/lowndescounty.com\/Archive.aspx?AMID=37&#038;Type=Recent\">last year&#8217;s budget<\/a>.\r\nThe slides that <a href=\"http:\/\/lowndescounty.com\/137\/Finance\">\r\nFinance Director Stephanie Black<\/a><\/a> presented do provide an interesting high level overview.\r\nOther than Commissioners and very few staff,\r\nthe only people in the room were VDT reporter Joe Adgie, someone unidentified,\r\nand Gretchen taking these LAKE videos so you can see what happened.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\r\n<a name=\"Order\" href=\"#Order\">\r\nCall to Order and Presentation<\/a>\r\n<a title=\"video: Call to Order and Presentation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OYEwegp_0g0&#038;index=1&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" alt=\"Call to Order and Presentation\" src=\"http:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/OYEwegp_0g0\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OYEwegp_0g0&#038;index=1&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">Video.<\/a>\r\nA yay was heard on SPLOST V jail operations cost being down.\r\nThat doesn&#8217;t mean total jail operations costs are down, though;\r\njust that SPLOST V projects are being completed.\r\nLater, in General Fund Overview, Finance Director Stephanie Black did say \r\npublic safety expenses (presumably including the jail) were down 0.29%,\r\nwhich she characterized as basically flat (unchanged).\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\n71% of general fund comes from property taxes, and 27.30% from LOST.\r\n37.92% of general fund expenditures go to Public Safety,\r\nwhile 10.76% to Judicial.\r\nSo almost half of the General Fund goes to law and order,\r\nand a lot of that to locking people up.\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nOf property taxes, 37% goes to the Sheriff&#8217;s office,\r\n16% to Public Works, 11% to Court Services,\r\n8% to Board of Commissioners and Administration,\r\n7% to VLPRA, 6% to the Development Authority, 4% to Other &#8220;includes outside agency support&#8221;,\r\n3% to the Tax Assessors, 2% each to Tax Commissioner, Engineering Services,\r\nand Other Emergency Services, and 1% each to Election Services, Contingency, and Animal Control.\r\nYep, Election Services are down in the 1% noise, yet lack of funding has been\r\nan excuse for closing voting precincts.\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nThey continued all county services (well, except the privatized solid waste\r\ncollection, still in disarray) by not giving employees any cost of living\r\nincreases (although a &#8220;small merit increase&#8221;), by not hiring anybody\r\n(although insurance payments increased), and by &#8220;limited new vehicles and computers&#8221;, all because they weren&#8217;t brave enough when they raised the millage\r\nto raise it enough not to be stingy,\r\neven though\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/sparsely-attended-millage-hearing-lcc-millage-2014-07-16.html\">there was very little public opposition<\/a>\r\nand some public support for higher millage.\r\nAnd even though\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/lowndes-millage-rate-still-low-compared-to-other-counties.html\">even the raised rate is less than in surrounding counties<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nIs it any wonder that\r\nformer Utilities Director <a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/videos-mike-allen-anti-tethering-budget-surplus-abandonment-evidence-workers-comp-manhole-lcc-2015-01-27.html\">Mike Allen got an offer he couldn&#8217;t refuse<\/a>\r\nfrom Hilton Head, South Carolina?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<li>\r\n<a name=\"Contingency-Question\" href=\"#Contingency-Question\">\r\nContingency Question<\/a>\r\n<a title=\"video: Contingency Question\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UmKmYXRJneQ&#038;index=2&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" alt=\"Contingency Question\" src=\"http:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/UmKmYXRJneQ\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UmKmYXRJneQ&#038;index=2&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">Video.<\/a>\r\nCommissioner Mark Wisenbaker wanted to know what the Contingency item was.\r\nAnswer: for unforseen things that come up.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<li>\r\n<a name=\"Detailed-Budget-Presentation-by-Stephanie-Black\" href=\"#Detailed-Budget-Presentation-by-Stephanie-Black\">\r\nDetailed Budget Presentation by Stephanie Black<\/a>\r\n<a title=\"video: Detailed Budget Presentation by Stephanie Black\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rWDfBQU3I9k&#038;index=3&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" alt=\"Detailed Budget Presentation by Stephanie Black\" src=\"http:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/rWDfBQU3I9k\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rWDfBQU3I9k&#038;index=3&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">Video.<\/a>\r\nTotal tax revenue is $44.8 million, relatively flat at 0.90% increase.\r\nBe sure to memorize the column headers, because they only show up once\r\nat the beginning before so much scrolling Commissioner Demarcus Marshall\r\ncommented on it.\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nJoe Adgie&#8217;s VDT story,\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostadailytimes.com\/news\/local_news\/k-budget-request-raises-some-eyebrows\/article_22397e62-fdc6-11e4-afd9-375350060cb3.html?mode=print\">\r\n$274K budget request raises some eyebrows<\/a>,\r\nfocussed on the Sheriff&#8217;s office:\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nThe line item, identified only as &ldquo;Contractual Services\r\n&mdash; Other&rdquo; was debated at Monday&#8217;s opening round of\r\nhearings for the Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nThe spending increase in question is slated to increase the amount\r\nallocated for that line in the budget by 5,384 percent, from $5,000\r\nto $274,200.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nStephanie Black, director of finance for the county said the\r\nsheriff&#8217;s office is hoping to purchase a state-of-the-art computer\r\nsoftware package for radio dispatch that would mirror technology\r\nbeing used by the Valdosta Police Department. Black said polygraph\r\ntests, physicals and copier fees were included in the increase.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nLowndes County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Slaughter said\r\nhe believes the county would be moving in the right direction to\r\nearmark funds to the sheriff&#8217;s office for the software.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nSee for yourself\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rWDfBQU3I9k&#038;t=19m\">\r\nat 19m in the LAKE video<\/a>.\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nSee also Commissioner Demarcus Marshall pointing out they had been told\r\nthe existing software is &#8220;top of the line&#8221;, and it&#8217;s disturbing now to\r\ngo in a different direction,\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rWDfBQU3I9k&#038;t=23m40s\">\r\nat 23m40s<\/a>.\r\nLongwinded response from County Manager Joe Pritchard included\r\n<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\nThis system written by the Regional Commission\r\nis more oriented towards the person on the street,\r\nseems to be simplified to some degree,\r\nwould perhaps require some additional work on the back end,\r\nbut if you have that net RMS system that is extremely robust&#8230;.\r\nNot only that, but the newest version is eligible to be obtained by\r\nLowndes County at a significantly reduced price&#8230;\r\nIf you have a department that is not utilized by that system,\r\nthen the feeling was that they would need to have something that they would use.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nCommissioner Joyce Evans wanted to know what they deleted to add this.\r\nAnswer from Pritchard: nothing, other than various other reductions.\r\nChairman Bill Slaughter also attempted to answer, only making it more\r\nclear that none of the Commissioners really understand software and support\r\npricing (&#8220;we&#8217;ve had those discussions&#8221; but &#8220;we&#8217;re currently moving forward with looking into this&#8221;),\r\nand they&#8217;d not really thought about offsetting this purchase.\r\nIT Director Aaron Kostyu was not there to explain.\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nThis may well be a good purchase, but it&#8217;s curious how law enforcement\r\ngets basically whatever it wants while county staff get no cost of living\r\nincreases.\r\nThere were more questions from Commissioners about this item.\r\nToo bad Commissioners didn&#8217;t ask such questions back when the county\r\nprivatized trash collection or approved that Exclusive Franchise;\r\nthey might have found it was possible to balance the budget for solid waste.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<li>\r\n<a name=\"Detailed-Budget-Presentation-by-S-Black-part-2\" href=\"#Detailed-Budget-Presentation-by-S-Black-part-2\">\r\nDetailed Budget Presentation by S. Black (part 2)<\/a>\r\n<a title=\"video: Detailed Budget Presentation by S. Black (part 2)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WTy-NEPWpoc&#038;index=4&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" alt=\"Detailed Budget Presentation by S. Black (part 2)\" src=\"http:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/WTy-NEPWpoc\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WTy-NEPWpoc&#038;index=4&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">Video.<\/a>\r\nJail, Animal Control, 911, EMS, coroner, public works, etc.\r\nCommissioner Demarcus Marshall asked about Contractual Services for the Coroner.\r\nAnswer: there are none, but Professional Services include\r\nattorney fees and transport and storage.\r\nAnd still no decision on moving the Coroner into &#8220;that facility next to us&#8221;.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nThere were many questions from Commissioner about what various opaque\r\nitem labels meant, such as\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WTy-NEPWpoc&#038;index=4&#038;t=3m8s\">\r\n&#8220;Again no budget for feed the elderly.&#8221;<\/a>\r\nStaff seemed to find that question quite funny.\r\nCounty Manager Joe Pritchard said previously it was funded by the county\r\nbut only through private donations secured by Commissioner Evans\r\nfor the past five or so years, because\r\nSGRC is the contract agency for the regional program on aging.\r\nThe relevant building (apparently on Griffin Avenue) is in very bad shape.\r\nBut now &#8220;the requirements are such&#8221; that this program will no longer\r\nqualify (apparently due to low participation numbers)\r\nunder the area agency for agency.\r\nCommissioner Evans gets to arrange for it to be absorbed into other\r\nexternal programs such as Meals on Wheels.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nSo the current Lowndes County government plans to do nothing\r\nto feed the elderly.\r\nQuite a change from back during the Great Depression, when\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/lowndes-county-and-valdosta-history-origins-of-the-old-boys.html\">the county went into debt<\/a>\r\nto help people who were struggling.\r\n<\/P>\r\n<li>\r\n<a name=\"Detailed-Budget-Presentation-by-S-Black-part-3\" href=\"#Detailed-Budget-Presentation-by-S-Black-part-3\">\r\nDetailed Budget Presentation by S. Black (part 3)<\/a>\r\n<a title=\"video: Detailed Budget Presentation by S. Black (part 3)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kyrUC2iQD9Q&#038;index=5&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none\" alt=\"Detailed Budget Presentation by S. Black (part 3)\" src=\"http:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/kyrUC2iQD9Q\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kyrUC2iQD9Q&#038;index=5&#038;list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">Video.<\/a>\r\nLibrary shows a 3.5% decrease, but the Moody Library may change that.\r\nVLPRA and VLCIA show no change.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nCommissioner Demarcus Marshall wanted to know what else they could do\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kyrUC2iQD9Q&#038;index=5&#038;t=34m49s\">\r\nto prepare for HB 170<\/a> (the\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/oppose-reducing-sales-tax-funding-to-local-goverments-lowndes-county-board-of-education-against-hb-170.html\">\r\nstate seizure of motor fuel excise taxes<\/a>).\r\nAnswer from County Manager Joe Pritchard involved funding from\r\nSPLOST and LMIG and good relations with GDOT, and basically no, nothing else.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nChairman Bill Slaughter\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kyrUC2iQD9Q&#038;index=5&#038;t=39m0s\">\r\nsaid he expected<\/a> next Georgia legislature session\r\nthe hotel lobby would be trying to somehow fix the $5 per room hotel tax imposed\r\nby HB 170.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nPritchard\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kyrUC2iQD9Q&#038;index=5&#038;t=39m30s\">\r\nreferred to &#8220;a report last night&#8221;<\/a> that said Pennsylvania\r\nhad a 20% failure rate on their bridges and a key connector\r\nwith a century-old trestle that doesn&#8217;t always lock back in place\r\ncorrectly, thus backing up traffic, with 500 trains a day.\r\nHis point was that by comparison Lowndes County is in pretty good shape.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:normal\">\r\nAnother point might be that we need better state and national legislators\r\nwho will stop throwing away the present and future of the country.\r\nAnd I didn&#8217;t hear our local elected officials say anything about\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PublicTransportationForValdosta?fref=ts\">\r\npublic transportation for here<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>\r\nHere&#8217;s\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\">\r\na video playlist:<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PLshUv86fYkiEXCWkc4BLvVuY7Cf-tRK4R\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n<br>\r\nVideos: Budget Work Session\r\n<br>\r\nBudget Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC Budget),\r\n<br>\r\nVideo by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),\r\n<br>\r\n327 N. Ashley St., Valdosta, GA 31601, 18 May 2015.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;Once you put in your transfers in and out, you have a balanced budget,&#8221; said Finance Director Stephanie Black. Transfers in from where? How does this magic work? Even the Commissioners had no agenda to look at, although they did have printed copies of the draft budget, which the public could only see as it [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,2,88,553,3],"tags":[8490,8315,381,8489,8704,8311,8699,10,8702,7500,12,8734,1883,8778,5405,814,60,8700,6],"class_list":["post-13168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-sgrc","category-transparency","tag-18-may-2015","tag-327-n-ashley-st","tag-budget","tag-budget-work-session","tag-economy","tag-ga-31601","tag-government","tag-gretchen-quarterman","tag-lake","tag-lcc-budget","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-open-government","tag-sgrc","tag-south-georgia-regional-commission","tag-stephanie-black","tag-tax","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-3qo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13168"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13175,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13168\/revisions\/13175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}