cutting county costs

(1) Move 911 operators and emergency preparedness to the sheriff and cut out Jone & Littlejohns salaries, that's 150K off the top. Rickerson & Stange leaving saved 180K, cut the museum directors position, 53K, lease or close the civic center cut those salaries, that's and easy 1.1M off the budget.

-freespeach85

There is certainly precedent, C-V, and County Council has the authority to eliminate any facilities and positions it chooses to eliminate, as long as it doesn't do so in a way that is retaliatory toward any INDIVIDUALS who hold those positions or run those projects.
        It wouldn't make much sense to spend $750,000 on that Civic Center - money that was authorized by the taxpayers to make improvements on other facilities through the county before Mr. Dunn co-opted it - and then sell or lease the center. Best to do that before the money is spent, so it can be shifted to the use for which it was original authorized.
        Beyond that, I would adamantly contend that closing the Museum is a bad idea. Someday in the future, when Anderson County has been driven into the ground and no longer exists, there will need to be a regional museum documenting the history of the old Washington District, the old Pendleton District, and Anderson County - all of which by then will have faded into ancient history.
        A sub-exhibit in the Anderson County history section will feature an old broadcast-style radio microphone and pictures of a bunch of cavemen playing with fire to document who drove the county into extincton, how and why.

Why don't we just close the county down.

Because by state law that would mean the area encompassed by Anderson County would have to be split up and absorbed into surrounding counties, and at the moment I don't think any of those surrounding counties want to have anything to do with the mess that's been created there.
      (Pickens County would love to annex/adopt the Powdersville and Pendleton areas, though. The rest of you can negotiate with somebody else.)

Hey I got a idea, lets close county council down. That would save a bundle.

Rowhoe, I've been meaning to ask you about your screen name. Is it intended to be a play on the old Southern phrase, "...that's a tough row to hoe" or is it just a play on the Spanish colloquialism for a red rooster? Or is there another possibility?

Well a few years back the IM ran a story that said we were Iva, Georgia. Now I wouldn't mind that a bit. The people in Abbeville would be better than what we have now.

 
I once told everybody that I was going to start my own newspaper in Anderson County, put it in Iva and call it the "Iva Starr." They weren't amused at the old Independent and Daily Mail.
        Don't take the Iva, Georgia, mistake too personally there. Not all AIM reporters, editors and publishers are local people (in fact, few of them are nowadays.) They actually think Lake Hartwell has been there FOREVER and don't realize that it used to be just a short wagon ride over a wooden bridge between Anderson County and Lavonia, Georgia, or Oconee County and Toccoa, Georgia, and that the family ties between us are far stronger and closer than current georgraphy would indicate.

My grandfather gave me that name, I would tell you the reason but I'd get booted off here for good. Maybe one day we'll meet and I can tell you.

I have considered starting a radio station here, a small one that would cover 25/ 30 miles.

I can probably guess, Rowhoe. My mother was once talking about how she grew up on the farm and had to spend long hours in the field with hoe in hand, working the rows of cotton and other crops. She once told everybody, "I was the best hoer in the family" - before she realized how that sounded and the rest of us almost choked on our dinner.
       It was relatively quiet at the table for a few minutes after that.

(1) Is there a precedent for this?  Would state law allow this?
JK

-centrist-view

I'm sure it was. Used to be a lot of good hoer's around. Somebody that could work a hoe good was very useful then. Now somebody that works a good 'hoe' today is just a pimp. 

A lose lose situation. No matter how fiscally prudent this council is they will be accused of retaliation by someone. Make the museum support itself, incentive for the director.

Free speach..

good points..thanks for making an effort to show where you think that money can be saved.

It appears that the 9-11 suggestion is already in the works, as by the time they finish stripping Taylor of all duties he wont have a job to report to. Thats one way to get rid of someone, isnt it?

The civic center is like the airport. Council must make a decision as to whether that is a service that needs to be provided. If not, then they shoudl get out of the business all together. You cant have it both ways, and say that "it is important"..but then not fund it..and vice versa..saying "it isnt important"..but keeping it in the budget. If they decide it is important, then they accept the fact that they will lose money more often than not.

Along with the civic center...they need to look at Parks and Rec..or PRT..or whatever they have decided to call it. The state of SC already has a PRT department..so we just need to ensure that our information is current and on file with them. Kind of like cindi's grand idea to let the state manage our Econ. Development information and make available that information that pertains to Anderson through them. 

I would also suggest outsourcing all IT...public information...computer...web sites....e mail...etc. Surely a private firm can do it aoll much cheaper than The Councy can.

Also, we are spending millions on a new shelter...yet inother counties, it is The Humane Society that manages and runs..and even builds such facilities. Give them a stipend and let them build it and run it...

Also..totally eliminate all council discretionary funds. Parks/Rec..travel..."education"...etc.

Those ideas should save at least another million or so.

Today's budget discussions tried to identify places where savings could be had.
  MCWilson still is on the cell phone kick, like that will result in significant savings before the County negotiates some NEW carrier deals and bundling of minutes betwen users.  But you have to admire her tenacity in the face of spending way over a million dollars in order to find who spent $23K on credit cards. She also failed to mention that one way to reduce costs would be for her to cease reproduction costs SHE has incurred in the past two years ( in excess of $600 last month alone for HER personal requests). So lets stick with those phones Ms. Wilson.  I enjoyed the little jab at Ron Wilson about Allison Shwuam (sp) too.  Nice touch!   Too bad you didn't press the hiring of YOUR pals under such dire economic times as well.
 A plausibly deniability was issued by Dunn and Burns, when Ron Wilson asked directly how many new hires have been made in the face of a "hiring freeze" ( which was denied as ever happening).  Nobody wanted to fess up to the hiring of Glen Brill, Bob Bierman, Bob Daniel, Eddie Tallon, Steve Smith, or even our new county photographer Dan Harvell. They only conceded to the hiring of two EMS dispatchers,  two part time EMS workers, and a "consultant" for web design ( Say....aint there now about five web designers/ web masters/ web administrators or whatever name you wanna call 'em???).   Gracie suggested cutting those NEW hires would save close to $300K a year.  Nah, lets fuss over the cell phones instead.
But rest assured, the personnel/policy/proceedures/planning/propaganda/contracts and contradictions panel will delve into defining roles and responsibilities for "necessary" key individuals....."SOON".

Rita said we are doing okay with revenue collections in spite of a bad economy. We haven't even dug too deeply into the savings accounts( nearly $9 million still in reserve) to cover expenditures on the investigation ( which exceeds the million dollar mark and climbing weekly). Jackie Hunter said that revenues would pick up more when as-yet commercial /businesses are billed for taxes that haven't been billed for yet.

In three & a half weeks, another meeting is set to discuss these steps and definitions of key employees ( of which ALL the new hires are sure to be part of)

I didnt realize that Anderson County ran any EMS squads at all. How can we be hiring EMS workers when none of them work for The County?

Have we silently and quietly started running ambulances now?

Also, its mid February. When does Jackie plan on getting around to sending out tax notices to everyone? I didnt realize that some businesses got billed at a different time of year than everyone else did for their property taxes. Seems to me that the businesses I am aware of always are complaining about their property taxes about the same time that I receive my bill.

Believe that was for the Quick Response Vehicle personnel

ok. still, that means that we are paying for trained first responders? Not very hard to expand that service into ambulances, is it? After that, what then...fire services?

Maybe Taylor Jones is being kept around for a reason?