--------- [Music] remember inform [Music] rewi what it really do the same [Music] we have it in the yeah the special meeting first and then
we have the in there I don't know [Music] [Music] a lot of [Music] official meeting yes [Music]
all right we get started this we ask you right now to forgive us for our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us father we ask you right now that you bless us bless us in this meeting bless these course and we thank you in father bless
around this country and around this world we pray for peace right now and then for we know peace passes all understanding and we thank you bless you love you and father we going to give you all the Praises for anything become good
good or bad you know you know all about it before the foundation of the world these blessings and all the blessings ask right now Jesus name I pray amen the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all mayone for our meeting this Tuesday March 25th 2025 6 p.m. this is a special meeting we have a confer line set up
number there is 1 1917 91022 access code 32347 P this is not a tollfree numbered you may be subject to long distance charges according to your long distance plan when the chairperson open the meeting for public comment please follow the below instruction you wish to speak
please D Star by Moder will unmute your line your turn speak notify you by announcing the last four digits of your telephone number please announce your name and address you'll be allowed to speak for three minutes any person wishing to address the board regard regarding an agenda item will be be
given three minutes for comment the comment may only speak one time for each agenda item that said that everyone get a copy of the agenda get a copy we a to approve the
agenda second by commissioner D all in favor move on item four the board to consider approval of bid committee recommendation of award and contract for planning Grant Consulting Services asend by the B committee recommendation is to
award this contract to Adams and reath as you recall they basically completed phase one of this process and we would like them to continue with phase two they were the sole um the sole vs as
well and they are within the grant [Music] limits question discussion question discussion OB a motion to approve all in favor item five the board to consider
approval of local mitigation strategy group recommendation for allocation percentage of Hy mitigation grant program funds towards Elevate Florida by Danny yes sir so this year out of our
hmgp funds most yall heard about Elevate Florida it's a program that some of our residents that qualify in certain areas can use the 75 percent funding to help rebuild or have their their home
elevated so what they the state has said is that we could take a portion of our hmgp funds and put toward Elevate Florida and those funds will only go to residents here in in Taylor County so
we're trying to figure you know we've come up kind of with the percentage that we would like to uh recommend to the board so that we can send that up to at them so total this can be a little confusing but I'll try to try to explain the best best
I can our CL so right now um we were allocated 31.8 million for the for programs but also now remember that's just we'd also have to come up with a 25% match of that so any project we do out of that money
we have to come up with 25% however we can take a portion of that funding and give it over to elevate Florida to help those residents with with their homes with Elevate Florida right now we have about 50 residents
that have applied for that program you know based on looking at the zones where everybody's at I mean I think we'd be really lucky to get if we were to get 35 applicants that would be approved now the state if State also has about $600
million wor the funding set aside and by this rubri by the score some of our residents will probably get chosen anyway with the $600 million that they have set aside but we can also allocate that money on top of that to to help to
help our residents so what we what I did and we did as a team we said okay if we were looky to get 35 homes uh approved through Elevate Florida uh we multiplied that by 300,000 because still with LOL
Florida it's still at 75 um the state will pay 75% the residents have to pay 25% this is also the program where you have to carry blood insurance for the internity of the property so a lot of residents already are are bearing away
from that because they don't want to have to carry um that that flood insurance I only enough we'll have 35 honestly because there's other programs too that may help some of our more poverty lower income residents that have applied for this but I think they'll
they'll end up going a different way of a different program just because of funding so anyway we did 35 houses at $300,000 a home um but you also got to remember the resident would have to pay if it was that price the resident would
have to put in 100,000 to offset that so we did 35 Homes at 300,000 that's 10.5 million um and that's like 32 and a half well that's 10 5 million I'm sorry 10.5 million toward Elevate Florida that's
about 32.5% of the funding we have to go to elevate Florida now you may say why don't we just give all of it because we you know there's a lot of programs um TR County comes to our mitigation meeting they have some programs that they're
going to be able to qualify under um hmgp you know there is a chance that the state can come in and weigh the 25% that we're you know supposed to come up with and then there's a lot of projects the county the city even us that we want to jump on to to get those
get those programs get those things done because it' be free so that's why we didn't want to allocate all our money over there because we just don't know if the state away that that 25% um but I know the city has a lot of
projects we have several um that we have got on on the list so that's why we didn't go ahead and put all all the funding in there now of the the 10.5 million we give it to elevate Florida if they don't use it we don't have enough
applicants so be whatever they will get that money that money does come back back to us um and this money will only go to residents here here in so we were trying to find a good balance to help our residents but also help the city and the county if they were to weigh that
way the 25% I know that's a lot I know it can be very confusing so trying to trying to keep you as simple as I can and just as a reminder any of the projects that we submit we have to go through a pretty rigorous process and they have to meet what's called benefit
cost analysis um and that has been a little bit of a challenge we still are not complete with our rfis for which is a request for information I apologize for from the hmgp funding we got for Adelia
so um we do have projects identified but it it is a long rigorous process so it may be we just felt like it would be a benefit for recovery for Taylor County as a whole if there could be some homes
built out of this funds and um you know that would just that would help us all basically excuse me when you say homes built he mentioned rebuild in the beginning is that what you're referring to he said rebuild or Elevate did I hear
you say that yes what yes that's what I'm saying and there's still a question about rebuilding homes in the visum we have advocated um to to have that included out of these funds but we we do not have
an answer yet so there is currently what seems to be a restriction on rebuilding in B zones which is you know one of the areas that comes to mind is is Keon Beach and and right there but people we are encouraging people to apply and if
they are if they are denied because they're in a vzone we will appeal with the legislator legislators and and we've appealed with fdm and FEMA you know we are trying to get consideration for our people for those homes is it for a
certain income or no not for Elevate Florida okay one one thing that I guess I am a little bit confused because you said that the the resident would pay the 25% then I heard say we will pay the
we'll have to pay the 25% so is there anything out of our pocket so it is that 25% is solely to the okay thank you elev who in is is familiar with
Elevate yes probably right now [Laughter] well I was in I was I went to several their meetings meet down there at the cab and uh Reverend Johnson I believe
the Church of God he was s over that program and running that program they would get some money or they can get some money so the 75% we get I mean we we got the furnish and they can get them the $10 million he would if he was getting a
program and he could contribute something is that possible that that house can be built is that what we said you mean for the 25% match yes oh so you're asking if a nonprofit could contribute this I don't think it matters
where it comes from does it Danny long as as long as long as you got 25% you carry that insurance okay now the other cuz you said B Zone that's the one you have to elevate is that ke Beach the only
no I believe there are parts of Steen Hatchy that are considered in the vzone as well I first saw this program I was juming through hoops I'm like finally we got something that's going to really help our residents and then they came back and said oh and you're not qualify
in be which majority of our homes are in V right unfortunately any other question when you going to how you going to timetable what is the timetable on that thing as
far so um I've got to send a letter to FM as soon as they're just waiting they' really have they rather already sent them our percentage but as soon as you whatever you decide of this percentage if you approve it and I have
to send them a letter this week letting them know the name Elevate Florida sounds like they were thinking about the vone I know Ian that's that's a no brainer there and then they're not saying it might not to
long we're working on that okay right there yes sir but I have no problem helping our residents where we can and we have to take a chance somewhere send it to them and then we have to go back to our legislators to talk to them tell them hey you need to
look at this and help us out I think we at a place now we own need we s in a KN position on your knees asking what you need and what you want and what our people want okay you need a motion after
discussion if there's no other questions or discussion obain a motion to approve I move I got a question is there some is there an agreement between us and Elevate Florida I mean how's that're authorizing for them this is money we don't have
right right right this is an allocation so we receive in no NOA and um so there's 31 something million dollar available and we're saying we want to pledge that percentage to elevate
Florida but it's money we don't have we would have to apply for it and we may or may not be approved right and then we would probably need an agreement with them if they don't use it they send it back to us Danny do you have that in writing from them I have the letter that I need
to send in and I'll I'll look over that um I'll double check that on later make [Music] sure favor good job confus the board to discuss draft resolution
setting B fees by Michel uh thank you Mr chairman so we did have a discussion as you recall in the last meeting about this um proposed Fe which we approved and I was able
to staff have conversation with FWC so this resolution adoption would set those you saying they will support it they are in support yes sir they are and they will well last time they weren't
yes we're glad we this time right good deal yes sir we uh talk with Mr Wanda and that WC staff who I've been communicating with and that changed it's it's all still um moving forward so they
are in agreement and in support of what we proposed approved at the last I've asked a lot of people that come and go when I had rental houses at the beach what they paid at other boat ramps around the state and we were the lowest
they couldn't believe how low we were people said they paid 20 $25 on the average 20 and you know and that that $5 just blow their mind you know they were they thought we
and I have not ever heard of AOG since then it's $5 besides one at 20 River Sand Point that's only one5 and it might be changed at this this PR right well as you know the rate for our residents will continue to
be the rate as it current it's a it's a windwind it helps our residents not be further burdened with everything that's going on it also helps us look forward to potential maintenance and things that we see that are going to be need so those funds will have to be dedicated to
the maintenance at the ramps and they emphasize that as must wanted to recall the maintenance we can't just put those in the general fund those correct those fees or revenues have to remain to to maintain our ramps
Sor fill in the blanks oh and pencil i pen you'd prefer a pen okay so um you know I think we have all those that we approve it would be $5 daily for
for residents $10 daily for non-residents and as we discussed that's that's not something that our staff can necessarily enforce um you know immediately so it would be pretty much the honor System to start out with um
but the annual fees will be easier um it's $20 for residents and $40 for non-residents if the board approves that's so yes we did have have conversation about enforcement we have already spoken with the clerk and and
our tax collector understand that there's a bit of a time to get all those things implemented so obviously we understand take a little now and $20 so this would just affect the non residents and that would
give 10 10 and 40 10 10 for the daily rate 40 for is that all we can do yes ma'am pretty well is I mean you know it's twice the rate and you know we're looking at maintenance that we're going
to see coming down the line so um it's twice the great currently and previously it wasn't up for discussion so um about like I was a step in the right direction not to burden our folks
given everything that's happened and then at the same time have the option to continue to to maintain those resources that you know our County and our people depend on I'm okay with it as long as our residents are paying the same thing
which they will be so I'm very much okay with it and we can always revisit again next year when you thought F WC did they throw a figure out there yeah I mean so you know they were very clear it
couldn't be some um um outlandish number and and something that is you know within range in in the region if you will so it wasn't just to grab a number out of thin air they didn't say it had to be this number or that number but they were very clear that you know we we
there were limits and so we felt like you know our residents are able to to maintain the rate that they have and and that non-residents would be willing to pay twice the rate which is still a bargain given some of those other areas
and the costs in different places yeah so I know we talked last time about what a non-resident is that is so anybody that owns property but they may live somewhere else and they own property or they consider resident they own property in county or they
actually reside it's not I just said it's not their primary residence but they do pay tax yeah I mean so you know there was no direct hey this is what defines that um in different places that I talk with
folks they utilize the registration on boats and if it was in County obviously then it's it's local it's a resident consideration that's the familiar area that I have with that the way it would have to be put out to the public
is registered within the county than it's considered well yeah you can probably I don't know Mark a made it here yet but you can probably register to vote in any County I mean if you don't own property there so we can certainly make it a land owner
um I say technical term and if you're a land owner in Taylor County considered that would be people selling and then other people coming in and buy a nightmare swapping it back and for
with no no I think if if you know if they just put the address of the property they own that would be sufficient I would think yeah that I think that'd be reasonable do it every year anyway so change hands without within the year
they would the new person would new owner would R so would be if your primary residence was in Tor County because a lot of people that come in fish and from another state they may
own a second home but the primary residence is somewhere else yeah I mean I think I think it does kind of refer back to um contributing to the revenues in our our County and the T
County revenues so um we can certainly have that discussion you know with ourc folks but I do believe if if folks are contributing to our Lo tax base um you know that that does have some
consideration I do want to ask you do you know why that they have changed their mind because all these years that we have approached them they always said no you could not charge someone from out of you know from out of town a different
fee because it was built with several funds and so everybody paid into the pot so to speak so why I don't want to mess anything up but do you know why they suddenly changed their mind oh they said it was a great team presentation and just was really impressed I'm kidding
I'm sorry that didn't was there she's with us um you know there wasn't a a large discussion on that part so we didn't try to make it a large discussion we just were forward in the sense of the condition that we're in and the needs
that we can see for the maintenance um coming up and no one know funds will be dedicated to that maintenance um you know our state Partners were really very helpful uh it really wasn't a um confrontational kind
of discussion and it really was a team effort in sitting down and and having an open conversation that really has led to this resolution so it was chairperson I honestly I just think it was it's a different program manager who was maybe
was more amable because I did volunteer that we had been told vehemently no in the past and that you know for different explanations but um she said that you know she was fine
with it and and we could move forward so we are I think I think there you know has been consideration understanding everything you know our County and our folks have been subject to so and and also the realization that you know this maintenance is imminent we're going to
have to maintain our RS and now more so than ever given all their other issues so I mean I do think it was again an open conversation really it wasn't I didn't feel like it was
a difficult discussion and so we just kind of had understanding the dots the situation we've had to go through with those and cost with that and you know I don't think any everybody has I guess we could
forecast but the reality comes back to is as those resources are aging uh the need for maintenance is is going to grow so um you know our state partners are very open to that that part of the conversation and I feel like it worked
very well we appreciate all their help I want to say thank you commissioner Newman for your participation in that and also to youa also thank youall also Park and um the tax collector were very
helpful in their staff so I mean it really was team effort I was I was joking ear it wasn't just you know one individual or one person's per se it was all the factual information the things that we see coming down the line and and
of course our staff and um Mr Bishop's Council so uh we're grateful for you know what we can see there is it seems like a success and helped our folks GL GL to see it coming back yeah so just for clarity so we're
going to interpret a tayor County resident for this purposes as someone who resides in Taylor County or owns property that's going to be who we're going to consider a resident everybody else will be non-resident so that's what I heard gotta I think that would be in line with
the guidance that we got conversation with our state Partners it wasn't a direct here's one two three but but I do think that gives consideration the topic that we discuss yes we do have a resolution on
the table so obtain a motion to read the resolution read the resolution by second second commission favor resolution that sets the boat ramp pce for the boat ramps located in Taylor County Florida and providing an
effective date [Music] before we move on Mr chairman just Mr one as you recall and we need to coordinate with the clerk the required reporting that was discussed in that we just need to make sure we keep all those
things current that was brought forth in conversation as oh yes yeah they'll they'll send a notice when the reporting is Du all right meeting motion
toor take just a couple minutes and then we'll move on the workshop yes thank you very much Part: 2
you're on the record we'll see what I mean if they have a president or indication i'm not trying to put them on spot they really have been very powerful what happened
with you we ran into a lady of fishes ah you know and remember that from Sunday man it was just
one after well I think they're understanding about all the things we went through there and Yeah we appreciate that yeah well I do too but on the other hand again this is something that I think that
local home and you know what the legislaturator is trying to do on that if you read the paper you know I'm trying to step away from I do understand yeah yeah we're going to get started
with our next meeting everyone stand father we thank you right now with this first meeting we coming on the second meeting now we ask your blessing continue your blessings thank you for what you're going to do and what you've done thus far these blessings all the
blessings we ask in Jesus name amen to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation with liberty and liberty for office for all welcome everyone to the workshop Tuesday
March 25th 2025 we have a compliance number there is 1 1917 900 01022 access code 32347 pound this is not a toll-free number and you may be subject to longdistance charges
according to your long distance plan when the chairperson opens the meeting for public comment please follow the below instruction if you wish to speak please dial star five moderator will unmute your line to speak and notify you by announcing the last four minutes of your telephone number
please announce your name and address you will be allowed to speak for three minutes any person wishing to address the board regarding an agenda item will be given three minutes for comment the commenter may only speak one time for each agenda item
so see y'all thanks we got move on to the board to receive health insurance presentation from a central yeah so um you guys have requested that um the insurance come in
and give us some ideas on you know what some different routes we might go to try to reduce the expense on our insurance that we asked Michael Crystal here and um from the Centra our agent and so um and I think they've given you some stuff that you
know hi there my name is Michael Watkins from the Centria insurance uh we've been the agent for a few years and uh we're working with the insurance committee um they asked us to come and present some ideas on ways to reduce cost over time uh looking forward so that's what we're
going to talk about today um little bit of history from on me i've been in the business for 33 years here in Florida mostly the Tampa Bay area um I've implemented a lot of these plans in my own clients i've seen it work i've seen some not work you know it's health insurance and uh unlike sometimes like
with workers compensation or commercial insurance where you can manage things a little more with health insurance you're talking about people their their lifestyle and the way they live how they take care of themselves or not um so sometimes uh invest make plans um they don't work out like we'd
like to say that first because you know sometimes we do again make plans and uh with the best intentions and they don't always work like we want so but let me just start with uh with a few options that we can start with when working with United Healthcare of course there's
looking at the current plan versus renewal i know we this was done last year because there were some plan changes last year and on the subsequent pages in your package um you will see that where we started in option one where it said the where that's what we
where we were as of the renewal last year and then as you go across the line in options two three and on you'll see how uh negotiating with United Healthcare by changing plan design can lower your rates uh over time if you
turn to page three you'll see which is option seven and eight these are the plans that can take you about as low as we could have gone last year and uh we will again or you can again this year request you know healthcare to give you the same information so as you're trying
to make decisions to lower your overall cost of course one of the ways to do it is to is to change the benefits um so you'll see that in option eight this plan is a is an HSA plan and this was about as as as much of a decrease as you could have gotten last year over where
you were currently and that's about 19% decrease so I'm just trying to give you an example of what we will what you can look at when it comes time to renewal next year the last page you will see uh also looks like this this is information that
you can get um in your renewal again it just lists line by line showing the different what we call decrements and benefits in order to lower the cost um again this was from last year i'm just giving it to you as an example of what
uh what you can renegotiate and ask for from United Healthcare next year in order to lower the cost at renewal that's kind of the first baseline option that's what typically you do every year is negotiate your renewal michael can you can you go a little bit deeper in
that you know I think if you look at the far left column it is office visit so that's the cost of an office visit and then you see the different deductibles and stuff so as those things increase then then the amount that it cost us decreases right because it's more the
employees pay more so yeah that's correct and um even though these plans are what they call kind of off the shelf we can look at different different deductibles we can look at different uh co-ayments for office visits different co-ayments for prescriptions all those little those are like little dials turn
it up and down of course when you go higher costs more expensive rates are go go up dial it down the rates go down so they're all kind of like little dials when you look at the um deductibles co- insurance maximum out of pocket um
pharmacy benefits uh there are different things you can look at to make changes last year we did raise the deductible you did raise the deductible from 500 to a,000 and the max out of pocket went from 4,000 to
5,000 to our starting point your starting point at the renewal will be option five which is $1,000 deductible 80% co insurance and a $5,000 out of pocket that's plan option five so as we go on as we as you go through the renewal next year many
options there will be many options that will provided be provided to you by United Healthcare to see if that's the best way to go as far as reducing the cost i think that's kind of the baseline place to start um just talked about plan
changes one of the things that many of my customers have done over the years is uh to the third bullet point dual or triple options um sometimes my plans will say okay we're going to offer several options like a low and a medium and a high options but the employer or
plan sponsor will only pay based on the lowest cost option that's another way that you can lower your your overall expense as well is to is to choose a lower plan and if somebody wants a better plan or another notch up you can offer two multiple plans for them to choose from
cost at their cost yes sir come out through payroll deduction but many clients have done that over the years um the third option from United Healthcare by looking at the renewal is self-funded um that's a whole
another conversation to talk about self-funded because there's a lot of working parts when it comes to self-funded so we can get those kinds of proposals um one of the down potential downfalls of going self-funded is it doesn't really always offer the amount of savings right away that you might
otherwise need you know we know kind of in a critical situation so you need some need some savings now a self-unded plan can over time uh save money but I've also had clients that went self-funded as a client that's a public entity right
now went self-funded a couple of years ago first year went fine they did save some money had some money in reserves second plan year has not gone well they've had to actually not only pay in the reserves but pay a little more money that they didn't expect to have to pay
in because the claims are running high so just a kind of a something to keep in mind that if you do want to consider selfunding doesn't always mean you're going to have savings over a period of time you should as opposed to a fully insured but there's no guarantee those are really the options
um with United Healthcare any questions on those options yes so just to clarify the reason self-funded I mean you just run a risk because it's completely unpredictable yes you don't you can't predict the
claims so you may have good years you may have bad years and really it's difficult to plan because you're you're trying to plan on something where you have no idea if it may happen or not happen that's right okay yeah and it all goes down it all comes down to also
funding because with self-funding you can choose to fund at whatever level you want to choose to fund at but if you don't choose to fund the maximum your maximum risk you fund at a lower level that's where you have to make more money throughout your plan year but again selfunding is a whole other conversation
you said come up for more money telling the patient or or the employee or the county the county to to pay claims to pay claims right if you haven't funded enough to pay the claims which some some of my clients in the past have done that decided to go at a lower level because
they thought their claims have been running really well for years well then they go selfunded and they have a bad year and that means they have to put in more money to fund claims um for ongoing on for onward into the next next
year excuse me failing one of those credit pools that last two weeks so I apologize um the second option was would be to shop to other carriers of course there's Florida Blue uh there's Etna and there's a Capital Health Plans those could all
be options for you to take a look at to see if they can be competitive uh what we typically find is there's there may be you know sometimes there's a 5% savings but there's generally not a huge difference when we go out when you go out to shop to other carriers but you still think you should you should do
that you should go out with other carriers and see what they're offering also uh we do have uh there is a we can um let the Florida League of Cities know that you're you're going to go out to bid and they can also provide a proposal for the county
also questions on that pretty straightforward okay um also want to talk about other types of plans to consider um there are a lot of different types of plans but the ones that I see that uh tend to have the biggest impact are one is high deductible health plans
with an HSA or a health savings account um this kind of arrangement uh it's the health plan really has two pieces you have the health plan which is a health say a health savings account qualified plan and then you have a health savings account where that money can be put into
that account either by the employee and or the employer i've had some clients that it's all employer funding i've had clients who are all employee funding um one of the things that is good to know about HSA plans as it mentions here that the deductible applies on all services
there are no co-ayments for office visits or prescriptions or emergency room or anything so it's it would be a big difference to the type of benefits that you offer your employees to go to an HSA plan um some people love it those people typically are they have a little
bit more disposable income uh they maybe they're good at saving because you do have to save money in order to build up funds to be able to pay towards your deductible or out of pocket um people who manage their money well typically like it but people who uh maybe don't have the disposable income or don't manage their money well it's just
another account to keep track of um so that's something to consider hsas again some people love them and some people hate them something to consider that's one way as I mentioned before plan option uh 8 was an HSA that uh from last year that
was a $1,600 deductible 90% co insurance with an $8,000 out of pocket so it is more out of pocket but it is again a way to help lower the premium that you're paying towards to pay for it to pay to healthare michael I'm sorry quick
question on option eight did that that come with a prescription plan is that separate do do you have to meet the deductible in order to pay your prescriptions you would have to meet the deductible before the prescription co-pays would kick in yeah if you look
under where is it the pharmacy line it says UHC med deduct med that's the United Healthcare Med Medical deductible so that $1,600 would have to be met first before the co-pays apply co-pays would apply after the
deductible is met what about um so what about any well care ware is covered at 100% on all plans okay all of the plan all right so you would still get your preventative care correct um paid at 100% your well visits your you know your
annual whatever right as long as there's no diagnosis of illness so that would be covered but prescriptions and you know office visits everything else you have to meet your deductible first that's correct okay that's correct people they would have to be real careful about
going to a preventative vis visit and going in and saying "I have a cough." Because that would end up going to their deductible they started I was just trying to make sure everybody understood because as long as it's preventative if it's just a wellness check it would be covered but
if you go into a wellness check and you say "I've had a cough for two weeks they start treating treating a symptom," that becomes an office visit so then deductible would end up applying so people would end up having to pay out of pocket
another place people kind of get caught up is uh for instance colonoscopies if you go in your have your colonoscopy and they don't find anything it's all covered 100% if you go into cola to do your colonoscopy and they find polyps and remove them it's now a medical procedure and you have to pay for it um
also if you you had a medical procedure like that done and you wait two years and go back again it's considered you think it's preventive no it's not preventable then at that point you still they're they're actually doing a recheck from your medical condition in the past so again there's little tricky things
like that that happen sometimes when you have the when you have the health plans with HSA another thing that's important to know about HSAs is that um you'll see here that the deductible is 1,600 but the family deductible is 3200 and the out of pocket is $8,000 and and the
family out of pocket is $16,100 when you have more than one person on the plan your deductible and out of pocket is the family dollar amount so whether it's one of you or both of you or all of you in the family you have to
meet that $3,200 deductible first before you would get be able to get the co-ayments for the off for the prescriptions and before the 9010 co insurance pays and you're out of pocket this $16,000 amount not the $8,50
amount it's called having a an embedded deductible so that's important to know too there are some some things that could create some people to have a higher out of pocket amount any questions on HSAs okay all right let's talk about HA so that's the next bullet point high out
of pocket health plan with HA i have an example here of a client that had a deductible similar to what you have and they decided to go to a $2500 deductible to try to get some premium reduction um but they also decided to add what's
called a first dollar HR or health reimbursement arrangement that covers the first $1,200 of medical expenses so um excuse me the concept behind it is you raise your deductible you get a lower premium you have some premium savings and you use some of that savings
to fund an HRA um in this case they did a first dollar HRA but you can do an HR that doesn't kick in until the employees spend $1,000 uh and then you maybe have a 12 or $,500 H in the middle or you sometimes I've had clients that said
"Okay I'm going to have the employee has to pay $3,000 out of their pocket." Then the HRA kicks in so they're not doing a last dollar HS HR um one of the things that's good about that some of my clients have liked about the HA as opposed to an HSA I didn't talk about
funding on the HSA if you can fund an HSA meaning you can give the employees say $500 a year towards their deductible when you fund an HSA for an employee once that money leaves the county and goes to the employee it's the
employees money they then only if it's in their account it's theirs with an HRA if you only spend that money if someone has a claim so one of the things that we would want to look at renewal is get a deductible report and be able to see how
many people have met their deductible how you how many people have gotten to different levels on their deductible or out of pocket that way you can kind of real you can you can look and see okay how much risk do I really have if I say I'm going to contribute $1,000 maybe at after someone pays the first $2,000 of a
deductible I'll we the county will pay the next $1,000 we can look at the statistics and be able to say you would have spent $40,000 let's just say um towards someone's out of pocket costs but it may save you $60,000 of premium
so you have to do the math at the time to kind of see uh where your risk comes out as opposed to the savings so you really it's a way of kind of self-funding part of your plan without going fully self-funded or partially selfunded so you're selfunding just a part of your plan but it does save
premium dollars but again you have to weigh the risk against how much you may spend versus what you're actually saving so just another thing that you can do to to mitigate some costs um as I mentioned it is flexible you can
you can do first dollar or last dollar or in the middle um I mentioned the funding with an H you only spend the money if somebody has a claim h HSA you actually give them the money it's theirs uh one of the things we did talk about too was an agreement with Doctor's Hospital um I have worked with employer
groups that have their own clinics that have that have deals with certain certain clinics uh or um do our hospitals um this is it takes it takes a lot more work i mean that's like usually typically a couple of year process to
try to get those contracts put together and really only works if you're self-funded if you're fully insured with United Healthcare or Florida Blue or whoever else it is yeah they're not going to give you a discount because you have a deal with the hospital to for some people to go there for the urgent
care center that's local so that really only works if it's selfunded again it's usually a couple year process to get those contracts set in place and that's something that some people that some do some other things that can have some immediate cost savings is reducing the
amount that you pay towards the premium that's never a popular uh subject I know but it is something that you can do um some I have had clients in the past that would have moved from having the employees pay nothing to having the
employees just pay $10 and they had a reduction of 10% of the enrollment because people are like well if I got to pay for it I can get them you know I can I can go somewhere I get else and get coverage for for less than that or whatever the case may be usually have people drop off the plan um because just
because they they a lot of people will take it doesn't cost them anything why not if I cost them anything I'll take it so often times you can have some immediate savings in the premium you're paying because people come off the plan um as mentioned here employees with dependence on the plan sometime will
look for other means of coverage too so you can adjust the percentages that you pay is not typically a more popular option but that is a way that you can lower your cost mr chair Michael if I can but that can
also have unintended consequences so if you lose a certain demographic if children drop off the plan then that could have a negative impact as far as our our claims correct yeah well what you would mostly worry about is younger folks coming off right
because you the idea of having insurance whether it be home or auto or or medical or any kind of insurance is the spread of risk amongst the function of people all a lot of people so you don't want to especially lose the younger folks because they typically have less claims right um you want to keep as many people
on the plan as possible in order to spread risk but if you have people you know by changing their cost you can have some people drop off and sometimes it is the those that are young and single and think I'm super superman superwoman i don't need I don't need covers for now i I'll be all right but to your point yes
it can that can be a negative impact it's all about knowing that there's some risks with whatever decision you make and uh usually they're not popular especially when you're having to cut back but we're here to help you through as help service your
employees we're here to help whatever issues whichever way you decide to go michael can y'all help remind me the timing of getting proposals and when we need to have like when we would get them and when we need to make a decision remember so we normally get the renewal
I think the second week or miday um do you remember is it remember how many days we have to to run the ads and everything for a RFP do you
remember off the top of your head it seems like mid mid to late May depending on United Healthcare when it comes out and we've we've been pushing them on a couple of other clients we want we want things no later than late May so we can get the process started
typically four weeks i I believe I think it's like right around 440 days yeah it's right around four weeks to be out and for open enrollment for renewal everything we I mean we would be pushing
it to get it done we'd have to have try to have it done by the end of July if possible because we normally hold open enrollment the first to second week of August we can instruct United Healthcare to give us all of this at the renewal time
we don't have to go back to them you don't have to go back to them to request it we can we can let them know and we can CC you guys on the email and say "Hey we want it as soon as possible and we want all of the potential options cost savings saving options." So you have it and then we would then you would then request proposals from others from
the carriers i'll just say that you guys all know what we're dealing with today and we are looking for a reduction our healthc care but
we're we're not looking to to have it for the health care to have a negative impact on the employees paycheck and at the doctor's We uh you know there's going to be some
growing pains there but we don't we don't want to we don't want to double speak right i think that's a lot of what we're trying to get you guys here and see to talk to i know y'all understand the what we're dealing with
and what we're faced with but we just we have employees and we don't want to hurt the end of the stick we have these conversations all the time as it gets more expensive we have more conversations
um I think with the situation that our family is in right now I would like to see us do a little shopping and just see what we come up with um just to have something to compare
with across the board pull everything in give it to you guys and we can decide where where to go from there any other questions for Mr mark how many counties do y'all have like that y'all
take care of i personally have two that I work with and a Centria has others that that they work with yes many in several cities and school boards as well all of the state i personally have seven
that I work with ma'am I have seven that I work with between the school districts and the boards could we for future reference in a bigger font that that is what United Healthcare
sends to us that that the carriers get as much as they can as even the other carriers do that smaller font because they get as much as they can on the pages that's the truth that's seven vision insurance too very much that's the you can read it you
can buy it i can read it it might take me a while but I can read it glass i know i need it okay all right move on to item three the board
can further discuss the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget um well my understanding is that we would be taking feedback from constitutional officers from from the last workshop and also I think a clerk
and I would like some some direction as far as um our other insurance plans if the board wishes for us to to look at um proposals from other groups for our workers comp liability ility um physical
prop or property insurance we I would like to discuss that i do have some information about travel expenses as well that I can share you ready for us you go all right don't ask me to take a 20% cut
in my budget then you come down to 15% i cannot do that i will not turn a budget in that I know I cannot operate under so with that being said 2015 2016 Mr page was the chairman he called me personally and asked me "Chair Page will you run
the jail?" I said "Yes and he funded right property." So I took the jail and I run it so today I'm going to do you a favor i got you two pieces of paper right here i want you to look out and read you get
time you take the jail back and you run the jail you tell me where you can cut 1.3 million out of that i will not put a budget in it i cannot operate on it you got any more questions for
me i ain't talking out both sides of my mouth and I'm not being toothpaste it will not work thanks doesn't it doesn't help our budget all it does is shift it somewhere it may
help him but it doesn't help our overall budget and that's what we're looking at is the overall budget i mean not Not $1.3 million into the deal that's fine okay we'll
get next someone else as you know it is my responsibility to provide each taxing authority with a fair and accurate tax role as set forth by Florida law and Florida Department of Revenue what you may not realize is that
if my office were unable to execute said tax role it would create serious problems for all local governments taxing authorities and most importantly the homeowners in Taylor County for example this approval would cause
every homestead exemption to revert from $50,000 to $5,000 along with the loss of the protected Save Our Home Assessment Cap furthermore property owners would lose their right to appeal their valuations
at the value adjustment board i swore an oath to well and faithfully perform my duties in the service to the people of Taylor County and my role as property appraiser my responsibility in providing an accurate role is also to protect the the
taxpayers from these devastating consequences speaking of the Department of Revenue they oversee both my office's budget and the county's tax role every year they audit my budget and determine whether my office should cut or add
based off employee workloads and state and local mandates article 8 section one of the Florida Constitution makes it clear that the board of county commissioners and the property appraisers office have separation of powers for the best
interest of the people of Taylor County this separation of powers ensures that the entity responsible for assessing property values myself is independent from the entity that sets the tax rates and makes spending decisions which is you all
promoting fairness and transparency in the local tax system i recently met with Do for our pre- audit tax rule review and they advised that now would not be the time to release a position based off our
current field appraisers workload between hurricane damage reviews record permits and a mandated 5-year review of every parcel now would be the worst time to have one less person in completing a monumental task that is of utmost
importance to you all to all the taxing authorities and the citizens of this county my budget is 80% personnel expenses as much as I would like to cut my budget 10% 15% cutting that much
would mean losing a key component of providing an accurate role and in turn furthering hardships for the citizens of Taylor County through the consequences of denial of that role all that being said it's in the best interest of the taxpayers that from
this moment forward all budget information will be discussed with the DLR just like I do every year and I'll come to you with our final budget and let you know what that is um and that they are the final authority over my budget and as to promote clear boundaries of authority over this
countyy's tax role i am a team player always have been and I will continue to pursue all available budget reductions but not at the cost of endangering the citizens of this county from the consequences of a tax ro denial that's all I have do you all have
any questions but basically you're saying what we're dealing with that you're just saying you're not willing to reduce your budget oh no no i'm saying that I'm willing to continue to cut as much as I can as much as the Department of Revenue will allow me to but even
based off of our pre- audit review of my tax role this year they're saying you should not you should not in order to provide y'all and the other taxing authorities an accurate tax role this year it is advisable to not and they're
the they're the the authority over my tax role and my budget so I'm going to kind of I'm going to kind of head in the direction that they're talking you know but at the end of the day no I'm still going to look into it i'm still going to be talking with them about it but be very clear that our that our powers are
separate and that uh and that they have the authority over my role and my budget so I'll be looking at every single avenue I can to continue to cut but as you know inflation rates are hitting us in every angle you can you know but 80%
of personnel costs is my budget and the end of the day that means cutting a person that that I need in the field right now every single day and we're even with just one field appraiser we're hitting at least 30 40 places a
day and that's still not enough it's devastating this is the hardest time in this county's history and so so yes I'll continue to try as hard as I can but I just can't promise anything right now any other
questions thank y'all after reviewing each line item and each expense I have projected a redu I have projected a reduction of 13% this reduction reflects the loss of one position approximately seven services
and cuts that will be made within the office to accommodate loss of staff so that those remaining employed can focus on the jobs that are statutoily required it also reflects cuts made to resources within my office such as the replacement
of printers and other items as they reach the end of life cycle i do want to be very clear though on a couple of things one these cuts are going to be felt by the citizens of Taylor County there seems to be a reoccurring
statement from some that nobody wants to pay additional taxes or pay for services or assessments i get that i'm a taxpayer too i don't want to pay you more than I have to i also know this is our reality this
is our new norm going forward it is important the citizens know that with these cuts in services that they have to they have back up it is important the citizens know that with these cuts and services that they have
been accustomed to that are now getting cut consequently this means that they are going to have to take a more proactive role in taking care of their business reminders such as printed materials voter education mailouts countywide
mailouts of upcoming dates and deadlines personal sample ballots are now going to be a thing of the past my website is a valuable tool and it's going to have to be utilized by both the voters and the candidates alike two I want to be very clear that
this is a snapshot as to what the budget looks like at this very moment this is not necessarily a reflection of what the proposed budget will look like when submitted June the 1st last count I had there were approximately six election bills of various sorts moving moving
through legislatively i have no idea which of those will make it to the end and what impact they're going to have on my budget i do know that one of those bills touches almost every statute dealing with the election laws
you as well as I know that any mandates will certainly be unfunded but must be implemented so this is notice that I may have to request additional funds to implement those mandates three it is my job and my duty
as the supervisor of elections of Taylor County to conduct secure transparent and honest elections i have narrowed my budget down to tasks and obligations that are statuted driven and I do not feel there are any additional cuts that
can be made without severely jeopardizing the integrity of the elections process for which I will not be a part of i refuse to set myself up for failure at my statutory duties i feel like the voters elected me just
like they elected you to do a job and I intend to do that to the best of my ability i think it's been acknowledged that these cuts are just going to get us through this budget cycle i worry about what's going to happen next year during these same budget workshops if your
constitutional officers are being asked to make these cuts now where are the cut cuts going to come from next year i just do not think it's possible for us to continue to cut 10 15 20% each year until the newfound hope that we are all
praying for happens there must be bigger decisions made by the board at some point i'm glad I'm not in your shoes but I am in mine i will continue to do what I need to do to do the best job I can possibly do for the voters of Taylor
County but as my budget sits right now it's a 13% reduction i'll go next so um in looking at the budget you know since I've since I've been elected the clerk the only increases in my budget
have been that the pay increases that you guys have approved um in relation to the $15 minimum wage mandate and and and to eliminate possibility of compression of salaries so that's the only thing increase has not been elected clerk and actually in
the current year you guys approved a 50 c raise for my employees which was $25,465 but my budget only increased $5,128 so essentially in the current year I cut 20,337 that I didn't take um and I did
that because since I've been since I've been to Zurk I've been working to be more efficient and to um you know combine jobs and ask people to do more and we've been working on that ever since ever since I've been elected so so
in the in this current budget I cut 1.78% $20,337 so far I've identified money that I can cut next year of $74,285 that's 6.62% for a total of
94,622 that's 8.29% in the current year and next year my budget's continually been one of the lowest um to increase and in not and if you include next year's that I submit
and and have to submit that reduction that 6.62% reduction um the clerk's budget in the last nine years has gone up an average of 1.19% so um that's where I'm at i've identified that today um that we can
that we can certainly do we'll continue to look and continue to find what we can find and you know hopefully if we can do something with health insurance you know we can reduce that out if that decreases we you know we can take that out you know whatever that decreases we can take that out also but that's where I'm
at good evening of course mine is the smallest budget so um but I do want to remind the board that Last year I gave uh lowered my budget 6.37% without being asked to do so
um also like Gary the only increases I've had have been board raises and thank you uh from my employees thank you um so that's where the increase have come um get beat up in
the paper a lot with the numbers um with a $413,000 budget and you give a $2 hour raise that's a big percentage you give a dollar hour raise give an increase in insurance any of those things make a
huge difference in mine so I don't see Mark here tonight it's a shame how are you he's listening um so saying that um we've looked hard um we're at 58% right
now um if we're required to do so uh with my budget there's some things I may have to there's some things that aren't statutory that I do for the board that if we are required to lay eight or 10 I would probably have to give some of
those duties back to you guys um you know because I'm not mandated to do them and if I don't have the staff um you know we're we can't do it um so basically laying off people is
where I'm at to to get to that um I worry that we'll see an increase in retirement rates so giving you a number now is is like Dana said we're really not sure uh retirement rates are going to go up in FRS uh whatever we do on insurance will have an impact um I was
outside so I didn't hear the the presentation um Dana alluded to this also not to mention there's a lot of bills in the House and Senate right now that could
have an impact on on all our offices um on the board there's a lot of things going on so we really don't know um so I'm scared i mean I'm at 8 to 5 i feel fairly well with that but that
could change by June or July really could um you know I have three offices that I have to adequately staff and that's a hard thing to do quick question for you did anybody get a call about my office
on Friday this past Friday i had to close the courthouse office at 1:00 and send two people out to driver's license had a couple folks off two got sick so what I'm getting at
is the people are not going to look at you guys when we don't give them the service they call me that's who they're calling it's not a problem we made it work out the people you know they dealt with it we are over capacity
um but so with that being said and this this is just a little bit of history um I came to the board about 10 years ago um and many times since asking you since asking for an office space that
that I could have one office um I remember Malcolm was a chair at the time and he said how many people that be and I said 8 to nine i probably do it with eight to nine one office with all that we do and uh I remember him saying "Well that's not firing anybody." And I said "No no it's natural attrition you will
have retirements and stuff like that." Um we would have been ahead of this had we done something like that and at that time we actually it was about 5 years ago we talked about bringing guardian adm $58,000 for the board they're paying in rent
um eight years ago uh I came in and asked the constitutional officer to be able to keep some of their money that they give back to the board in excess revenues um this is the perfect time to even if it was
25% the clerk gave a presentation from Wakov County I believe it was where where they do this um it would be money that you guys would hold of course we would come to you with unexpected capital expenses or times like this
um so really really what I'm getting at is if we will look Dana said it perfectly 10% 8% 5% this year what is it next year because we are all hoping and praying for something to
come whether big or a bunch of small ones so what does it look like what there's I think we need there's other things we do i don't want to pay more taxes i'm a taxpayer i pay let's see city city city
county county are blessed in county Texas but you know so I don't want to pay them i don't so what are we looking at when we say we're laying people off it means we could be taking the
livelihood of someone their salary their insurance um we take that away in a community that's already struggling um I hate to use this word but we're not a hot bed for employment right now i pray that we
will be very soon um I really think we need to look five and 10 years ahead and have a plan um I don't know what that looks like with what we're dealing with right now
but I just I think we really need to to focus on that um with that being said that's I'm at I'm at 5 to 8% depending upon what could happen in the legislature and and things such as
that any questions any questions for you thank you all i'm like Dana i'm glad I'm not in your shoes i can tell you something absolutely i believe I just um need some direction
from the board as far as considering going out for proposals for our remaining insurance um plans which would be workers comp liability um property insurance insurance when's the last time we did
any RFPs on any of this it's been quite some time i can't remember over 10 years I'm so u the will of the board to pursue i mean I think we
should take it out for bids is that the will of the rest of the board that we should say so for savings anywhere we can across the board so uh when do those
come up 101 to 9:30 yeah we would like to and I did want to um report on travel um I know Commissioner Feele had asked for that information so in um fiscal year
2024 the total now this is on the board side was $7,456 and that's um I would say pretty consistent from year to year is the amount that spent do you know how much um we pay in travel for all the constitutional officers
i do not um I don't think I have to know what that what that total is i I'll think there's any from the tax collector yeah i think that that that's included in their budget they don't come to the board for their travel i mean
it's in their budget so I know it's in their budget i just want to know what is being spent on travel because we allocate so much each year consistently year after year well I think if we're asking them to reduce their budget then they would
probably This is just something I would like to know i can request it thank you you're welcome i can tell you what I'm requesting in my proposal for next year i've got that with me less than $2,500
less than 25 less than 2500 and it said what she's proposing in her upcoming budget is less than $2,500 in travel and that's a a $1,200 decrease from what it was before $1,200 reduction from
before i do I do all mine by Zoom i don't go to conferences but I'll get you the number for a little bit of travel that we have it's not much any other other items from the
board any other items on the budget all right i guess we'll talk about the next Well if if we could go back to item number three i apologize um I would like to ask for a direction from the board as far as is there a target percentage that
I need to look at or do I need to wait until and see what happens with health insurance with our insurance and and on the board side any reductions on the board side do I just need to on the boards at all well for every department
so do I just need there was a small list that I had given the board um which is I it may be 10% on on the board side programs that by the board for the most part yes we probably have to in one of our
meeting have to set aside that discussion to maybe go through those items to see if there's anything that we did need to line item up okay thank you um I guess at the I mean do we need to go ahead and set
another date or do it at the end of this meeting or Well um I know uh Mr clerk I think I need some direction from you as well so Danielle has to send out budget instructions in May yeah she need to
send them out May 1st right and normally will be back on June 1st right and so normally in that communication is any any instructions from the board as far as you know percentage to reduce or you know whether we consider employee
um employee raises or anything like that so I would just think prior to May um so maybe at the end of April we can discuss considerations on the board side we got from three of the constitutional officers i mean they did give us
some projected numbers i mean we still got two constitutional offers that didn't really offer any numbers so well and also for consideration is I would say um 1 cent sales tax if the board wishes to change the ordinance to allow
1 cent sales tax to be used for um for operation is that something for you to consider so maybe the end of April we can we can discuss all that that's fair okay time
for any adjustments yes sir yes ma'am item four of the board to discuss department of government efficiency as attended by Commissioner Pam Fig thank you by now we've all heard about DOA
that is the department of government efficiency d it started in Washington and since then the governor des Sanis has started his own initiative in Florida I've spoken with the governor's office
several times and I will relate to you all excuse me what I've been told um I think from every time I've talked to them they say that it's a work in progress they're still working on it each today but I will share with you
what what they've told me so far doge is focusing on three buckets so to speak state budgets higher education colleges and local government budgets the intent is to help with being
more efficient and being totally transparent it is not an audit but more of an overview to look for opportunities to assist counties in being more efficient and to strike a balance with
taxpayers and budgets how does it how does this work the governor is asking that we pass a resolution which says that we will collaborate with the
state to show good faith in working with the state to assist with efficiency and transparency after a resolution is passed the state will need a contact person this person will only be
responsible for directing phone calls coming in just putting them with the right people that they need to speak with there's no uh recordkeeping or anything else that the contact person would be responsible for just take the phone call and say yes you
need to call this person or this this person to answer your questions most work will be done electronically and also someone could come to Perry this does not cost the county
anything so we ask ourselves why do this and I think that after listening to what we've heard tonight that that we've got a good reason that we may want to do this this is being done for good government that supports fiscal responsibility and
total transparency it shows our citizens that we are committed to doing all we can to ensure their tax dollars are being spent responsibly and that we have nothing to hide they will attempt to assist us in
defining those areas that may help balance the budget it will show good faith in wanting to work with the state and in turn they may be able to help us we're in a hardship now and we
believe in and we believe in transparency and we want to be fully engaged in the process it is the right thing to do for our taxpayers we want long-term success so why wouldn't we take advantage of the
governor's offer other counties that so far have engaged or Bay County Jefferson County Hillsboro Lake Duval and Walton so that's pretty much what I know what
I've been told and I've asked many questions over the last few days of talking with them but it just sounds it's it's something that they're willing to do to help us they know our situation that we're in in Taylor County
i think everybody knows that by now and um it's a tool that in my opinion could help us greatly in trying to figure out this this that we're in and they'll go through budgets and they'll go through things to make
recommendations of how maybe things could be done differently to save money and to help us with this process that we're struggling with so my recommendation is going to be that we um that we that we do a
resolution and um they sent me some copies of some resolutions and also um the other counties that have um um jumped in on this have resolutions and it doesn't all have to be the exact
same thing it's just a guide we can tailor that to our own needs if if we want to but um I I we know what's going on in the country and every from the federal government on down everybody is trying to cut cost we're not the only
ones that are asking for cuts they're doing it and I don't want to get to the point where we're made to do something we if we can get help in in uh working this out I think that's the best avenue for us so what's the feeling of the board so
they're on this group coming in was there any qualifications that you had to go through that the county had to qualify meet certain no no all 67 counties and I was told that the uh that
our county administrator and that the chair had been sent letters and I got a copy of the letter that was sent even though you know I haven't seen seen that i've just seen what they sent me that they sent y'all did you receive that i don't believe I've seen that okay well
I'll I'll I'll send you a copy of what they said um I don't I didn't get one now one thing I did ask is um you know I said I will I will I will present everything that you
told me tonight and I said if um you know could you come down and talk to us if we needed anything further and um they said that yes after the session they probably could but that's going to be a while um but I've pretty much given
you I wrote down everything they said and I've talked to two different people and from the governor's office and so I pretty much wrote down everything that they said so I could you know give you as much information as I could
um so they understand the the the timing of our budget session they know all about our situation i promise you yeah so did the feel of the board to move forward with the resolution
so I got a letter from them so they did send me a letter speak please i said they sent me a letter and it may be the same letter that that you're talking about and and I have to respond to it and it was asking me um if the county met certain criteria and so you know
I'll be answering that by the deadline that they gave which was like sometime in April did you answer them on all of it i haven't answered it yet but we didn't we're not we don't fall in any of those categories and I can read them to you if you want me to read i talked with them they they didn't say anything about that
may not have nothing to do with them coming in i don't I don't know i just know that they sent me the letter and asked me yeah they said they'd be reaching out to all 67 counties because obviously the governor would like to see u you know all 67 counties yeah yeah it
may be two different things but I'm just saying they you when you talking about somebody getting a letter I just want you to know that I did get the letter and I will answer it i don't have a problem with it mr d governor is the governor say again
governor is the governor that's right if they're offering to help us why would you not want to get all the help that we can get i don't have a problem with that board i mean I'm fine with it but
now listening to the constitutional officer give their all the people give their position tonight um what we need from them is a check not information we don't need to have information on how to cut services
unless we going to have to cut services lay people off they all said that without laying people off and without cutting services that's what we're faced with and I'm fine to join the program and do whatever it takes but I mean we
know where we're at i mean we're we're about I mean just like every department we got is prevail we not wasting any money that I can see and I look at a lot of it and I can't see waste that the countyy's doing you
know with our money so I mean and I can't see I've I've looked in all their offices and looked at all their employees and looked at where they go when they come and I can't see them wasting any money neither i don't see wasting none of their offices uh so we
just we just pray that they're going to help us in a way besides trying to cut people's jobs and cut they didn't say that they were going to cut people's job they're offering to look to see if they can see something that they can recommend they can't make us do anything
but they're willing free to us to try to offer some assistance to see if there's some way that that we can um that we can make this work and I'll tell you you know once we raise that millillage to 10
we don't have anywhere else to go and I've heard two or three of them say "Well you know what's it going to be next year?" It's going to be whatever it is next year so once you raise that millillage to 10 and you don't have anywhere else to go where you think the
money's going to come from our tree that grew money is dead it died so you know I'm not willing to raise these taxes i'm I'm not going to do it but anyway back to this this is only just to help us to
help this county to see if there's something there and I feel like if you know it's just something we need to do is there a time frame on this uh um well I think that one of them said that
they'd like to um I think they wanted to start doing some things in April and then for sure by May um of reaching out so um you know and I know that last
Thursday Jefferson County signed on um and Bay County you know was the first to sign on and since I since I talked to them um well this morning there may be other ones that sign it on and it's not going
to cost us a penny for them to sign on no we want to move forward with the resolution we can do that i would I would like to but uh we'll have to put this on yeah we don't Yeah we can approve agenda but we can ask I guess we can go ahead and ask
for a resolution and I can provide to you uh the the one that they sent me you might want to look to Jefferson and see what theirs looks like do you want this on the next agenda which will be the 7 to instruct the attorney to prepare a resolution and by then I should have
copies of other counties will that work well yeah we don't have another meeting between now and then so I don't see any other way to you know you can be looking at them and he can be thinking about it and and then we can if we do that at the next meeting and then if we can get it
prepared for the meeting after that then we can wrap this up in April because they're wanting to um you don't want to wait forever to get started i had a question if I could one so one of the things that I thought
about it are there any services that both the city and the county provide that that they can be combined to save both of us money you know I'm
not saying sheriff police fire whatever i'm just throwing that out there um it's it's just a thought maybe Lwanda could brainstorm coming up with an idea to if if the city would you know go in with
the county to combine some of the services um got to figure out who gets the savings what about consolidation i I don't have no problem with that that's pretty I would save a bundle yeah the the other thing that I I would urge
you guys to do also um so everybody knows we ran a business here in town um for 50 years and it it was not without some very hard
struggles and during those struggles I mean perception is reality yeah you saw a bunch of cars and all that stuff but one of the things that we did and I' I've even got one of my employees here he can vouch for it when when we started
suffering hard times who's the first salary that got cut mine i'm the boss so you guys you know we've asked all these other people for reductions in
budget what about y'all what about every elected official not just the county commissioners that make the least amount of money you know you got I realize your your um salaries are mandated so are
their salaries mandated i'm saying Mr thomas I'll answer your question i don't take a penny or a time's worth of the county's insurance i never have right and it's not because of the budget cut it's because I don't need it that's not why
I'm here so I've already saved taxpayers money to answer your question why not save them some more we're working to do that that's what that's working to do that that's the object of Jamie's mentioned individual business owners that's what we do to take responsibility
i've done that going into it so here I am okay well uh Commissioner Moody says he doesn't see any weight what about that many road department you know running out there at the airport and behind the one out here how much is that costing us
and that money we're paying Jeff County every year that that we foolishly got into you can't get that money back that's a waste too as far as for us taxpayers land the equalization yeah why should we
have to pay for Disney Countyy's trash while we've had to for the last 30 years y'all could address that and and far as your salaries you say it's state mandated you can you can ask your legislative delegation to get a legislative bag and have your salaries
cut theirs too if that's what it takes when it started we had to get Dixon County into it as a reason they got that because we to get we had to add one more county to get the program going is what I remember yeah what I remember about is
we paid for 30 years we paid enough over a million dollars for them to do whatever they need to do and we paid enough we shouldn't have to pay them another dime and y'all should address that that's been brought up to y'all before and that is two wasteful things i know
y'all do it and I'm sure there's others now we all know we want nobody to lose their jobs should we look at that but I'm telling you the taxpayers are tired of of being hit between eyes i have to pay taxes like everybody
else and we're not going to put up being hit between eyes when we see people running around here doing stuff seeing deputies made up at restaurants stuff like that seeing county
employees running around out of the courthouse but still in there doing their job paying for a metal detector that some of us have to go through and others get to go around now y'all need to do do your jobs and find the stuff that needs to be cooked
thank you well I asked Lwanda if she can um look at this um landfill stuff if there what kind of contract there is and if it's still uh valid and uh just just look at
that and see how long we're we're married to that so the direction on the DOJ is to bring it to the next meeting and for resolution
all right anything else for the board like to say one thing i wouldn't mind cutting my salary all y'all did i mean that's that's you know bottom line i mean and we can cut our salary i
checked on that we can cut them it's sit out there by the state but it can be cut we can do it and if we cut ours every elected official in this county needs to cut theirs too
fine that'd be fine we could ask them and see you know are y'all willing to cut y'all salaries any constitutional officers i am not I am not I feel like I earn every penny that I make i put in the
hours i put in the headache i I feel like I earn every penny I make go ahead i'm a taxpayer i've lived in my home for 25 years it's coming to the point that y'all going to get my home because I can't afford to
pay anymore where do we go we can't say we want more money we don't have that right and every time the senior citizens get a raise everybody's got their hand out taken plus they cover less and less on our
insurance that we're paying for when you can't get blood from attorney anything else from the board all right if there is nothing else we'll adjourn the meeting blind muted