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--- site_news:site_news [2025/12/07 23:14] – [10/07/2025 BOS Meeting : Proposal to Hire a "Financial Director"] editor
+++ site_news:site_news [2026/02/08 01:10] (current) – editor
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+====== 02/03/2026 BOS Meeting : The 2024/2025 Budget is Finally Closed ======
+Ref Agenda Page -> [[https://www.hcspotlight.org/doku.php?id=board_of_supervisors:meeting_agendas:2026:02_03|02-03-2026]]\\
+I didn't attend this meeting which, after the many I've been too, proved to be something of a vacation.  However, according to the paper, exhaustive budget presentations have been scheduled and there is more talk about expanding office space for the County's administrative employees.  While I've attempted to inject some common sense on the topic, the office space issue (as in expanding it) is still being floated by H. Budziniski.\\
+\\
+In the bottom line, as if last year's 15.9% real-estate tax hike was not enough, we (the citizens of Highland County) are being set up for another massive increase.  All of the elements appear to be there.\\
+\\
+====== 01/06/2026 BOS Meeting : First of the Year (Delayed entry) ======
+Ref Agenda Page -> [[https://www.hcspotlight.org/doku.php?id=board_of_supervisors:meeting_agendas:2026:01_06|01-06-2026]]\\
+Interesting times are on the horizon.  Details to be added in coming days...
+====== 12/12/2025 BOS Meeting : Holiday Pay Passed by Unanimous Vote - Amended ======
+Ref Agenda Page -> [[https://www.hcspotlight.org/doku.php?id=board_of_supervisors:meeting_agendas:2025:12_11|12-11-2025]]\\
+\\
+In a display of "wrong-think" Harry Spounagle does a diatribe, during this meeting, on why the Board should be paying across-the-board bonuses to County employees.  See the -> [[https://www.hcspotlight.org/doku.php?id=board_of_supervisors:meeting_agendas:2025:12_11|agenda page]] to hear it for yourself.  To my surprise, Harry informed all, during this meeting, that the Highland BOS has been doing this since 2020.\\
+\\
+I wrote a second Letter to the Editor of the Recorder on the topic of ->[[https://www.hcspotlight.org/doku.php?id=opinions_corner:floyd_m:12-08-2025_taxation_without_representation_part2|across-the-board bonuses]].  It's going to take a few more letters to describe the issue of exorbitant BOS spending and how we got here - the bloating process has being going on for a long time.\\
+\\
+In the bottom line, all politics are local.  Highland County is no exception.  There are many out there who want to point fingers at the State Capitol and Washington DC.  That's easy to do.  What's not so easy is coming to the realization that we have the exact same thing going on in Highland County and doing something about it.  If you want to clean up the political neighborhood, you start with your own backyard first.\\
+\\
 ====== 11/20/2025 Addendum : Holiday Pay Schedule Proposals ======
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 At the maximum bonus level of $37,779.00, and adding in the $50,000 increase in medical insurance this year, we're looking at $87,779—more than 1 cent of the amount collected in real-estate taxes (roughly $82,000 per penny). With the current rate at 54 cents per hundred, that means that close to 2% of collected real-estate taxes will be going to “extras” in a year when Highland citizens were compelled to absorb a 15.9% real-estate tax increase.\\
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-To get an understanding of where the proposed bonuses are going, a quick review of County employee salaries is worth a look. [[https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=2040&tab=1&Year_S=2024|Open the Books]] → [[https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=2040&tab=1&Year_S=2024|Highland County]]. These figures are one year out of date and do not include all part-time and less-than-part-time employees. 2025 salaries are likely to be somewhat higher.\\
+To get an understanding of where the proposed bonuses are going, a quick review of County employee salaries is worth a look. See -> [[https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=2040&tab=1&Year_S=2024|Open the Books - Highland County]]. These figures are one year out of date and do not include all part-time and less-than-part-time employees. 2025 salaries are likely to be somewhat higher.\\
+\\
 **The major takeaway**, from Open The Books is at the top of their [[https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=2040&tab=1&Year_S=2024| Highland County web page]].  __**In roughly 7 years time**__, the cost of __**Highland County salaries**__ has almost **DOUBLED**.\\
-\\
 Note that, as of a FOIA request earlier this year, there are **77 employees** on the County side alone.\\
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 - The BOS voted to pay the $687,617.50 (the exact amount quoted at the meeting) to the bureaucrats in Richmond. While I don't have any say in this, I believe this payout was a huge mistake. I would have voted to repay Richmond's contribution (a maximum of 20%) and nothing more. By any accounting, that sum would have made Richmond whole. That check would have been accompanied by a formal letter indicating what the sum was for (i.e., making Richmond’s contribution whole, which is what any legal system attempts to do). Specifically, the letter would have stated that the sum was not for rewarding Richmond with Highland County taxpayer funds for Richmond's interpretation of a perceived accounting error that, as best as I understand it, no one truly has a handle on—what happened or what the issue actually is. Again, I believe, for better or worse, this issue needs to go to court because the law that makes this nonsense possible could only have been dreamed up by education bureaucrats on a power trip. If this is allowed to stand—if Richmond is permitted to bully Highland County taxpayers into paying back more than Richmond's measly 20% contribution—more issues like this may be headed our way in the future.\\
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-- While some of the $687,617.50 amount will be paid for by the cash merged into the General Fund from the school’s capital fund, I would ensure that next year the school system makes up the difference fully in a dollar-for-dollar budget cut. Highland County taxpayers cannot be expected to make up differences for accounting errors, regardless of the reason, or anomalies like this will become the norm rather than the exception.\
+- While some of the $687,617.50 amount will be paid for by the cash merged into the General Fund from the school’s capital fund, I would ensure that next year the school system makes up the difference fully in a dollar-for-dollar budget cut. Highland County taxpayers cannot be expected to make up differences for accounting errors, regardless of the reason, or anomalies like this will become the norm rather than the exception.\\
+\\
+- A set of across-the-board bonus options was presented to the Board but not provided to the public.  See the ->  [[https://www.hcspotlight.org/doku.php?id=board_of_supervisors:meeting_agendas:2025:11_19| Agenda page for 11-19-2025]] for details.\\
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 ====== 11/05/2025 BOS Meeting : Additional Days Off with Added Christmas Bonus ======