Page 2, June 24, 2019, The Islander
^AGE 2 N
County approves budget; makes board and
commission appointments
By Matthew J. Permar
City defers MOU
with county for SIU
By Pamela Permar-Shierling
Last week (June 19) the Brunswick
City Commission deferred approving
an MOU (Memorandum of Under
standing) with Glynn County creating
the Glynn Brunswick Special Investi
gations Unit (SIU).
The Glynn Brunswick Narcotics
Enforcement Team (GBNET) was dis
banded due to issues within the team
from the Glynn Comity Police Depart
ment. All issues have been resolved
and new policies have been put in place
to prevent similar issues in the future.
A result of meetings between
Brunswick Police Department and
Glynn Comity Police Department, a
new MOU has been created and signed
by both Chiefs of Police. The Glynn
County Commission passed the MOU
at their June 6 meeting.
According to City Manager Jim
Drumm, the vote was deferred due to
short staffing in the Brunswick police
department.
“We can’t meet the City’s staffing
needs,” Drumm said, “so the item was
deferred indefinitely.”
• The commission also voted to sus
pend L Street Liquors alcohol beverage
license for 30 days and fine them $750
due to underage sale violations while
the business was on probation by the
city for previous violations.
• The commission deferred select
ing a contractor for the demolition of
the Fourth Street school because the
cost to remove the building’s asbestos
had not been determined.
Brenda Daiss, Planning, Develop
ment & Codes Director for the city,
described the building as a safety haz
ard. A portion on the south side has
collapsed, and the roof has collapsed
taking several sections of wall with it.
When asked what asbestos abate
ment would cost Daiss estimated be
tween $10,000 and $15,000 but no
Request for Proposal has been sent
out. Daiss did not know how long the
contractor would hold the demolition
contract price and said she would ask
for an extension of the contract.
J. Hiers Co., LLC submitted the
successful bid at $97,000.
• The commission held another bud
get hearing prior to the regular meet
ing to answer commission questions as
well as questions from the public.
Mayor Cornell Harvey asked City
Manager Drumm about the URA (Ur
ban Redevelopment Agency) budget
amount of $300,000.
Drumm said, “We won’t have the
$300,000 unless the Perry School site
sells.”
The Perry School site is on Altama
Ave. and was acquired by the city in a
property trade with the Glynn Comity
School System. The sale of this site is
included in the city’s fiscal year 2020
budget for $600,000; $300,000 of those
sale proceeds are budgeted to go to the
URA.
Drumm said he recommended giv
ing the URA $100,000 ‘up front’ to do
what they want to do with it.
‘We would review their budget,”
Drumm said, “which they are cur
rently working on. They didn’t prepare
a budget because they didn’t know we
were giving them the money.”
Drumm said the city would treat
the URA exactly like the DDA (Down
town Development Authority).
“They are the two arms of economic
development,” he said. “The have dif
ferent duties.”
Mayor Harvey pointed out that
DDA has two staff members.
The remaining $300,000 balance of
the $600,000 property sale proceeds is
budgeted for a non-specific land pur
chase or purchases.
Mayor Harvey commented on the
large number of blighted property
within the city.
‘We have more rental than owned
property,” he said.
He said he wants an ordinance that
will force landlords to keep up their
rental properties. “They would have
six months to improve the property or
pay a higher property tax,” he said.
Drumm said, ‘We have one addi
tional code officer who does nothing
but check on blighted properties.”
City Attorney Brian Corry also said
he was working on two ordinances to
address blighted properties.
Com. Johnny Cason said any ordi
nances had to go both ways. The ordi
nance needs to address what both the
property owner and resident must do.
For the first time the city budget
included a Mass Transit Fund in case
the city receives federal and state
transportation grants totaling almost
$400,000. The department would re
quire in infusion of $43,000 from the
general fund as well.
A $423,000 expense to purchase
buses is included.
The budget includes $5 million in
revenue from either bond or loan pro
ceeds from the Oglethorpe Conference
Center. The FY 2020 budget for the
Conference Center is $6.4 million. Debt
repayment for is budgeted at $359,000.
To date $397,180 in SPLOST V dol
lars has been spent on the Oglethorpe
Conference Center. Almost $296,000
has been paid to the architect Gunn
Meyerhoff and Shay.
According to City Manager Drumm
the budget reflects enough money that
the Commission could move forward
with the 20,000 square foot conference
center recommended by the URA.
No increase is planned for the mill-
age rate,which is 13.219.
Sanitation fees remain the same
at $22.20 per month for residential
customers.
The storm water rate will increase
from $3.96 per residential unit to
$4.50 per residential unit. Residential
customers are charged one residen
tial unit per year so the annual resi
dential storm water bill for 2020 will
be $54. The fund is budgeted to collect
$862,000 in revenue for 2020 and no
cash transfers from the general fund
are budgeted.
The city commission will hold a spe
cial called meeting Wednesday, June
26 at 6 p.m. to pass the budget.
During their regular meeting last
week (June 20) the Glynn County
Board of Commissioners approved
their budget for fiscal year 2020,
which starts July 1, 2019.
The fiscal year 2020 budget totals
$132 million for all funds with an es
timated general fund budget of $72.3
million.
The general fund is balanced with
out the use of the fund balance saving
it for emergencies.
County-wide revenues and expen
ditures were reduced approximately
$1.7 million between 2019 and 2020.
Overall revenue growth for the
county is projected to be flat although
significant increases in Local Option
Sales Tax (LOST) and Title Ad Valor
em Tax (TAVT) revenues are reflected
in the 2020 budget. A 97% collection
rate is projected for property taxes.
The reasons given for the flat rev
enues include no new capital leases
in 2020, a more accurate reflection of
EMS billing collections, and changes
to the tax districts to reflect police and
EMS services.
The largest use of a fund balance
to balance the 2020 budget came in
the fire protection fund; $616,000 was
needed to balance the fire protection
fund and this brought discussion from
the commission as well as the fire
chief.
A reduction in the fire protection
district revenue was due to all the
insurance premium tax revenue going
into the police fund as well as a reduc
tion in the SAFER grant revenue col
lections for 2020.
Glynn County received this grant
from FEMA which ends March 31,
2021. It was to cover the hiring of 15
new county fire personnel.
In fiscal year 2019 the county’s cost
for the grant was $172,000; the 2020
cost will be $242,000; in 2021 the cost
will be $252,000 according to Tamara
Munson, Interim CFO and Finance
Manager.
The grant was $2 million for three
years; the county received $1.27 mil
lion from FEMA over this period and
matched $795,000.
“There have been vacancies
throughout the life of the grant,” Mun
son said.
Munson said the 15 firefighter po
sitions must be eliminated at the end
of the grant or the county would bear
100% of the cost which she estimated
at $1 million a year.
She did not know if the county
would qualify for back to back SAFER
grants.
Fire Chief Randy Jordan told the
commission that it always had been
his intent to add 15 permanent fire
fighters to the force.
“The department is understaffed
Turn to Page 12
County budget
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