CCBoC 11/17/2024 Planning Advance Notes
SpringHill Suites, Athens Downtown/University
0932 Call to Order
Prayer led by Doug Duncan
Budget Update
$16 million surplus @ End of Year
TATV runthroughgeneralfund.TitleAdValorem
This is NOT excess property taxes
Transfer budget already
Spent over $7million for Hurricane cleanup
A&B reimbursed ahead of time - request already made
If request 50% or more of cost now - then we can’t receive anymore until the end of cleanup
Carry $30million, liquid $42 million - limit contracts right at $30million
Invoice for clean up right now is $5million out of $15 million but can go up to $30 million
Paying up front so we can get more trucks on cleanup.
We’re constantly battling resources because everyone thinks that if they are sending resources to Augusta it includes CC but it doesn’t.
(I didn’t catch the type of funds this is) $664K not obligated, but need to obligate by 12/30 or lose
Allocate to water/sewer project
Then everything will be allocated
$1.8million in interest - because it’s interest doesn’t need to be allocated by 12/30
Other projects can allocate to but time to figure out where to allocate
SPLOST - all allocated. Any interest can be used for cost overruns.
PFA - $1.4 million in interest already
Splost 11-16 was still open but cleaned that up. Still working on projects from Splost 6-10 a couple years ago. Some projects are complicated and take years to complete.
Radios for 6 months still not billed so, still have the money sitting there to pay once billed.
Building A going up
Did the Hurricane throw off building projects - judicial center?
Lost a couple of days due to rain but on schedule.
Rain didn’t compromise job sites.
HB 581
This was discussed at a County Manager Meeting attended by Scott Johnson (referenced cheat sheet)
The bill is a floating homestead exemption capped by CPI - could be at 3%
Caps tax increase from rising property values without increase millage rate
Our commissioners have been lowering millage rate on a regular basis (some other counties have not)
Will see significant decrease in revenue
You are allowed to opt in or out
Could do an additional sales tax, increase sales tax to 9%
We will have to replace the revenue somehow if we opt in
Decide between January - March to opt in or opt out
Increase in sales tax would have to go on ballot
If opt-out, voters might not approve additional revenue through sales tax
The cap will be at 3-4% (altogether about 14.7 million less in revenue)
School Board would get about $10million less
County would get about $4.7million less
Discussion:
School Board votes to opt out or in separately
No way they will be able to opt in because they borrowed $360m and will borrow another $300m. Their millage rate will have to increase.
(Edited to add: This comment about the School District spending was more of a side-bar comment and I’m not sure where it came from. I spoke with Dr. Flynt about it. The School District has not went over their budget. You can see the details about the 10-Year Building Program on the district website. Dr. Flynt said the school board will decide whether or not to opt-in as well. They will have more in depth conversations once the new board members are sworn in after the holiday break.)
Carraway: If we opt-in, we’re giving the State control rather than us.
Citizens look at the School Board and the county as 1.
Johnson: It comes with issues. If CPI dictates, then we have to find another way to increase revenue.
Chair: We could cut spending…
Johnson: It would impact services. People want to live here because of services. No way we can cut that much revenue and have 0 impact on services.
Carraway: If we opt-out, we will need to educate the public about what’s going on. We’re in this together with the school. Fiscal conservatives have run the county and done a good job. Dr. Newton thinks we should opt-in.
Johnson: Local government should make the decision - not Atlanta.
Carraway: We’ve had conservative commissions so far. If or when that changes, opting-out now could hurt citizens. School system said {I didn’t catch the exact reference here} they would not use extra and they did.
Melear: I understand why they [referring to the public] think this was good. I would think it as well in their position because their property taxes increased.
Couch: Sales tax is a consumption tax
Melear: We can’t always count on sales tax
Johnson: 40% of budget is property tax
Melear: We don’t want to go below 40% on property tax because it’s unstable. How is CPI decided?
Johnson: Commissioner of Dept of Revenue. How they come up with it is up to them. Every county will be the same…. Regardless of size, demographics, growth….
Couch: How are the other counties thinking about this?
Johnson: All counties want to top-out because it’s too unstable.
Melear: Can we have an extension on the decision?
Johnson: They would have to change the law to give an extension on the decision, so no.
Melear: We won’t be the only ones to opt-out? We will have to educate everyone in January.
Johnson: The legislators feel like this is landmark legislation. You don’t have to vote on it today, but I do need a general consensus today to prepare.
If we went with a sales tax, it would need to be renewed every 5 years and we wouldn’t get any tax from Amazon.
Johnson: You can still roll a sales tax back.
Melear: How do we educate the public?
Johnson: All they see is that the legislature tried to cap it and the “greedy” board wanted more. We’ve already gotten in trouble (or maybe he said almost gotten in trouble) once for going too low on our property assessment.
Duncan: I’m iffy on this.
Melear: This is not business friendly legislation. Businesses will end up paying more.
Johnson: We’ll have to have it on the agenda at some point. It will need to go to committee, January meeting. Public hearings after that.
Duncan: I hear what people always want is low crime and low taxes, but the budget is always going up.
Melear: We keep adding services so the budget will increase. Every park and every library costs $$.
Couch: This ties our hand on what we can do.
Carraway: We need to work to be on the same page. This decision is forever. We can’t go back and change it, which makes it a more difficult decision.
Melear: This is our kids This is a complication. This is also another complication for home sales. If you don’t want to buy a new house because of mortgage rates, this added to it could complicate that decision as well.
Johnson: It definitely affects our industries. Unintended consequences. This has so much firepower.
Carraway: We need to try and educate the public.
Johnson: We’ll do public outreach to keep people engaged.
Incorporation and Consolidation Study Discussion
Fiscal study - as far as commission allowed
Next step is to formally request legislature to draw up bill
Next - bill to put on the ballot in 2026
We can still get public input
We need to get certain language in the bill if you want voters to decide
We had a bill drafted last year - have it here- but it was a boilerplate. They just substituted us for another community. It’s not what we want because we want very little change to government.
Johnson: Do y’all want staff to get bill prepared?
Melear: Does it need to be the same bill that goes all the way through - can we change it?
Johnson: Yes. We can draft and send it to the legislature, then go back & forth. Between staff and Chris Driver, we know how to do this so there would be no changes to local government and how we operate. It should bring in $8-10million in additional revenue.
Carraway: Would Grovetown & Harlem still have their own police departments? Why do the cities not like this?
Johnson: Yes, they would still have their own police departments. It limits the growth of the cities. The new city which would be formed would be the largest city in the county, rather than Grovetown. We have always given Harlem a seat at the table, so that won’t change.
Johnson continued: Can we talk to Grovetown about giving them something? Is $$ the best perspective? We need to look at the citizens countywide. Be careful about what we give Harlem & Grovetown to get their buy-in.
Melear: Do we need their buy-in?
Johnson: No, it’s political. I want them to have a voice but they are a smaller number in the county. Do you allow the vocal minority to dictate for the majority? I don’t know.
Johnson continues: Every SP franchises through either the county or the State. Comcast goes through the county but I have no control over what they do. They have full access to right-aways so it’s just what entity they want to pass through. My name is on everyone’s bill, but I have no say in anything.
Johnson continues: The law says the $$ is dictated. It says I’m in charge but I have 0 authority on Comcast. They’ll hop back and forth between county & State. It’s easier to work with the county but we have no oversight.
Melear: How much comes from franchise?
Johnson: $4-5 million. Nothing from power. Power is dispersed back to cities based on power usage.. In the city, will pay more for the power bill (power bill will go up after incorporation) but it will all be returned once the millage rate is rolled back. Overall, property owners will save $$.
Johnson continues: It will be part of the fiscal policy - staff will use franchise $$. Any board could change the fiscal policy in the future.
Carraway: We will have to show the benefit to everyone to create the buy-in.
Johnson: We’re not voting on this but we need a general consensus to move forward.
Duncan: We can take the next step but we need to be able to read and understand the actual legislation before voting.
Carraway: I’m not sold yet but I’m willing to get there. I see a lot of good but need to be able to explain it.
Duncan: How do we lower property taxes? Where everyone pays in?
Being the 6th largest city in Georgia gets us many intangibles. It opens doors in ways we can’t realize right now.
Johnson: We are lumped-in with Augusta right now.
Public Safety
Sheriff’s Office is good, no issues
Fire Department is good, no issues
EMS
Ambulance - Not considered an essential service in Georgia
AL, SC, LA all recognizes EMS as essential service
Contracting for sometime
Covid changed EMS
Private struggling - insurance rates going up exponentially
Gold Cross wants increase in pick up fees & supplement
Supplement double to $1.6-1.8 million
Where will $$ come from to maintain same level of service
Cities want more ambulances. Harlem wants another dedicated ambulance.
Status 0 (means no ambulance available) happens at least once a day.
Mutual aid agreements and fire trucks cover down. If citizens need EMS, someone will show up but it won’t be the ambulance.
Analysis for additional ambulances, contract up for renewal next year
Putting out for RFP
Gold Cross may still be provider
Analyze Standing up own ambulance service.
Johnson doesn’t want another dept but spending so much on a contract, it may be cheaper to add
Not always a bad thing for government to do government function
We don’t have a profit margin
We don’t have insurance costs
Can we do it more efficiently
We already do dispatch and have EMS director
Time to look at cost
If we need 10 ambulances - we could do the RFP and then compare to how much internally create.
Discussion:
Carraway: There is no way you could do it cheaper. Fire department wasn’t cheaper either. It’s better but not cheaper. The reason to do it - essential service. It will grow if you stand it up. From a citizens perspective, if he gets picked up by the ambulance and they hurt him or there’s an accident…. Right now, he has recourse. If it’s not private, then there’s no recourse. There’s some legislation for sovereign immunity for ambulances. Things happen… right now, there’s a separation from the county. There’s a lot of things to consider. Richmond County did this and it cost them 4-5x more. It’s not going to be a win from a financial perspective.
Couch: How is the tax set up?
Johnson: Incorporate EMS into fire if need be or fund from general fund. It would be the same cost to citizens.
Duncan: It will be millions to set up and millions to continue to fund it. Government is always going to grow it.
Carraway: It boils down to .GoldCrossneedstodotheirjob.Doalittlestudyonit.GoldCrossisgrosslyunderpaid.Itwillcostcountymore.
Glen Kennedy: It will grow. The problem is - it {the service} hasn’t grown so now we’re at Status 0 at different times a day. (Note: If you call 911, someone will still show up but it might be a firetruck until an ambulance can get there.) People call ambulances for everything now. Usually around 4-5… Maybe surge ambulances since it's predictable. It’s worth getting out RFP to get a good measure. A Lot of ways to slice it. Georgia - structured on an old archaic system. Legislature needs to make it an essential service.
Carraway: Standing up our own will not get any of that done.
Melear: Our population has grown. Public safety is a sinking fund. You can only shorten it if it’s monetized.
Kennedy: Not saying government has all the answer but I wouldn’t want the different government functions privatized either (fire department, police, military, etc)
Johsnon: The county can submit an RFP for standing up our own - That would be Option 1. Then, the other RFPs from private companies can be options 2 through 4 or whatever. Then you decide what you want to do. If Gold Cross pulls out, we’ll have interim service. We could contract a 6 month transition period.
Couch: RFP needs to be open - based on needs.
Melear: That won’t be an apple-apple comparison though.
Johnson: We can write the RFP to monetize each ambulance.
Kennedy: We can look at what they’re offering. Each RFP will be different based on the position of the company and what they already have. A better position might by 7 fulltime ambulances and 3 surge ambulances. When there is a status 0, the citizen is still being treated, they are waiting on a ride to the hospital. At some point, one of our guys (fire truck) are going to transfer someone because there’s no ambulance. It hasn’t happened yet. When different companies submit RFP, they will have different proposals based on what they already have. That’s not bad. I have no vendetta against Gold Cross or any other ambulance company but I think we can do better.
Carraway: Do we have preliminary numbers?
Johnson: $13-15 million to stand it up. The amount of the supplement would be less and return on investment over years…
Melear: Can we raise the base bay to be billed to user.
Couch: Insurance companies have a certain amount that they give though.
Carraway: It’s important to know where the numbers are coming from on the RFP so we can analyze.
Couch: We could charge the user more…
Johnson: We don’t charge the drug dealer’s house more because sheriff goes there more. We don’t charge more when or if a house catches on fire…. People expect an ambulance….
Melear: Buf if people call EMS for non-emergency….
Kennedy: That’s why this needs to be reformed and needs to be an essential service. This isn’t an easy one but it needs to be labeled right. Our ambulance has to take people to the hospital, and they have to take them to the hospital they request. Sometimes, the personnel will advise which hospital will be better too….
Transfer to executive session at 12:00 to cover (Property & Personnel)
Note: I had to leave. These notes do not cover: Hurricane Helene Update, Broadband Update, County Dirt Roads Discussion, 2025 Discussion