By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Commissioners are planning to keep residential property assessment rates the same in next year’s budget, with the landfill staying at $116, Emergency Medical Services at $154, and fire at $129, but surprising questions and answers popped up about the assessments at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Commissioners unanimously passed resolutions giving preliminary approval for the current landfill, EMS and fire rates to be used in next year’s 2022-23 budget. The special assessments won’t be final until public hearings are held in September.
The vote was 3-1 to approve special assessments for roads. Retiring Commissioner Lilly Rooks posted the lone no vote, as she always does, in opposition to charging residents road maintenance fees when they already pay for road maintenance with the 7-cent gas tax.
Special assessments for road maintenance have been around for a long time. The special fees allow residents to impose a tax on themselves to maintain subdivision roads that are publicly dedicated but aren’t in the county’s road maintenance system.
Why Not Lower Landfill Assessment?
On the subject of the landfill assessment, Rooks said she asked the clerk’s financial director, Jared Blanton, who serves as the board’s budget administrator, to explain to her why the landfill assessment couldn’t be lowered to give property taxpayers a break. She asked Blanton to repeat what he told her in their private meeting earlier in the day.
Blanton said the commercial dumping fees at the landfill are bringing in more money than ever before, but he said it’s not enough to catch up with wage inflation issues the county commission is dealing with. The county has given all employees a large pay increase including those at the landfill.
The county has shipped its household and commercial garbage to the New River Landfill in Union County for many years. The garbage is carried in 18-wheel trucks. With the cost of diesel fuel skyrocketing, the cost of the New River contract has increased, Blanton said. What’s more, he said more people are moving into the county and creating a larger volume of garbage and construction and debris dumping at the landfill.
The only dumping cell the county maintains at its landfill/transfer site is for construction and debris. The estimated time frame for closing the C&D cell has shortened due to an increase in construction and debris dumping. Costs are associated with closing a cell and opening a new cell. Blanton said when he came back to work for the county in 2016-17, engineers estimated the construction and debris cell would last 15 years. The estimate is now 5 years.
“We’re getting to the point where we’re’ going to have to start thinking about ferreting away some money to make sure we’re okay,” Blanton said. “We do have closure money set aside but inflation may eat away at that. We need to have an idea on that before we start dropping revenues.”
What Happened to EMS Assessment Increase?
Dana Sheffield, a regular at county commission meetings, asked commissioners why they held the line on raising the EMS special assessment this year when they were talking last year about barely scraping by with the revenues being generated by the assessment. He said commissioners talked last year like a rate hike was virtually certain this year.
Blanton responded that two or three years ago the county commission raised the residential EMS assessment from $119 to $154, as best he could remember. He said now, the $154 assessment isn’t leaving much of a cushion, “especially with the increase in personnel costs.” He was referring to the International Association of Firefighters raise in pay this year. IAFF represents paramedics, EMTs, and firefighters.
“I would say going from $119 to $154 has built a balance. We’ve got a year or two to be able to adjust before this will have to go up. We can get by another year without going up but we will have to go up in a year or two I’d say – two for sure – next year probably,” Blanton said.
Blanton said when the county’s consultant on special assessments, Government Services Group, studied what it would cost to fund EMS, the company recommended imposing the maximum amount for the residential assessment, which was $171, but the county commission chose to set the rate lower than the maximum.
On the same subject, Blanton said county staff have been told about a federal reimbursement program through the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration that should provide revenue to EMS in the short run, but he said thus far the county hasn’t received any reimbursement funding from the agency.
“If that comes through the way the state has promised – if we get that it will certainly help cushion this and even perhaps with the new (personnel) costs, to break even another year – break even from an operating standpoint,” Blanton said.
Sheffield said he wasn’t complaining.
“I just thought last year was the last time we were going to be able to skate by. Again, I’m not complaining, I’m the guy that was expecting an increase this year,” Sheffield said.
What about EMS Overtime?
Spotlight asked Blanton if the increase in pay for EMS employees might decrease the amount of overtime paid by the county.
“That’s the hope,” Blanton said. We’re monitoring it. It hasn’t been quite long enough to say for sure. It’s something we’re looking at because you have to have time to hire people at the new rates. They’re working on it. I haven’t clearly seen a trend to say yes or no. We haven’t had enough pay periods to say that it is working. The hope for sure is to save overtime.”
“Obviously if you can buy hours of straight time at $18-$20 per hour, it’s better than paying time and a half for the same hours at $27 to $30 or $35. Our average overtime is way up there now.”
————————–
Board of County Commission Regular Meeting July 5, 2022; Posted July 10, 2022
