NEWBERRY COUNTY

CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING

 

Minutes for May 29, 2007

 

The Newberry County Citizens Advisory Committee met on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 7:00 pm at the Courthouse Annex Conference Room, 1309 College Street, Newberry, SC 29108 

 

Present: 

Citizens Advisory Committee: 

 

Others:

Heather Hawkins, WKDK

 

1.      Call to Order and Welcome

Mike Davenport, Committee Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.  He welcomed all present.

 

2.      Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved by the body.

 

3.      Approval of  April 24, 2007 Minutes

The minutes were approved by the body.

 

*The Establishment of a Quorum for making decisions. 

The body agreed that a quorum would be based on those in attendance.

 

4.      Report from the Citizens Advisory Committee Subcommittee on the Newberry County Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Budget

All members were presented with a handout that listed 10 guidelines for County Council. 

  1. Taxing and spending should be managed in a way that does not sharply increase the property tax liability over short periods of time – and with little notice.
  2. Spending reserves to fun ongoing operations costs presents a misleading picture of the budget, since ultimately the tax millage must rise accordingly.
  3. Every expenditure Council makes should be authorized either as a part of a publicly-adopted line-item budget or in some other separate, public vote of Council that cites the specific sources of funding.
  4. Council should include in its budget ordinance a separate section justifying all expenditure increases over the prior fiscal year, and comparing the budgeted growth in spending with both the consumer price index for the prior year and the projected growth in the tax base for the subsequent year.
  5. A Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Budgeting and Millage Levies should be appointed as a permanent standing committee.
  6. Council should include in its budget ordinance a separate section enumerating any new federally or state-mandated spending for the fiscal year.
  7. Each fiscal year’s budget document should include a capital improvement plan that expresses Council’s priorities regarding building and facilities.
  8. Council should set policies and monitor the results of those policies; Council has professional staff in place to implement its policies.  Council should, therefore, allow the County Administrator, with the assistance of staff, to run the day-to-day operations of the County.
  9. Council should honor the public’s participation in the budgeting process by allowing taxpayers to speak to such matters as the impact of spending policy on the personal budgets, the fairness of the distribution of the tax burden, the value of the services desired or proposed, and other matters that pertain to the budget document.
  10. It is incumbent upon those who publicly speak on budgeting matters whether they are citizen-taxpayers or members of Council, to identify the effect of their proposals on resource prioritization

 

These items will be presented to Council at the June 6, 2007 meeting. 

 

 

5.      Discussion of Sheriff’s Department Building on Highway 219

Several items were discussed by various members of the Committee:

 

6.      General Discussion

           

The next meeting will be Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 7:00 pm in the Conference Room of the Courthouse Annex.

 

7.      Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. by Mike Davenport, Chairperson.