The Henry County Update - May 29, 2013

May 29, 2013

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Regular Meetings June 4th at 9:00 a.m.

June 18th at 6:30 p.m.

Meetings held at: Administration Building Community Room 140 Henry Parkway McDonough, GA 30253 Commission meetings will air Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on Henry TV Channel 14, at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., & 7 p.m.

We are now on AT&T U-Verse Channel 99 & Charter Channel 14

Commissioners Adopt $122 Million Budget During their regular meeting on May 21, the Henry County Board of Commissioners adopted a balanced FY2014 General Fund Budget of $122,078,834. This amount reflects revenues of $119,061,585, with the difference being made up through the use of fund balance. Property tax revenues are estimated to be up slightly, by less than one percent (.8%) over last year, a minor improvement over previous years’ downward trends.

Revenue from Sales and Use Taxes are also up nearly $918,000.

Also included in the $122 million is more than $1.4 million in LMIG grant funds that will be used to complete 19 road resurfacing projects in the coming year. It also includes $525,000 in grant funds for an update to the Comprehensive Transportation Plan and $50,000 in reimbursements for a GIS mapping update.

This year, Henry County Commissioners also elected to include $1.2 million for extra compensation for employees. It has not yet been determined whether the added compensation will come

in the form of an across the board bonus averaging $573 net take home for each employee before federal taxes, OR a pay raise of up to 2 percent. If this step had not been taken, this would have been the sixth year the employees would have gone without any type of pay increase.

It is because employees have gone so long without additional compensation that Commissioners also made the decision for the County to fully absorb a 16 percent increase in medical insurance premium costs totaling $1.9 million.

The employees will be paying higher out of pocket and copay expenses, which allowed the county to minimize the increase to 16 percent. In addition, Henry County employees with family coverage were required to absorb a $75 annual increase in dental insurance premiums.

Henry County’s claims ratio is close to 100 percent, which means that the insurance carrier, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, is losing money on Henry County, thus explaining the double digit premium Continued on Page 3 the henry county update

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National EMS Week ‘EMS: One Mission. One Team’ May 19-25, 2013 Henry County Fire Department Salutes Emergency Medical Service Providers The job of an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or a Paramedic isn’t easy. But they are always there ready to answer the call at a moment’s notice. Prepared for whatever they may be faced with, EMT’s and Paramedics are dedicated to delivering high quality pre-hospital care, anywhere, any time, and often under difficult and unpredictable situations.

This week, Henry County Fire Department (HCFD) recognizes all of the HCFD EMT’s and Paramedics for their dedication 365 days a year 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Henry County Fire Department began EMS service delivery in 1974. In the nearly four decades, that have followed, HCFD has remained a proud provider of EMS across a 323 square mile jurisdiction and home to over 209,000 citizens that live, work, and play in Henry County.

In the early years of EMS, if you needed emergency medical care, a hearse would appear. Today, when you are in need of emergency medical care, a state of the art ambulance with highly trained Fire/Medics will come to your aid.

This year’s theme, “EMS: One Mission. One Team” marks the 40th annual National Emergency Medical Services Week. This is not only an opportunity to affirm our longstanding commitment to EMS for the citizens and visitors of Henry County, but more importantly to applaud the less

visible members of a national EMS system that seek to assure the comfort, recovery and survival of all who turn to them when afflicted with sudden illness or injury.

This week, we proudly recognize the around-theclock devotion emergency medical technicians and paramedics, who work in a noble pursuit. It is our hope that you will join us in reaching out to the providers of EMS in your community to say thank you.

“National EMS Week is a tremendous opportunity to celebrate and thank our Firefighter/EMTs and our Firefighter/Paramedics for the countless lives that have been saved because of the service they provide” said Fire Chief Bill Lacy. “Henry County is fortunate to have so many professional men and women serving on the front lines of our health care and public health system. These men and women are the ones always there in our hour of greatest need,” stated Captain Sabrina Puckett.

Additional information: The Henry County Fire Department has 136 EMT’s and 105 Paramedics. The Henry County Fire Department runs 11 front line ambulances. On average HCFD is currently responding to approximately 1414 medical calls per month. The Henry County Fire Department responded to 17,282 medical calls in the year 2012.

CONRAD • Anatolian Shepherd Mix I am a sweet and loving soul that needs a lifetime companion to give me the home that I deserve. I was picked up as a stray, so my friends here at the shelter do not know anything about my past. If you would like to meet me, then please call my friends at (770) 288-PETS. My I.D. # 4/26-0995 please refer to this number when inquiring about me. Lost and stray animals are held at the Henry County Animal Care and Control Shelter for four (4) calendar days (excluding Sundays and county holidays) in order to give their owners a chance to reclaim them. After that time period, adoptable animals are held as long as space allows. w w w. h e n r y c o u n t y - g a . o r g

BUDGET From Page 1 increase. Additional increases are anticipated for next year due to changes in the nation’s healthcare programs. As a result, Commissioners cautioned that the County would not be able to continue to absorb these medical insurance expenses in the future.

“Everybody needs to be aware that we can’t hit the reserve fund every year for $3 million dollars. The employee is going to have to know that, for insurance premiums and other things, they are going to have to pay more. That’s why I’m for the two percent as opposed to a bonus plan,” explained District 4 Commissioner Reid Bowman. “It’s going to take that or more to get up to the insurance with the increases we’ve seen this year and what we expect to see next year.”

Consequently, for future years, Henry County is investigating the feasibility of implementing a wellness program to help encourage employees and their families to have conditions diagnosed and adopt healthier habits that would lead to lower insurance claims, saving both employees and the County money.

Absorbing the insurance premium increase in addition to the added compensation will require the County to use $3,017,249 from Fund Balance.

For more information about Henry County’s finances, or to review Henry County’s award-winning Comprehensive and Popular Annual Financial Reports, please visit www.henrycounty-ga.org/finance.

Commissioners Approve Board Appointments The Henry County Board of Commissioners approved the reappointment of Arch Brown to the Board of Elections and Registration at Tuesday evening’s regular Commission meeting.

Commissioners accepted the recommendation of the nominating committee to reappoint Brown for a fouryear term to expire on July 1, 2017. Brown has served as the At-Large Member of the Elections and Registration Board since 2009.

At a May 9, 2013 called meeting, the Board of Commissioners reappointed Rick Jeffares to serve as the District II representative on the Henry County Water and Sewer Authority for a term to expire on December 31, 2014.

They also appointed Dan Judson to serve on the Recreation Board, as the District II representative, for a term to expire on December 31, 2014.

To see a complete list of all Henry County Boards and Authorities, visit http://tinyurl.com/8564mz7.

HENRY COUNTY D.O.T ROAD RESURFACING SCHEDULE For the week of June 3, 2013 East Lake Road between SR155 and Airline Road will be resurfaced.* *Weather permitting.

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New Student Artwork on Display at County Administration Building The Henry County Administration Building continues to support the arts through its gallery of student artwork, with the third installation of students’ artistic creations adorning the walls of the Henry County Administration Building, thanks to the Arts Initiative launched in 2010 by the Henry County Board of Commissioners in partnership with the Board of Education and the local Arts Coalition. The program is designed to highlight the extraordinary artwork being created in our schools by displaying select pieces in the County Administration Building.

The art is on display, gallery-style, in the atrium of the Administration Building and in the hallway on the first floor, outside the Tax Commissioner’s and Tax Assessors’ offices. Some additional pieces of sculpture are on display in

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the community room. The pieces were selected by various art teachers, and the array of artwork not only showcases the amazing talent of Henry County’s public elementary, middle and high school students, but also demonstrates the wide variety of media and artistic styles being taught in the school system.

The newest collection features pieces by these 52 Henry County students: Anyha Anderson, Caitlyn Bailey, Brianna Barton, Pranav Bhatt, Rhiannon Bowen, Cyantaisha Cunningham, Cornellius Brayboy, Analia Briceno, Dionne Campbell, Divya Campbell, Zaina Clark, Nick Cody, Javanta Countee, Cobee Crokett, Haley Depree, Natalie Dishmon, Matthew Edwards, Tyler Faulkner, Glenford Francis, Dallas Fuller, Gage Garner, Drake Grall, Neil Hancock, Rachel Henry,

The Henry County Board of Commissioners honored selected art students at the May 21st meeting.

Tia Jackson, Makylah Jackson, Trevor Jackson, Daniel Kuhns, Jennifer Landrum, Wendyne Jean Laurent, Cara Lipscomb, Abraham Martinez, Brandon Marlowe, Nasha McCray, Autumn McMullan, Claudia Memah, Patrick Miller, Cheyanne Moss, Nemsys Ortiz, Logan Mailot Owens, Taina Painter, Aniya Phillips, Kayla Phillips, Lance Pirtle, Melanie Schoenrock, Emma Sheppard, Alyson Smith, Wayne Steele, Alyssa Willard, Anastasia Winfield, Ryan Younginer and Ralph Zurita.

The students were recognized at the Board of Commissioners regular meeting on May 21, where they were each presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for their creativity and artistic talent, and for sharing their incredible work with the community.

This arts initiative was made possible through the generosity of local businesses. Henry County would like to express its appreciation to these sponsors for supporting this arts initiative through their donations: Dentistry for Children, P.C.; Georgia Power; the Henry County Water & Sewerage Authority; Lambert Sand and Gravel; the McDonough Arts Council; O.B.’s BBQ, Catfish, Ribs; Smith, Welch, Webb & White, LLC; and Snapping Shoals EMC. Henry County hopes to continue the program to allow more students’ work to be displayed. To make a donation or for more information, call 770.288.6409 or visit http://www.henrycounty-ga.org/ArtsInitiative. The Henry County Administration Building is located at 140 Henry Parkway in McDonough.

The next SPLOST IV Committee meeting will be held at the Flippen Elementary School at 425 Peach Drive in McDonough on Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 6 p.m.

Public input regarding the proposed SPLOST IV program can be submitted here: henrycounty-ga.org/SPLOST/SPLOSTIV_Comments.shtml

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