Lee Commission expected to finally pass budget next week

LEESBURG — With the July 4th holiday over and the new fiscal year in effect, Lee County officials will meet twice next week in hopes of resolving unfinished business.

On Tuesday, Lee commissioners are expected to finish appointing new board members to the Lee County Utilities Authority Board. Three vacant positions opened last month, as terms expired for George Walls, Victor Stubbs and Robert Usry. All three applied to serve on the board for another one-year term. Joseph Wombough also applied to fill one of the three open seats.

The Lee Utility Authority Enterprise Fund was created in April 1992 to provide the county with water and sewer services. The authority is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the county’s water and wastewater systems, including reading meters, maintaining the system’s infrastructure, serving customers, coordinating services with the county’s planning and building inspection staff, expanding the water system countywide and developing a countywide sewer system.

The authority consists of a seven-member board, while the Utilities Authority employs a full-time general manager and six other workers. Meetings of the authority board are held on the third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. in the T. Page Tharp Governmental Building at 102 Starksvile Ave. N. in Leesburg.

When the county commission met on June 27, George Walls and Victor Stubbs were approved for another term. With only four commissioners at the meeting, Joseph Wombough and Robert Usry received a split vote.

“I expect we will hold another vote on Tuesday,” Commissioner Rick Muggridge, who also sits on the Utilities Authority Board as a county representative, said Thursday.

Other agenda items for the upcoming meeting have not yet been released.

A second meeting, slated for Thursday night, will focus strictly on passing a new budget.

After numerous discussions and delays, Lee officials were unable to pass their budget last month. Commissioner Billy Mathis was out of town, and support was split over several proposed expenditures — especially the cost and the need to open a fire/EMS station at the north end of the county. Instead of passing the budget, officials agreed to table it.

As a final legal move to postpone the vote, commissioners met on June 30, just one day before the new fiscal year went into effect, and passed a resolution that enables the county to continue operating under the old FY 2017 budget.

“Disappointing. A minor inconvenience . We will meet soon and the budget, as proposed, will be implemented,” Commissioner Billy Mathis wrote in an email to The Herald after hearing the budget did not pass in his absence.

Commissioner Bill Williams said he is confident the budget will pass, as written, when commissioners meet next week.

“We worked very hard to prepare this budget. I have no doubt in my mind that it will pass,” Williams said.

Muggridge, however, is hoping fellow commissioners will re-think proposed expenditures.

“I believe the decision to spend $350,000 on a fire station at this time is wrong,” he said Thursday. “That’s not just a one time expense, it’s ongoing. The population in Lee County, at this time, just doesn’t justify the need for that station.”

Public Safety Director Wesley Wells recently reported to county commissioners that Lee County has the fastest EMS response rate in the state.

“Everybody, no matter where they live in our county, when they dial 911, they get a response,” Muggridge noted. “We have the best emergency response rate in the state, and that is our whole county. It’s a purely political move. If the issue were about safety and lives, there are plenty of other things we could do with that money.”

Specifically, Muggridge suggested putting automated external defibrillator machines at strategic locations throughout the county.

An AED is a portable device that checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm. AEDs are used to treat sudden cardiac arrest and heart attacks. Sudden cardiac arrest usually causes death if it’s not treated within minutes. Using an AED on a person who is having such an attack may save the person’s life.

Muggridge said he would also like to see the funds designated for the new fire/EMS station going, instead, for a new east/west roadway.

“Right now, we have only two major roads connecting the east to the west side of our county,” he said. “We have Ledo Road and (Georgia) Highway 32. Heaven prevent if we have some sort of emergency where we have to evacuate. What we need is a new east-west connector. I would love to see 100 percent of those (fire/EMS station) funds spent on roads.”

In spite of ongoing disagreements over money matters, Muggridge said he will support whatever the rest of the board decides regarding the budget.

“If the budget passes on Tuesday, I will support it,” he said. “We are a democracy, and that’s how government works.”