Published: August 06, 2008 04:45 pm            

Supervisors receive grant request Monday

NEWTON — Newton County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Galloway presented the Board of Supervisors on Monday, four grant requests that require a mobile match.

One is a Homeland Security mitigation grant that covers a generator for the courthouse, generators for trailers, an application for another generator and also a grant for remodeling the jail in Decatur amounting to about $330,000.

“What I did was calculate what the match money would be and subtracted what we had budgeted for 2008,” Galloway said. “For 2008 we had $45,172 budgeted for the match for the generator grant but as it turned out the threshhold was reduced from 25 percent to five percent, so we won’t have to put as much money toward that grant as we thought.”

Galloway said what he is asking the board for is to move the remaining $35,672 into the 2009 budget to help cover these other grant requests.

“I have everything itemized, it is pretty complicated, what it boils down to is we are going to have to add about $58,000 to 2009 budget in order to get over a half million dollars worth of grants,” Galloway said. “The grant for the jail is about $334,000 to renovate and the match is 25 percent on it.”

Galloway said that would entail putting in new floors, cable for computer network, 16 work stations and one for each emergency support functions.

Galloway told the board he just wanted to make them aware of the grants and maybe consider it for the 2009 budget so he wouldn’t have to come back to the board and beg for the money when the grants get approved.

Moulds said the board needed to know up front so they can prepare for it and they will take the budget request under advisement.

Chancery Clerk George Hayes also approached the board with the question of delinquent taxes and why his name wasn’t on the contract to collect delinquent taxes.

Geraldine Seals County Tax Accessor told Hayes this is the way Jasper County does it. Hayes replied that doesn’t help me what Jasper county does, all 82 counties do it differently.

“Who’s to say they can’t come back and say we didn’t agree to hold out three percent for your fees?” Hayes asked.

County Attorney Jason Mangum told Hayes the contract said the chancery clerk shall be responsible for handling redemptions.

Hayes told the board he has been burned so many times he just wants to make sure it is in writing.

“I don’t have a problem with collection, I just want everything covered,” Hayes said. “Just put it in writing that the chancery clerk will collect as he is collecting now for county taxes.”

Mangum told Hayes it stated the chancery clerk will be responsible for handling redemptions after the unified tax sale in the same manner as he would the counties.

Hayes told the board he did not have a problem with it he just wanted it to be stated in the contract.

The board agreed it would be put in writing.

        

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