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Mayor, White laud county’s decision
Published Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Covington County Commission’s 3-2 decision earlier this week to move to a unit system of road management is drawing praise from city leaders and a former commission chairman.
“The vote to go to the unit system was extraordinarily important to the future of our community,” Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson said.
“When Elmore County — which is of similar size — did this, they saved $2 million and in Crenshaw they saved $1 million a year,” Johnson said. “If we just fall in between those, the county can get out of trouble pretty quickly.”
When it became apparent that actual revenues would fall below budgeted revenues this year, the county began looking at possible expense cuts. After each area of operation cut at least 2 percent from the current budget, commissioners were still staring at red ink.
On Monday, Commissioner Bragg Carter said the county had to stop waiting for things to get better and make a decision to help “weather the storm.” With that, he made a motion to move to the unit system. Commissioner David Ellis supported the move with a second. When the remaining commissioners, Carl Turman and Harold Elmore, voted against the motion, Chairman Lynn Sasser was forced to break the tie. He, too, supported the unit system.
“If you see these guys who voted in favor of that, tell them thank you,” Johnson urged.
Johnson said county government has been a “very good partner” for economic development projects.
“Some things wouldn’t have occurred without them,” he said.
Former Commission Chairman Greg White also praised the action.
“I am very pleased the commission took this step,” White said. “I congratulate them on the decision.
“I felt very strongly three or four years ago that the lack of growth in gas tax revenue could best be addressed by moving to the unit system,” he said.
Counties collect gasoline taxes, which are earmarked for road and bridge repairs. However, the tax is per gallon, not based on the total price of gasoline. Even though gas prices increased, the taxes collected did not increase.
White said there are positive points in both the unit and district systems, but the unit system should be the most cost-effective.
“It will cut duplication of investment, and allow for more efficient road work across the county,” White said. “The commissioners will still have the privilege of seeing that service is delivered.
“I only regret that I was unable to get enough votes on the commission to move to the unit system four years ago,” he said.
Comments
Posted by gordonsux2009 (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If Greg White was so pleased, then why didn't try to change to the unit system while he was chairman?
Posted by SouthernAttitude1 (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 9:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
gordonsux2009, probably because it would not have put money in his pockets.
Posted by gordonsux2009 (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 10:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You are so right
Posted by super (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
he wanted to adopt the unit system years ago but Bragg was the only Commish that would go along - the others would have none of it. Majority rules.
Posted by thepunk (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 8:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
new system or old system,same people same problems!!!!!!!!!
Posted by townconstable (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 8:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Greg White as chairman only voted when there is a tie vote. Unless two commissioners vote for and two against, the chairman is out of the voting and can not pass anything.
Posted by townconstable (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Greg White as chairman only voted when there was a tie vote. Unless two commissioners vote for and two against, the chairman is out of the voting and can not pass anything.
Posted by thepunk (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 9:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
more efficent? i have herd that your local grader operators route will increase by at least 30 to 40 miles more each. this will lengthen the time between gradeings of your roads.more efficent huh....i know the county is broke,but don't try to b.....s......us that it is going to be more efficent.you will contact your commissioner with a complaint, he will write a workorder,send it to the secretary at the engineer's office , she or he will post it with the engineer and he will decide when if ever it gets done. by that time under the old system it could have been done days earlier.the commissioners and chairman who voted for the unit system took the easy way out.dump it all in the engineer;s lap let him deel with it .We voted them in to do the will of the people!!!! not force their will on the people!!!! but that is politicians for you .see if you can find anyone out on a dirt road that they asked their opinion before they voted yes on the unitsystem!!!!!!!
Posted by ctyres (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank God I cast my vote...now I have the right to complain...I knew that Lynn Sasser was like all the rest...and not only Sasser I knew that Ellis was a loose cannon and now that is comfirmed...and Bragg Carter enough said....heck Capps can't even do the job he already has....but I have a plan. When my road gets bad I am NOT calling my District 4 Commissioner I am calling Lynn Sasser, Ellis, Carter and Capps. Let's see how they respond to all the calls they will receive when the rain comes and it will come.
Posted by townconstable (anonymous) on January 30, 2009 at 10:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
the punk and ctyres have just shown how ignorant they are about what has been going with the district system and what will be going on under the unit system. They are also repeating the propaganda put out be the folks that fought change for the 25 years. the same folks that have caused the county to get into the dire financial condition it is in today.
Posted by ctyres (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 6:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
townconstable-- I have an opinion and so do you but that doesn't make me ignorant!!
Posted by thepunk (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
going to the unit system is not going to change the fact that the covington arena consumes 46% of the county budget. townconstable, are you so stupi.... that you don't see that is almost half the budget with less than a 20% return? you can't change anything without any money. the same people are in charge as before. and from your username you don't live out in the county, you live in town. the rural citizens don't have any say as to what the city does so why should you have a say out here. i bet if the intire road & bridge budget for the county was only used on county roads not city, not arena, not school projects, ball fields ( in town ) we would here a different skweek out of you !!!!!! you got to run this like a business , if one part is not produceing cut it off . the arena was suppose to pay for itself ,it don't even cover the cost of operation. how are things going to be better when the road dept. tries to operate on half a budget? there is no reason the intire county should have to suffer for a hand full of the upper class.there is a cure for ignorance ,stupidity is terminal.
Posted by lookeyhere (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I had no idea the arena consumes 46% of the county budget. IF, and I say IF it is true that place should be shutdown NOW.
Posted by youdontknow (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 12:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree if there is a part of the county that is a liability it should be shut down. I feel as if the county has to come together as a whole but that will not happen when the rich get richer and everyone else suffers.
Posted by super (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 4 p.m. (Suggest removal)
46% of the budget? Where did you get that from?
Posted by super (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
did some checking - 2 - 3% of the budget
I'll state it again - the arena is not the reason the county is in a financial bind
Posted by GetRealBeFair (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
thepunk.....AMEN!
Posted by lookeyhere (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 4:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Okay super, I know the arena is not the ONLY reason the county is broke. So In your opinion why is county doing so poorly?
Posted by thepunk (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 8:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
super&townconstable ,also anyone else.check the nov.22,2008 issue of the andalusia star news.article..Arena adds to county expense.if the figures mentioned in that article are correct .then the county budget is far greater than even the comission knows, if that is only 1 or 2 %. you forget, or would like to there are payments on the arena not just operating expense. anyway i tire of this . no one in a position to do anything about any of it cares. from the county level all the way to the federal .I'll just pray,read Revelation(in the Bible), and keep my powder dry. maby we'll chat again.Walking point.......
Posted by super (anonymous) on January 31, 2009 at 8:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We have to go back a few years – when Johnny Mac was first elected as Chairman he immediately addressed the issue of dilapidated equipment. At that time the county was spending more per month in equipment repairs and down time than what a lease payment would be per month on new equipment. So JM entered into a municipal lease agreement and acquired all new equipment to replace all the old worn out equipment. He didn’t add anymore pieces at that time. In the lease agreement the equipment would be sold at the end of two or three years and the county would have to make up any difference or if the market was good would be able to sell the equipment for more than the pay off, and this is exactly what happened. Not only was the market strong for good used equipment but as a municipality the county paid less for the new equipment going into the lease. The county made money every time they replaced the equipment. This was working so well that the commissioners put in to have their own big piece. At one time there was one tri axle dump truck shared by all the districts, there was one excavator shared by all the districts and so on. So, JM figured the more equipment the county owned the more they would make on each lease turn over and he went along with the commissioner and they all got them a tri axle or two or three. They all got them an excavator and 2 or 3 motor graders. Of course this took more workers, payroll, benefits, fuel and insurance. So the over head rose fairly rapidly and in order to cover the additional over head JM got an additional 1 cent sales tax levied on the citizens. Remember?
But before the new Chairman and commissioners could down size – the county was hit with a 100 year flood and 2 hurricanes. The additional equipment came in handy for county crews to perform road and bridge repairs and the county would be reimbursed by FEMA. This money helped cover the overhead at the time. But dealing with FEMA and federal funds sometimes took several months to be paid. So to cover expenses until the funds were paid by FEMA the commissioners learned how to move funds from one account to another, a common practice by many municipalities and businesses, Borrow from Peter to by Paul until all were paid by FEMA. Then all the storm damage was complete, the over head remained, the used equipment market wasn’t as strong as in the beginning, gas taxes were not growing to meet inflation. And none of the commissioners wanted to reduce their fleets and man power. So they kept spending money they didn’t have, that’s the reason the county is in a financial bind.
One solution would have been and still can be a modified unit system – each districts keeps equipment for day to day routine operations. And share the big stuff like tri-axles, excavators etc.
Posted by super (anonymous) on February 1, 2009 at 11:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
thepunk - I did some more checking, you may be referring to the Star News article that stated the arena DEBT is 46% of the total DEBT of the county - but that figure was not accurate either - it was a mis quote by the Star News
Posted by lookeyhere (anonymous) on February 1, 2009 at 2:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah, 46% sounds way high. super, I do agree with you,I think a combination of things is the reason the county is in a financial crisis. I also think we can't blame it all on one person or any one thing, but to say the arena ,is not the reason the county is in a financial bind. Well again I agree,its not the ONLY reason.
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