PSD OKs funding for fire dept.

Budget includes worker raises, no tax increase

After three months of contentious debate, James Island Public Service District commissioners have agreed to fully fund the fire department and all staff-recommended raises next year.

On April 30, commissioners voted unanimously to approve the second and final reading of a $5.9 million 2008-09 budget that doesn't raise taxes but includes the fire department's requested funds for uniforms and equipment and all additional staff-recommended raises in specific departments, including 100 percent of health insurance for single employees.

Money will come from the district's remaining fund balance.

Under the budget, all district employees will receive a cost-of-living raise next year. Employees making less than $40,000 per year will receive a 2.8 percent raise. Employees making above $40,000 annually will get a 1 percent raise.

The commission also voted unanimously to allot up to $30,000 for a part-time internal auditor for a one-year trial basis.

After the vote, the commissioners thanked residents who voiced their concerns about the budget, especially over the fire department funds.

Commission meetings are generally sparsely attended.

"If you (residents) take part, you get a better government," said commission Chairman Rod Welch.

Resident Elese Sifly thanked the commissioners for getting her involved in district affairs.

"You really put a fire under me," Sifly said. "If I want to make sure everything is going the way it should be going, I need to come here. I'll be here at all these meetings."

Former District Manager Robert Welch, who regularly attends the commission meetings, agreed.

"We are all stockholders in this multimillion-dollar investment," Robert Welch said. "The investors need to watch their stuff."

Commissioners have been divided for months on which budget to approve. Rod Welch, Donald Hollingsworth and Eugene Platt favored a budget that fully funded the fire department and raised taxes by $11.52 per year on a $200,000 home.

Charles Rhodes, June Waring, Karen Clark-Thompson and Inez Brown-Crouch supported a budget that did not raise taxes, but cut more than $200,000 of requested funds from the fire department.

That budget passed at a committee meeting in March but deadlocked 3-3 at an April 14 meeting when Rhodes walked out before the vote. About 100 residents and fire personnel came out in opposition to the budget that night, saying they wouldn't mind a tax increase to fully fund the fire department. More than 670 people signed an online petition.

Brown-Crouch was the first commissioner to change her vote to a budget that fully funds the fire department with no tax increase. She credited the residents for voicing their concerns loud and clear.

"I've gotten phone calls, letters; my family asked me to come in here and just resign," she said.

She publicly apologized at an April 21 meeting for her earlier vote to cut funds from the fire department, saying the budgeting process had taken a toll on her personal life.

"I've had migraine headaches. Something is not right," she said.

Brown-Crouch said she simply did not want a tax increase, which is why she had voted the way she did.

The budget that commissioners approved originally had been presented to the commission in February, but was not voted on. Some commissioners warned that the district would have to raise taxes in the future to make up for rising fuel costs.

The commissioners considered the budget a much-needed compromise and applauded each other for working together. Platt even read a prepared statement before the April 21 meeting urging the commission to work together and move on.

"I hope the worst part is behind us, and healing can begin between the commissioners and with the community," Platt read.

After the vote, the commission again thanked the residents for voicing their opinions.

"We only know what you tell us," Brown-Crouch said. "I hope you (continue to) come to our meetings."

Internal auditor

Some commissioners were not in favor of allotting $30,000 for a part-time internal auditor, although it passed unanimously in the spirit of compromise. The commission had voted 4-3 to fund the position at an earlier meeting.

Waring, a proponent of hiring the position, said the internal auditor would do checks on the district credit-card expenses, among other duties.

"I'm always troubled by credit cards and the use of them," she said. The auditor would be hired by and report directly to the commission and would update the commission on personnel matters.

"If something happens to a personnel member, we should all know about it," she added. Rhodes, Clark-Thompson and Brown-Crouch voted in favor of the position.

Rod Welch, Hollingsworth and Platt said the position was unnecessary and noted that the district has had a clean audit record.

"It's a slap in the face to the accounting staff of this district," Hollingsworth said."

At the April 30 meeting, Welch said he was against adding the position but voted in favor of hiring someone on a trial basis. "We'll see if it's worth the investment."

Some residents didn't agree with the decision.

Linda Hardwick, a certified public accountant, said the district could find a cheaper way to check on company credit cards.

"Spending money first and determining if it was worth it later is not the best way to deal with this issue," she said.

Resident Rick Little said it was a waste of money. "Stop wasting tax dollars on unnecessary services."