A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF
AND THE SALES
SURTAX OVERSIGHT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
APRIL 19, 2005
The
Lake County Board of
Commr. Hill noted that the following
individuals were present: Jim Myers, City
Clerk, City of
REPORT
FROM THE SALES SURTAX OVERSIGHT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Mr.
Robert Speaks, Chairman of the Sales Surtax Oversight Advisory Committee, (Oversight
Advisory Committee) addressed the Board and stated that this is their joint
public meeting to discuss their report of the expenditures and revenues of the
one-cent sales tax for the fiscal year 2004.
Mr. Speaks pointed out that the report was well prepared by County staff
and contains Tab 1 – Report of the Oversight Committee; Tab 2 - Minutes - March
21, 2005; Tab 3 – Local Government Reports; and Tab 4 – Updated List of
Committee Members and Local Government Representatives. Mr. Speaks pointed out
that Tab 1 contains the history of the penny sales tax, and the process of it;
Tab 2 contains a few oversights and items (11 in all) that needed to be
reviewed and corrected and brought up-to-date.
Those have been listed and, as of this time, all of those have been
corrected; up-to-date reports have been received; and all moneys are accounted
for and have been spent properly, as determined by the Oversight Advisory
Committee. Mr. Speaks stated that their
next meeting will be Monday, September 12, 2005, in the
Commr.
Stivender stated that the School Board expended all of their money at one time,
for the high school renovations, and she wanted to know if the Oversight
Advisory Committee reviews what those moneys are actually spent on or if that is
a part of their review process.
Mr.
Speaks stated that part of the review is to make sure that the money was spent
as designated and the School Board’s money was to go to all renovations of
schools and, as far as they can see, that is what took place.
Ms.
Cindy Hall, Interim County Manager, stated that, in the detailed reports (Tab
3), each entity tells them exactly what the projects are so the School Board
did submit what projects they are working on and identified what portion was
debt service and how much money was attributed to each school.
Commr.
Stivender stated that she has some concerns with some remodeling not being done
at the
Mr.
Speaks clarified that the Oversight Advisory Committee is charged with the duty
of reviewing the expenditures of the sales tax to make sure that the money is
spent in the proper areas where it was designated to be spent.
Ms.
Barbara Lehman, Chief Deputy Clerk,
Commr.
Stivender noted that she will address her concern about the remodeling with
Commr.
Hanson stated that the Oversight Advisory Committee may want to ask for more
detail in the future to go along with what the cities have presented.
Mr.
Speaks stated that, for the next report, the Oversight Advisory Committee will
ask the School Board for details, as far as where that money did actually go
for each project.
Mr.
Speaks thanked County staff for all of their work and preparations and also the
Oversight Advisory Committee and those members present today, who he introduced
at this time.
Commr.
Hanson pointed out that there had been questions about the administration fees
for the County, and she asked whether their questions had been answered
satisfactory to the Oversight Advisory Committee, and Mr. Speaks noted that
they have received proper answers, or documentation, to address each issue
noted.
Commr.
Stivender felt that the process was working quite well and Commr. Hanson felt
that there may also be an opportunity to have more presentation of this to the
public, as they go along in the process, rather than at the end of the time
period. She suggested getting Mr. Chris
Patton, Communications Coordinator, to do a press release.
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the
meeting adjourned at 8:40 a.m.
___________________________
JENNIFER HILL, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
__________________________
JAMES
C. WATKINS, CLERK