New Fiscal Year: Pay Raises For County And School Employees, 50% Budget Increase In Century
October 1, 2013
Fiscal year 2013-2014 begins today as a new budget year for Escambia County and the Town of Century. That mean’s county employees received a pay raise effective today, and Century has upped their bottom line by about 50 percent.
Escambia County: Pay Raises
The Escambia County Commission has a new balanced $364.5 million budget for fiscal year 2013-14.
The new budget includes a three percent cost of living raise for all county employees, including constitutional offices and the Sheriff’s Office. The raises are the first for all county employees since 2007 and will cost about $2.6 million.
The $364,520,055 budget is 2.36 percent more than last fiscal year’s budget of $356,102,136.
The tax millage rates approved are 6.6165 for the County-wide millage rate, .3590 for the Library Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) and .6850 for the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU).
The total millage rate proposed for Fiscal Year 2013-14 is 0.12 percent below the “Rolled Back Rate” certified by the property appraiser. This represents the percentage decrease in property taxes tentatively adopted by the county commission.
Escambia Schools: No Tax Increase, Teacher Pay Raises
The Escambia County School district has a $612.7 million budget for the new fiscal year. There will be increase in ad valorem taxes to meet the budget; the final millage rate was set at 7.557, just under last year’s 7.758.
About $7 million of the budget will go toward teacher and support personnel pay raises. The Escambia Education Association and the district agreed to a possible 4.92 percent raise for teachers, depending on how the teacher scored on their performance evaluation during the 2012-2013 school year. All teachers will receive a minimum salary increase of two percent.
Salaries for educational support personnel will increase by 4.2 percent. In addition, the parties agreed to a new evaluation system that is evidence-based for educational support personnel.
Century: An Extra $1.6 Million
The Town of Century is in a new budget year that is up about 50 percent over last year.
Century’s 2013-2014 budget is$4,384,791, up about $1.6 million over the last fiscal year. The operating budget increase is due to grant income and associated expenditures of $1,595,000 — including a $650,000 housing grant and a $944,000 drainage project grant for North Century Boulevard.
There will be no net increase in ad valorem taxes to meet the budget for fiscal year 2013-2014. The recomputed millage rate of .9006 is equal to and does not exceed the rolled-back rate.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Man Injured In Bar Fight
October 1, 2013
One person was transported to an area hospital after an early morning fight at a Highway 97 bar.
About 12:15 a.m. Sunday, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Grey Goose on Highway 97 at the Alabama state line where they found a man bleeding from the head.
According to witnesses, the incident began with a fight inside the bar with beer bottles being broken in the brawl. A man then allegedly tried to enter the bar with a hammer as a weapon, but he was fought off by other patrons. He then left and retrieved a knife from his vehicle but was locked outside by bar employees.
The victim was apparently cut on the leg outside the bar. He was transported to Atmore Community Hospital with injuries that were not considered severe. The victim, according to the sheriff’s office, did not wish to press any charges against his alleged assailant.
Gulf Power Economic Symposium Looks Toward Future Of Entire Region
October 1, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott kicked off the annual Gulf Power Economic Symposium Monday.
Nearly 600 leaders from throughout Northwest Florida are in attendance at the week-long event that is addressing the future of the region.
This year’s theme, “Building the Future”, brings together speakers who will discuss a wide range of topics from “Creating a Culture of Innovation” to reviewing “Northwest Florida Demographic Shifts”. Panel discussions also have been included to help move the region to action as it builds Northwest Florida’s future today.
Pictured top: Gov. Rick Scott kicked off the annual Gulf Power Economic Symposium Monday. Pictured below: Florida Speaker of the House Will Weatherford listens to Senate President Don Gaetz during the event on Monday. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man Busted For DUI, Meth On I-110
September 30, 2013
A Cantonment man was arrested after a Florida Highway Patrol trooper found him stopped on I-110 with meth and a meth how-to book.
William John Hubner, Jr. age 56, was charged with DUI, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, manufacture and distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of controlled substances without prescriptions. Hubner was booked into the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $259,500.
About 2:04 a.m. Saturday, the Florida High Patrol received a call of a suspicious vehicle stopped on I-110 at the 4.5 mile marker. The trooper discovered Hubner was “impaired on several different controlled substances”, according to a FHP report.
As the vehicle was being searched, the trooper discovered several bags of methamphetamine, drug equipment, several plastic bags, as well as a book on different meth weights and manufacturing percentages.
The FHP said Hubner was manufacturing and selling meth out of his vehicle.
Dishpan Hands, Homespun Bedsheets In Prison Cost Cutting Plan
September 30, 2013
Florida inmates are sewing their own clothes and will soon start washing dishes by hand in sinks they’ve built themselves.
It’s all part of Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews’ attempt to whittle a nearly $50 million deficit in this year’s $2.1 billion budget.
Crews told the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday that he’s on a cost-cutting mission to reduce the deficit, which stems from issues such as health care costs.
Thus far, Crews said he’s saved nearly $900,000 by re-bidding the agency’s contract for paper towels and toilet paper, about $254,000 by de-privatizing pest control services and more than $500,000 by buying used cars for probation officers, thus doing away with mileage reimbursements. The agency also saved about $600,000 through consolidating office leases.
DOC also saved $18 million by getting federal assistance for HIV-AIDS medications, $3.5 million with a new drug formulary for some medications and $1.4 million by changing inhaler protocols, Crews said.
Mothballing kitchen equipment in the state’s aging prisons won’t just give inmates dishpan hands — it’s another way Crews plans to scrimp.
Crews said dishwashers “are starting to tear up” and are expensive to repair. Instead of purchasing three-sink combos required for safe scrubbing, Crews said his staff suggested that they could build the sinks themselves, possibly with inmate assistance.
Meanwhile, the prisoners have also started to sew their own uniforms as well as their bedclothes, Crews said.
“Sometimes when you ride by it looks like Fred Sanford’s house. We actually hang the clothes out to dry,” Crews, who in December became the sixth secretary in six years at the agency.
What seems like small-change savings given the size of the red ink “may seem miniscule, but I do want the committee to understand we’re doing everything we can to help and get us out of this deficit,” Crews said.
Crews expects an update on the projected deficit, now estimated at $45.4 million, in two weeks. That’s less than half of November’s projected $119 million deficit, thanks to about $43 million from the Legislature, a hiring freeze and a high vacancy rate due to turnover.
Crews said the agency was responsible for at least part of the deficit by failing to control health-care costs. DOC has contracted with two private firms, Corizon and Wexford, to provide health care and, the agency hopes, keep in check spending on services for an aging prison population as well as ailing inmates. The outsourcing is supposed to be completed Oct. 13 and is expected to save between $40 million and $50 million annually, Crews said.
But Crews blamed some of the deficit on factors beyond his control, including bid protests, a nine-month legal challenge to the health care privatization and a dispute over the broader privatization of more than half of the state’s prisons approved by lawmakers two years ago but later overturned by the courts.
The department achieved some savings by shuttering 10 prisons in recent years but held off on closing Glades Correctional Institution in 2012 for more than six months because of lawmakers’ and local community leaders’ concerns about the impact on an already blighted economy. The delay added more than $6.7 million to the deficit, Crews explained.
Extra overtime costs caused by switching to 12-hour daily shift and bid protests also contributed to the deficit, Crews said.
Subcommittee Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said the agency’s budget has been slashed by more than $484 million over the last five years, even though the inmate population has gone up.
“We didn’t get here overnight and we’re not going to cure it overnight,” Bradley said of the deficit.
Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera, suggested saving money by again considering the controversial privatization plan pushed by Gov. Rick Scott.
“I’m not disparaging those that are there working. We need them. But when NASA wants to service the international space station they turn to the private sector. When we landed a man on the moon that was a private company. I think our governor’s right on target,” Altman said.
But Democratic Sen. Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth suggested lawmakers could generate bigger savings by sending fewer inmates to prison in the first place, especially those with addiction problems.
Bradley agreed, saying the majority of inmates convicted of drug-related crimes spend less than two years behind bars.
“They’re not getting treatment. They’re being housed. And I don’t know how smart that is,” Bradley said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Chloe Channell To Join Kenny Rogers Christmas Musical In Branson
September 30, 2013
Local “America’s Got Talent” sensation Chloe Channel has joined the cast of Kenny Rogers hit musical “The Toy Shoppe” at the Starlite Theatre in Branson, Missouri, opening November 1 for this Christmas season.
“I am really excited to be a part of all this. It’s going to be amazing!” said Chloe, who will do 60 shows by December 21. The show, written by Kenny Rogers and Kelly Junkermann stars country sensation Billy Dean.
“The only way you can do a play with heart, is to have a cast with heart…and that’s harder than it sounds,” said Rogers. “There are a lot of people who can sing the notes, but very few who can make you believe the passion and the joy of the musical journey. My friend Billy Dean certainly can do all of those things and when I listened to Chloe, I knew she would be very special as well.”
“The Toy Shoppe” is a place where toys come to life and children gather to hear owner Hank Longley tell stories. The audience joins Hero the Dog, Cheeseball the Mouse, Bruno the Bear and Billy Dean as Hank Longley in this story of love, faith and appreciation for the value of every individual. The story is full of old-fashioned values and is great entertainment for the entire family.
“It’s gonna be so COOL!! I can’t wait,” Chloe wrote on her Facebook page. “So make plans to come see me.”
Finding new talent has always been a trademark of Kenny Rogers shows. Garth Brook’s first national tour was opening for Kenny Rogers at Christmas.
South Regional Forestry Field Day Is Thursday At Magnolia Branch
September 30, 2013
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, winners of the 2012 Helene Mosley Treasure Forest Award, are inviting landowners from Alabama and Florida to tour their forest on Thursday, October 3.
The Helene Mosley award active since 1977 selects landowners who have gone above and beyond in conducting outstanding multiple-use forest management.
The field day will be an excellent opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts including landowners, hunters, and foresters interested in managing forestland for multiple uses. Attendees will enjoy an outdoor experience touring the 6,500-acre reserve via truck drawn trailers.
In addition to a fun day in the outdoors, the tour will feature five educational stops. Speakers will address a wide range of multiple use topics with management applications and associated economic considerations. Tour stops will include managing for native edible forest plants, maintaining or improving water quality, selecting and planting native understory plants, gopher tortoise and box turtle management and longleaf establishment. Expert speakers from a variety of agencies and the professional forestry community will pass on their knowledge and experience through these outdoor demonstrations.
Registration is free and includes lunch. The event is from 8:15 a.m. until 2 p.m. For more information, to register and directions contact the Escambia County (AL) Extension Office at (251) 867-7760 or email kellewi@aces.edu.
Citizens Shifting 1-in-6 Customers To Private Insurance Carriers
September 30, 2013
About one in six customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., fewer than anticipated, should receive letters next week telling them they are being shifted to private insurance carriers.
And the state-backed insurer won’t know until early December how many of those policyholders will want to go with the new companies or return to Citizens.
A total of 205,736 policies, including 31,005 coastal accounts, are being picked up by 10 different private carriers, a little more than half the 390,897 approved for the latest Citizens depopulation effort by the Office of Insurance Regulation in August.
Citizens President Barry Gilway, who told legislators this week that the agency could fall below the 1 million policy mark early next year, was hoping more policies would have been shifted to the private market in this round of the ongoing takeout efforts.
“Today’s news was somewhat disappointing but we will still have an exceptional result if we meet those numbers,” Gilway said in a news release Friday.
Gilway told lawmakers this week that typically about 30 percent of policyholders reject the takeout offers.
The private companies collectively made 328,343 requests for policies, according to numbers released Friday, but many of the requests were for the same policies. A pre-set computer algorithm divided up the overlapping policies among the companies.
Citizens, with 1.23 million policies as of Aug. 31, is down from a bloated 1.5 million policies a little more than a year ago. With the depopulation movement championed by Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders, the company hasn’t been below the 1 million policy mark since the middle of 2006.
Gilway said private carriers have already started lining up for the next round of takeout requests in December, with up to 200,000 policies possibly being acquired in January and February.
For those people impacted in the current round, policyholders shifted to new companies should receive notices next week from one of the 10 approved companies, followed by “encouragement” letters from Citizens, telling them they will be shifted Nov. 5.
Those customers will have 30 days following their policies being acquired to decide if they want to stay or return to Citizens.
The insurance companies are: Florida Peninsula; Heritage Property & Casualty; Homeowners Choice; Southern Fidelity; Southern Oak; Tower Hill Preferred; Town Hill Prime; Town Hill Signature; United Property & Casualty; and Weston.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
ECAT Launches Classroom On Wheels, How To Ride The Bus Programs
September 30, 2013
Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) began its Classroom on Wheels program Tuesday, providing presentations and educational tours of the ECAT facility to all public, private and homeschooled students in Escambia County.
Throughout the tour, students will learn about ECAT services, receive a complimentary souvenir and have an opportunity to ride an ECAT bus or trolley.
In addition to Classroom on Wheels, ECAT offers a “How to Ride ECAT” information session that will teach Escambia County residents where to access the bus and what locations ECAT travels.
To schedule a tour or for more information, please contact ECAT at (850) 595-3228.
Wilcoxon Graduates, Receives Wings At Fort Rucker
September 30, 2013
WO1 Casey B. Wilcoxon, United States Army, completed the Initial Entry Rotary Wing Aviator Course and was graduated as a pilot from the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, AL.
His wife, Kelley, pinned his new wings onto his uniform in a ceremony on September 19, 2013. Mr. Wilcoxon has been in the Army for seven years, formerly as a UH 60 Blackhawk mechanic, having achieved the rank of Sergeant prior to being commissioned as a Warrant Officer.
Casey and Kelley (Parham) are 2006 graduates of Northview High School. They have two daughters, Kali and Kami. The Wilcoxons will be stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC, where he will fly the UH 60 A/M Blackhawk helicopter.
Casey is the son of the late William B. Wilcoxon of Century and Erbie and Pamela Pritchett, also of Century and is the grandson of the late John Wilcoxon and Grace Wilcoxon of Century and James and Mildred Lambeth of Flomaton.
Pictured top: Casey Wilcoxon’s wife Kelley pins his new wings as daughter Kali looks on at Fort Rucker. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.