Town of Glen St. Mary 

The Town of Glen St. Mary held a budget workshop on Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall with Council Members Davis, Foster,and Rhynehardt present. Mayor Juanice Padgett presided over the workshop.

The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the Town’s budgets.

Mayor Padgett began with the 2014/2015 Proposed Amended Capacity Fees. We had originally budgeted for one new home and one existing home, but we have had two new homes hooked up and are told Davis Travel will be ready to move forward before September. We have scaled back to one new home and one existing home for the 2015/2016 Proposed Capacity Fee budget.

The Impact Fees coincide with the Capacity Fees, so we changed the budget to reflect the two new homes and Davis Travel moving forward for the proposed amended Impact Fee budget for 2014/2015. We are budgeting for one new home and one existing home for the 2015/2016 Proposed Impact Fee budget.

Mayor Padgett then moved on to the 2014/2015 Proposed Amended General Operating Account. She began by telling Council we received a check from a company for utility tax. She tried several times to contact them to say we didn’t believe it was ours, but was told it was, so we deposited it and contacted Lyons & Lyons to find the statutes of limitations is three years to possibly have to give it back. The Legislative difference is reflective of Councilman Reneau resigning to run for Mayor. Executive differences are from unused vacation time paid out as well as a reduction of postage, election costs incurred, the purchase of a minute book and toner, and not having to purchase antivirus software this year. Other General Government had variations due to hiring a seasonal employee rather than a permanent employee. We cancelled our dumpster service, changed phone service last year and turned over the fire station electric account over to the County, all resulting in savings for the Town. The increase to other current charges is due to a pine tree right behind the fire station being removed. Local Option Gas Tax was less than expected and the Town had to buy more mosquito chemicals this year.

Mayor Padgett then discussed the 2015/2016 Proposed General Operating Account. Mayor Padgett told Council most of the tax revenues are state mandated. The Vystar rent will be $5,000.00 this year. Legislative reflects a new Council member taking office. Executive Personal Services, FICA Taxes and Retirement reflects the difference in unused vacation time paid out from last year and a proposed increase in salary for the Town Clerk. Other Current Charges went back down after the election and not as many supplies are expected, though we will need to renew our antivirus software. Mayor Padgett is proposing a raise for the Maintenance employee. Communications are down due to changing service providers last year. Utility Services should be less since giving the fire station to the County. Other current charges was adjusted for the tree taken down last year. Local Options Gas Tax is mandated by the state and we should only need to buy one container of mosquito chemicals for the upcoming year. These figures are reflective of adding a line for $10,000 for paving. 

Mayor Padgett said she is going to get some figures for paving along Clinton Avenue and next to the post office.

Budget discussions ended at 7:24 P.M.

Mayor Padgett then presented Council with a packet of papers projecting Gravity Sewer to the Northside of Glen St. Mary. She began by saying the Town for the past several years been looking at sewer extension. Page 2 shows what it would cost to connect residents per a plumber’s figures. The back of the page shows if they are paid by a grant for low to moderate income residents, they would not have to pay anything. The next page is an e-mail that states we are not eligible for grant history until after 4/15/2018. The next page shows the scoring criteria where the Town could get 25 Leverage points and could get an additional 100 points for Readiness to Proceed. The lowest score that was awarded this grant cycle was 725. Mayor Padgett then told Council the next page shows that the Town has paid for 25,000 gallons of sewer capacity. We are currently only using 10,000 with 15,000 gallons available, which is about sixty hookups available. She then went to the next page showing an e-mail stating the capacity fees can be included in the CDBG budget. The Town currently has about $52,000 in the Capacity Fee account. Readiness to Proceed would cost approximately $89,000.We can use Capacity Fees for engineering if we can work out the difference. Mayor Padgett then asked Council if they wanted to proceed with getting the Readiness to Proceed.   She added she has spoken with the engineer previously about breaking the payment into multiple payments. Councilmembers Rhynehardt and Davis were both okay with the figures, however Councilman Foster stated he believed the engineering would cost about the same as the construction cost. Mayor Padgett stated the last figures she received was a cost of about $792,000.00 and the engineering and permit cost was $89,000.00. Councilman Foster asked if the engineer has given any indication of how it would be installed. Mayor Padgett replied it would not be ran all the way to highway 90 because she does not want to tie up the commercial area. She believes the best way would be to go down the easements, then down a roadway. Council was okay to talk with the engineer about readiness to proceed.

Mayor Padgett told Council the Town had sent in to the state legislation in Tallahassee to try to get some money, but no one was approved. The state legislation will start again in September and we will re-submit our request.

Mayor Padgett told Council the Davis Travel center has plans to move forward and start construction soon. She spoke with someone last week about another property along the interstate.

Mayor Padgett closed the budget workshop at 7:40 P.M.