Lee County, Leesburg, Smithville representatives negotiate service delivery strategy

LEESBURG — While no final decisions have been made, three governments within Lee County have made progress on renewing their service delivery strategy.

Representatives from the Leesburg City Council, the Lee County Commission and Smithville City Council met Thursday morning to discuss service delivery strategy, bringing multiple points of view on how certain services should be paid for.

The county proposed the municipalities pay for services handled by the county such as the jail and E-911 services. The original proposal was met with opposition on the point that the citizens of Leesburg and Smithville are Lee County residents and already pay county taxes for those services.

All sides shared different points of view and were able to compromise on many points amicably before adjourning. From information gathered at the meeting, the representing members of the three governments will go back to their boards and councils to discuss the results before meeting again.

The first order of business was the Lee County Jail. The jail houses Leesburg and Smithville prisoners at full expense to the county. The county proposed that the cities pay the daily fee of the county housing municipal prisoners, which is $32.50 a night per inmate plus medical expenses and liability. Medical expenses include everything from diabetes medication to medical costs associated with an inmate who is pregnant.

Lee County Commissioner Rick Muggridge estimated the cost of prescriptions for inmates at the Lee County Jail is close to $200,000 a year.

It was noted that the governments must define what is considered a municipal crime for the cities to take responsibility before making a final agreement. For instance, a burglary arrest, even if within city limits, is a state crime and not a municipal violation.

Leesburg City Manager Bob Alexander said that Lee County Co-County Manager Christi Dockery mentioned in a previous meeting doing a 10 percent surcharge on citations to help fund the jail, which he found agreeable because it “wouldn’t cost tax payers any additional money.”

Dockery added that the 10 percent surcharge would be in addition to the proposed jail expenses. All sides were satisfied with the cities paying a daily fee and covering medical expenses for prisoners housed for municipal offenses and enacting a 10 percent surcharge on citations.

On the topic of expenses related to code enforcement, Muggridge said that part of the way that code enforcement is paid for is through fines and fees. Muggridge proposed 5 percent of Leesburg’s budget and 1.5 percent of Smithville’s budget be used to share the costs of code enforcement.

The attendees discussed the cities paying the costs of animal control for animals within city limits. Co-County Manager Mike Sistrunk said that shelter fees cost the county $25 per animal.

Leesburg Mayor Jim Quinn pointed out that the citizens of Leesburg and Smithville pay county taxes and therefore should receive the same services as Lee County residents outside of city limits. Muggridge suggested the county accept the fines for animal control and code enforcement instead of charging the city a fee for those services with no objections.

“We’re ready to compromise, Muggridge said. “We don’t want to do anything unfair. Every body in your city is a county tax payer too.”

Meeting resolutions for the other items in the service delivery strategy negotiation included:

— Leesburg, Smithville and Lee County discussed the option of consolidating costs for the tax assessor;

— Lee County is further researching the costs related to municipal elections;

— The geographic information system agreement will remain unchanged;

— Negotiations are open for Leesburg paying the costs related to their radios connected to the E-911 network.

Officials said the final service delivery strategy agreement will be decided after future meetings.