001I'll call the uh union and school board together for our budget uh meeting and to set our maximum millage. And so um we will get started with Mr. Superintendent, you got you have an opening statement? >> Yes, sir. By the way, before I proceed, I just want to introduce our uh county property appraiser, Klay Davis. Yeah. Welcome. Oh, hey Clay. I didn't see you. >> Appreciate you coming. >> All right. Uh, today's July 24th, 2025. In accordance with section 200.065, chapter 1010 and chapter 1011 Florida statutes. I am submitting the proposal, I'm sorry, the proposed tenative balance budget for the 2025 2026 school year. And I'm recommending the proposed millage to be levied. The purpose of today's meeting is to approve the 2025 2026 proposed tenative budget and proposed millillage for advertising and to set
002the date, time, and place of the first public hearing on our budget. That meeting will be Wednesday, July 30th, at 5:05 p.m. And that will take place here in the schoolboard room. >> Turn back over to you, Mr. Chair. Okay, let me get that down. So, I got All right. Um, Mr. Odum, our CFO, would you like to come up and present the information that you have prepared for us? Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Give me one second. Just get my We'll get everything in order that I have. There it is. Good morning board. Um, as you know, my name is Jonathan ODM chief and I'm the chief financial officer of Punham County. Um, as Dr. Cerny stated, the purpose of today's meeting is to follow trim guidelines and request to approve uh request
003approval to advertise a tentative bal balance budget in the newspaper. Um, I know I gave y'all packets earlier. Um the first uh stapled packet is the three documents you have um that are on board docs and will be placed in the newspaper. We will publish a notice of budget hearing that will notify the general public of our first public hearing on the budget on July 30th at 5:05 p.m. We will publish a notice of tax for school capital outlay and we will publish a budget summary ad. Um I have given you each copies of all of these as well as additional documents. we will uh go over a little bit later. Um and next week we will have a few more where we go line by line item and actually approve specific numbers. So uh
004let's briefly talk about each of the documents. Um the first is the notice of budget hearing. Unlike last year, we are having to publish a notice of budget hearing instead of a notice of proposed tax increase. The roll back rate determines whether we uh post a notice of proposed tax increase or notice of budget hearing. Um and the when the rolled back rate is uh lower, excuse me, I might be saying that wrong. I want to look at this document to make sure. Yes. When the rolled back rate is lower than the millage rate, we use the roll back rate because we have to generate the same amount of funds. Um the roll back rate is the millage rate that it would take to bring the the fund the district back to the funds that
005we received last year. Um excluding any of the new construction we have going on. Our roll back millage rate is 5.3291. The roll back rate ignores voter approved debt which is reported on the DR420 debt certification form with the department of revenue and only applies to state and district millages that are certified on the DR420S with the department of revenue. This roll back rate is an increase of it's actually a decrease. Sorry, I I wrote that wrong on my notes. Um negative.0401 0401 mills from the roll back rate. But our actual 2526 millage is an increase of and that'll be due to the voter debt. Our 2526 millage rate is 6.865 mills and last year it was 6.130 mills. The increase of actual millage comes from a combination of a reduction in the required local
006effort, increase in prior period adjustment set by the state and an increase in debt service millage for the second issuance of bonds. This millage could have been slightly lower. Um but the uh agreement we found out about did uh cost us about 850,000 in debt revenue. So, we had to slightly increase it by 0.105. And just to use an example that's constantly been used, a $100,000 home after the homestead exemption in Putham County would cost a taxpayer $10.50. So, although we had to slightly increase it, that's the only impact it would have on a $100,000 home in Putham County. Um, that is the only bad news I have in regards to that agreement. the other two aspects of it um have a good result that we'll get into as we discuss the forms. The RO
007rate is set by the state and we have to levy them in order to receive our FEFP funds of just over 60 million. The 6.865 mills this year will bring in 111.99% of the funds generated from last year's 6.130 mills. A property owner whose appraised property value remains in the same the same as last year who has an appraised property value of 125 taxable value of 100,000 after the homestead exemption would see an increase in the taxes owed to the school district of $73.50. That is total per 100,000. As an additional piece of information, our property values in Putnham County slightly went down over this time last year due to that agreement. Um, last year our property value was as uh was at 8.58 billion. This year it's 8.52 billion. So we're essentially stayed right
008in line, slightly decrease. As you all know, the district does not have anything to do with the certified tax roles and Putnham has been on a steady increase in our tax base since 2017 18. Um the state had us at 9.119 billion prior to um and that is a 106% increase over um over last year's number. I wish I'd put not last year's number, I'm sorry. Um, the 2020 number, I didn't put that number down here, so I don't have the exact dollar amount of the property values at that time. Um, but it is 106% increase with the $9.119 billion figure. The effects of the agreement made at the property appraisers office no longer directly affects our general fund. Um when Rick, Don, and I reached out to Susan Piden, the uh state deputy commissioner
009uh in the finance and operations department, uh when they came out with a second cow and we made her aware of this issue or in the second CL, they corrected it. They lowered our um RLE and they increased the state funding overall. Let's see if I got the numbers. um when they increased the state funding it our total district budget was only affected by $17,000. So we saw a slight decrease of $17,000. Um the agreement would have cost us $2 million, but because the state recognized the agreement uh that was made and they um balanced it like they always do to make students equalized, uh we actually had a 2.1 million increase in state funding, which offset the 2 million and gave us a little bit more, still leaving us $17,000 short, but uh it
010did cover that agreement. Any questions on that document before we move to the next? >> I'm good. >> Just when you reference the agreement, you might want to define the agreement. Okay. For record. >> Okay. So, for for record, the agreement I am talking about um is an agreement made between FPL and uh the property appraiser in Putnham County. And and there's a an email in your packet that was sent out to you that kind of explained he he explained that, you know, and I mean it is what it is. >> Okay. The second item being advertised in the newspaper is a notice of tax for cap school capital outlay. It mentions that we are again proposing the 1.5 mills for capital outlay purposes and advertises how we might possibly spend the money this 1.5
011mil generates. Overall, the 1.5 mills will bring in 12,274,642 versus the 12,355,615 that it brought in last year for capital needs. That slight decrease is because of that $600,000 uh property value difference. We have listed out many allowable ways to spend money because if we don't list it out on the ad, then we can't spend it that way. Just because it's listed does not mean we will spend it on a category. But if you don't list it and later decide you need to use the money or had an emergency and it wasn't listed, we would have to redo the advertisement, hold another public hearing, and if it's an emergency, that just extends everything. Most of the money will be used for meeting our participation requirement for our special facilities award for building a new school
012in Crescent City Junior Senior High School. The charters are allowed to receive a portion of our 1.5 mills based on everyone's capital outlay FTE. This is year three of the stairstep scenario where you figure the amount subtract out what the charters get from PICO and if if there's a balance they would have received 60% of that determined amount. So next year we don't have the special solicies match they will get 80% of their determined amount. However, FL DOE determines that amount for us and they subtract out the special facilities match which is why we don't have to um send them that this year. So for the last two years and next year because of the special facilities participation match we haven't provided those funds to charters. The unofficial final total special facilities participation match should
013be $35,45 or $45,371. That is the total of our 2324, 2425, and 2526 millillage. Before moving on, I want to mention that the property appraisers agreement that with FPL uh did cost the district approximately 900,000 right now in capital revenue. However, that loss is completely offset by this special facilities match because we only owe back on special facilities what we get. So, because we didn't get that money, we shouldn't owe that money back. >> And and you've confirmed that with DOE. >> I have not. We shouldn't. I I I wanted to make sure to say uh >> will you be able to confirm that before the final in September? >> I can reach out. Um, DOE is typically really hard to get uh an answer from, especially in writing. And historically, since y'all uh since
014this process was started and my predecessor would talk to DOE, as well as myself talk to DOE over the past two years, um, we've gotten various answers around everything. I will say I don't believe we've ever specifically asked this kind of question because we just learned about uh the agreement mentioned uh this year, but certainly can ask. They're always at one of the conferences I attend. So I can that's the best space place I've actually been able to get someone face to face and talk to them. >> Um >> you know and depending on what their answer is, you know, we can do like we did last week and go to Senator Leak and his legislative director to provide some input to DOE if necessary. >> It's definitely we definitely >> because it's a logical
015it is a logical process and they should recognize it. >> Yeah. And and the from what I've understood in the conversations I've been in, it's always been our payback is the 1.5 mills, right? And so because we didn't get the money in the 1.5 mills, >> we should because the state's already recognized in the second count the 8.5 valuation, not the 9.1 valuation. >> Okay. >> Any questions on that document? The third and final document required to be placed in the newspaper for advertisement is our budget summary ad. As you can see from the ad, it's our budget by fund source and categories. Our current operating budget is $126,63,857.65 and our entire budget is $477,658,546.36. The major difference from last year's budget of 444.2 million to477.6 million is the second issuance of taxpayer voted bond
016funding. Also, general fund went up through the transfer in this year for the maintenance department and transportation department. As the general fund is the main operating fund of the district, I want to call your attention to the general fund column where the budget ad shows that we have a June 30th year-end actual fund balance of 17,555,4469. It's in the first column, less than halfway down. and and go back to you were saying that um I knew the maintenance department was was operating out of the general fund but transportation don't they usually operate out of transport out of the general fund or >> correct? >> Yeah. Um we it we pretty much to balance had no choice and this was um a decision that was made with the whole team involved this year uh to include
017transportation out of it. Um with the various things with funding going on um without that approximately I don't have the exact number but I'll say approximately $5 million. um it would have been a real struggle to balance this year. Um outside of that, when you look at next year when the current property value outside of the agreement as well as whatever property values happen la next year, um it should be no issue bringing it right back in. So, this was a one-time agreement we made to make it balance. >> Great. Um and it is allowable along with um it it could technically be too but we didn't need that. So >> and we are getting is it five or 10 new buses as part of the transition. >> So um we put on there 10
018that we do five yearly. We plan for five yearly. Um but again in case of emergency like I mentioned earlier we knowing that we're going to do either four or five. Um, we try to do five, but if if it's four or five, uh, we have that room to do more if needed in case of any buses break down or anything like that. >> Let's make sure we park them up front in the parking lot because when I take my granddaughter to academy, she keeps telling me that they're not washing the buses and I keep telling her we're going to get new ones. So, >> uh, I'll have the superintendent relay that to Mr. Bowling. So, >> all right. Um, >> let's see. All right. That is uh >> let me ask you real quick
019and I'm sorry Mr. Chair. Yes, >> real quick regarding the buses. Now our charter school, they do pay us for the buses. I know it's a minimal amount. It's like a drop in the bucket, but that helps with to offset some of transportation. >> So that's that's some of the stuff we start on. So we have very specific trim deadlines with all of this as I know you guys are aware of. Um we one of the first steps we do is prepare the paperwork to charge them. Um I think this year it was it went up 15 to 20 grand from what we charged them last year. Um a little bit higher enrollment and I mean just inflation on various things. >> So uh we do charge them. We do get paid and it goes
020it goes right into our revenue and general fund rollup. >> Okay. the um also that I mean didn't the the funding went up for charter schools this year specifically don't they get direct state funding in addition to what we we fund them >> so I don't know the exact numbers but they do get additional funding now the funding they're getting from us right now is not everything they could because of what we spoke of earlier with the capital and the special civilities match But they do have additional funding outside of ours. >> And is their enrollment staying pretty steady? >> Um, I think this past year both of them increased a little bit, but um I I don't know the exact capacity at Children's Reading Center, but I think they're pretty close. >> Yeah, there
021there's a waiting list. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Any other questions, the board? just just on the new new buses. Uh if you get the shiny ones out there by the road, you're liable to have kids sneak in the parking lot and slash 40 $50,000 worth of bus tires like we've had happen in just kidding about that >> in past years. So just hide them in the back by the sheriff. >> All right. That 17,555,44.69 69 C number is comprised of the reserve for state and local project balances which is basically money with strings attached uh in the amount of 6,276,51584 reserved for carryover purchase orders from last fiscal year in all projects in the general fund in the amount of $668,7186. That is again it's carryover purchase order so that money
022is already spoken for. A reserve for inventory um that total is $355,612.96. Our carryover required 3% mandated unreserved fund balance of 2,959,150.32 based on last year's recurring revenues and an unreserved cash fund balance of 10,254,19783. After we've incorporated this June 30th fund balance and included all budgeted revenues, budgeted expenditures for the new year, I'm estimating a 12,568,7187 June 30th, 2025 year-end fund balance next to the last column. And actually, that should be June that should be June 30th, 2026 for that $12 million year in fund balance. I budgeted reserves for FEFP cuts for family empowerment scholarships of $6,765,121. That is the number of our FF scholarships from this last year. Um so because of that, what we did and we discussed previously is a reserve for FES shortfall. We've had a FES shortfall every single
023year that it's been. And um basically we I tried to put as much money there that we had hit us this year in a shortfall which is 1,138,83459. um a reserve inventory of that $355,612.96, a reserve for a prior year FTE audit of 50,000, a possible FTE shortfall, and a possible proration of funds of $500,000 each, as well as our 3% required fund balance of 2,959,150.32. And typically we always go with a unreserved fund balance of $0. Basically money that we could sit there and use on whatever. There is no strings attached or anything and it's not encumbered to anything right now. Um this is the first year it's $0. We we've budgeted everything to make this balance. So, we have an unreserved fund balance of $0 right now. After all budget expenditures and all
024reserves are taken into consideration, our projected unreserved fund balance is lower than it's ever been. It's not normal and we are expecting the project um project balances listed in the June 30th balance to be totally spent out as well as the reserve for incumbrances to be received and paid out. Those two items alone for our estimated end-of-ear fund balance being just under seven million less than the beginning of the year fund balance. We have an increased retirement rate, increased utility costs, stagnant categorical such as safe schools and mental health. They both uh were decreased slightly like $1,000 and less. Um and our new year's flexible budget from the state was not enough to cover the additional cost we had. We also provided the automatic levels for our instructional and classified personnel on July 1st per
025our salary schedule which included the second round of 70 negotiated raises for the classified salary schedule and budgeted for our normal board and district initiatives as well as our normal operating costs. The totality of the current projected reserves for June 30th is a 12.74% financial condition ratio. However, we will definitely pay out the fees scholarships. So that reserve will go away during the year even if we have a loss of students and a proration of FEFP revenue. That takes away those two reserves and I expect to have at least 4.15% financial condition ratio. >> What's the state requirement >> for the financial condition ratio? Uh off the top of my head I I had it on the presentation in our workshop but off top of my head I'm not sure. >> There is a there
026is a minimum correct. Yes. Yeah. What's our projected enrollment? >> We are projected to uh it was slightly up uh 50 something students. That does include everything though. That is not just our schools. >> That's charter schools too. >> Charter schools. Yes. >> Oh, okay. >> And scholarship students. >> We in the program that uh Mr. Hanky and you know his staff did the presentation on I mean we're continuing to try to reach out to some of those scholarship people to bring them back you know maybe into our virtual school program or or after a year and they you know many of them realize it's a lot more to it than what that hopefully we'll get some of those back is and I see that I mean that's what I'm reading across the state is
027happening is that they stay out for the year the parents realize oh my gosh you know I'm not you able to do all this stuff and the paperwork and and you know assure that they are meeting the requirements of the state and so the next year they go back into school because they have to refund that money if they don't meet those requirements. >> Yes sir. And uh I just a little side note on that uh Mr. Hanki is doing a good job with the step-up program. Um, we just this morning had another district reach out because they were impressed with what we have available out there on our website and wanting help getting theirs started up and through Mr. Hanky and he was more than happy to uh be that contact. >> I did
028have the opportunity to speak with the superintendent earlier prior to this meeting and he's he's you know what the chairman's talking about about reaching out and being competitive. We hear you got this narrative not only statewide but nationwide about everybody needs to be competitive with public schools. Well, he's got some good ideas on competition and and and ways to let people know of the many good things that we have to offer. So, I'm I'm pretty optimistic about about that. But it's it's going to continue to be a if if it can go wrong, it's going to go wrong with Tallahassee and the and the budget. But Jonathan, >> a number of superintendents this past week and they they are experiencing much the same stuff with maybe some a few more zeros than we have. >>
029Yep. >> Yeah. So, it's it's pretty common. >> But anyway, it's it's it's Jonathan, I I'm pleased with what you've done and you know, this can all change with one call from DOE what I've done. It's it's been an interesting year and uh Rick said just just the other day uh I've I've had the trial by fire uh coming in here and >> you have >> the the I I don't want to say issues we've had but the things we've experienced in the last year and a half, two years uh that I've been in this role uh some things that my predecessor never had to deal with and didn't get kind of that bad. >> His hair's falling out. Did y'all notice that? >> I feel like I saw a little more gray over here
030this morning. One of the other concerns that I have is that even though uh the the federal funds were released this year and finally, you know, and I I think it was due to the fact that those 20 states filed, you know, federal lawsuit against the administration and against the uh federal department of education, but they are phasing out DOE and you know, we were always under the understanding since those funds are appropriated by Congress that they would just flow to the state and then down to us. But um so I mean I guess it's something that between um our associations to the schoolboard association super superintendent association we need some guidance because you know a year from now we might be in the same boat only worse they may have cut the funding period
031um and then we need some assurances and I did talk with Gina Sims the um legislative uh director for um uh Congressman Fine about this and So she says superintendent that at the next advisory council meeting that that you would discuss it. Yeah. >> And could you you know >> say hey could we talk about next year and and and have a earlier understanding because we we either need to prepare for it or be happy and things are going to be the way they are. >> Yeah. I I'll definitely express that. We have a meeting coming up in the next week or so. >> That's what you said, >> right? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Please continue. >> All right. So, uh, before we wrap it up, I want to do a quick update. Since
032our budget workshop, June 26th, we received the, uh, certificate, the tax certificate sale proceeds on June 28th, 2 days later. Um, so at our workshop, we were still 1,362,977.14 short of the budgeted tax collections to meet the uh, 96% in the general fund. We have now collected over 298,000 more than our 96% budgeted. >> Is that from the tax sales? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So, uh I didn't put the exact figure on here, but you're looking at one $1,660,000 that we collected after our budget workshop meeting for that. And and I do think a priority for us, a legislative priority for this upcoming session is that, you know, those funds um the the tax dollars, we get the tax dollars, but those people that that don't that you know, somebody buys a tax certificate,
033the money goes into to an account, you know, it used to go it goes into the clerk's account and then he's required to transfer to the state to the CFO. Um which was not the case 10 years ago. And so basically what happens if those revenues are not uh requested by the property owner um they they go into the the state's general fund when they could be going into ours plus the interest which is you know significant because of the I mean there's not a tax certificate generally that doesn't sell and and it's and there instead of doing one tax certificate sale a year we're now doing six or seven and so I would like to see us as a board and I've talked to the commission, county commission chair about it, you know, doing
034a resolution asking our legislative delegation to go back the way it was so that the clerk can hold those monies and then when they're, you know, after the statutory time frame for holding them runs out, then he could split that money and give half to the county commission and half to the school district. Um, and and I mean it's it's thou hundred thousands of dollars >> just off that one example alone, it was up near 1.6. something we'll need to discuss, but I would hope that on a upcoming board meeting we could we could discuss that and maybe do a joint resolution between us and the county commission. >> I mean, it's it's really hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> Yeah, we can have a conversation with them before then. >> Okay. Um just to
035finish up that point, uh we collected a total of 98.005% of the total uh possible tax collections. Six days ago, we received the second calculation FEFP and the certification property values and a change in millage rate and we had to incorporate all of that into the budget, changing everything that we had already worked on uh at both the state and local level and rebalance everything. Uh several areas changed even with a lower mill rate. Our projectile general fund taxes went down 17,000 or excuse me went down 2,145,673 while our state funds went up $2,128,89. That is the offset we talk about to make sure all students are equalized. That is where the 17,000 loss shows up as well. That is also the same money that um uh covered the loss of funds from the FPL
036agreement. We are now at a 67.6% statef funded district and 32.4% local funds. We had our first proration of funds and they took away 17,584 of state funds in that calc. We set aside a proration reserve of 500,000. So we had enough to cover it, but mind you, with the fees of 1.1 million that hit last year, we actually used that 500k along with the other 500k reserve we had to cover that. So um they said they said our family empowerment scholarships were the 6,765,121 and we set that side we set that aside this year for the reserve plus the shortfall for the additional. >> What's the math on that? How many at n divided by 9,000? How many students is that that basically we're paying the opportunity scholarship for? I know you got your
037handy calculator right there. I normally like to try to do it in my head, but that's a little bit higher number than I do that with. Uh 751 and that actually from a report I remember it was 700 and something students. So that's right right in line. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. So, as as for the purpose of today's meeting, it's to get your approval to put these three pages in the newspaper so that the public can be made aware of our proposed budget, proposed millage, and the date and time of our public first public hearing on the budget. We are seeking your approval to place the three documents, notice of budget hearing, the notice of tax versus school capital outlay ad, and the budget summary ad in the plaque daily news to be
038published this Saturday, July 26th at the first public hearing on the budget that's scheduled for Wednesday, July 30th at 5:05 p.m. We can go into greater detail on the budget if you like, if y'all have any further questions on any of those. Um, but you'll also have the meeting the chance to review all of these and bring any questions, concerns, or anything up next meeting, as well as have any changes done by next meeting. >> And so, you're you're going to get us the the line by line by um category for like the one Rhonda did for us last year, correct? >> So, I actually emailed I blue carbon copied every single one of y'all. >> Okay. this morning. Um, and it should be the same reports that you guys got last year. >> If
039you look at them and they're not, let me know and I'll see what I can pull to match you up. >> Mr. Speaker, did you have a question? >> I have a question. So, the the agreement, the FPL agreement, how many years does that affect us? >> My understanding was two last year and this year. Um, >> you know, this may be a good opportunity. Mr. Davis, would you like to come up and say anything um since you're here or you >> think it'd be beneficial? >> Well, I mean it it'd be better for you to answer Miss Pickin's question, I think, than I mean I know the answer to it, but I I'd like to hear it, you know, let her hear it directly from from the person that's >> So, the answer is
040this is the last year. So the I just want the board to understand when we say an agreement, it wasn't necessarily an agreement that we entered into to allow them to lower their values. Essentially what they did was they booked TPP equipment and items in Putnham County that should have been booked in other counties. So they made a mistake. Well, by the time that mistake was realized, the budgets had already been essentially certified. So they could have requested of the property appraiser and we would have done a certificate of correction that would have taken about $400 million off the tax ro that would have crushed every taxing jurisdiction's budget. It would have just been a catastrophic. So we said to FPNL, we don't think that's fair. You made the mistake and they agreed that they
041would step down that decrease. So in essence, they did us a favor by stepping it down. So, I know, you know, the the inclination is to think that somehow we're getting the short ending of the stick, but we actually got the best of this deal by a long shot. Now, I would say to the board that even though that's $120 million in TPP, TPP makes up 34% of the tax role. The tax role is very sensitive to TPP. You've got three entities in Putnham County that makes up a vast majority of the tax role, real property and TPP. FPNL being one of them. So values are going down. I mean, you don't have to be a real estate expert to see that values are going down. Interest rates are still up. You look around, things
042are coming down. So what has happened in the past is the real property side has basically increased enough to offset that TPP decrease like last year. So you didn't really experience anything because from I think Mr. ODM had alluded to it, but essentially the school board's taxable value has doubled over the past five years. I would be very very careful in thinking that's what's going to continue that that's normal. If you look back from 2009 to 2019, basically the taxable value was flat, be up a little bit, down a little bit, up a little bit, down. So I would be very careful. In fact, Amy Baker, who's the economist for the state of Florida in the EDR budget analysis that they did in February, her advice was don't use anything since 2020. If you're going
043to project anything in the future, project prior to 2020 because she considers that normal. And now that's just my interpretation of what she said. You can watch it. It's on Florida Channel. But in essence, this we have, you know, I know now my numbers I need to talk to Mr. Odin. My numbers may be a little bit different than his. I'm not sure if he's using the June 30th number or the June 1st number that we gave him, but whatever it is, I mean, the impact to the school board was pretty minimal. $4.5 million on taxable value. You were down. Now, 2025 versus 2023 certified, you're up $950 million. So even though you were down 4.5 this year since 23 you're up $950 million. So I say all that to say, you know, I'd be
044very cautious moving forward that thinking that there's going to be double-digit increases because it doesn't appear that's going to continue. A lot of people move to Florida because they can work remotely. A lot of these companies are requiring them to go back in the office now. So that requires them to move back to where they're from so they can go in the office. Interest rates are still elevated pretty high. Property insurance is high. So there's a lot of things, two hurricanes last year. There's a lot of things working against Florida right now. So nobody knows really what's going to happen. >> Clay, what what you do is so vital to what Jonathan has to do to keep us going and we certainly appreciate you working with him and and keeping us informed. I appreciate that.
045Any other questions from the board before I >> Okay, so Clay, the the Florida Power Light, Simol and GP, they take do did they have an accelerated um depreciation on the first five years, you know, like with the new warehousing facility that GP built and I guess the one that they're going to be starting construction on pretty quick. So in the first five years, did they take an accelerated appreciation or do they just take it over a 20 or 30 year period? It's just the life of the >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> What the equipment or the facility, whatever it may be. It's just >> okay. >> Straight line. >> Any other questions from the board? >> All right. Thanks for coming. >> Thank you so much. >> Yes. >> All right. Uh are we
046ready for a motion? >> You guys are ready unless you have any more questions. >> Mr. Chairman, could I could I just s for uh >> record purposes uh note that uh one one member, Miss Wagner, is has been participating by Zoom. Miss Wagner, you can confirm that you've been hearing what's been happening. >> Yes, I' I've been able to hear everything. >> So, if we could just for formality sake have a motion to allow her to vote. >> I make a motion uh Mr. chairman that we recognize and allow her participation and vote uh by Zoom. >> A second. >> Okay. >> I have a motion and a second that we have recognized that board member uh Linda Wagner has been participating and that she is so forth being and now we'll be able
047to vote. Um any questions or discussion? All right. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Okay. All right. So, how do we want to structure the motion on this? Uh, Mr. >> Od. >> You just have to uh have a motion to approve the advertisement. >> Okay. >> We do a roll. >> It's a roll call vote. >> Chair will entertain a motion. I'll make a motion that we um agree to the presentation of the documents to the newspaper. >> I'll second that. >> All right. We have a motion. >> Should there be a date in that? >> July 26 is what? >> It's going in the paper. July 26. >> Should that be in part of the motion? >> No. No. >> All right. We have a motion
048um to uh direct the staff and and agree to allow the staff to submit the uh the budget uh notifications uh to the PLA Daily News for publication on Saturday uh July 26. All right. Um Mr. Do we have a we have a motion to second? Correct. >> Yes, sir. >> Yes. >> All right. All right. Councelor, all in favor? District one? >> I. >> District two. >> Yay. District three, >> yes. >> District four, >> yes. >> District five, >> yes. >> Okay, thank you board. We will now move into our item C. Uh I will adjourn the regular meeting. Move into uh emergency for item C1. Uh and the chair will entertain a motion. >> Did did we get a copy of that? >> It it's on uh our documents. >> Okay. Yeah,
049it's it's pretty big. Yes. >> Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion we approve uh the emergency item C, excuse me, mental health application, justification, explanation. It's timesensitive. >> Second. >> Okay. >> All right. Have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> All right. Motion carries. And um you know If y'all saw that we um our counseling department received a $10,000 check from the Putinham St. John's Yes. United Way. >> Um and so you know those those >> staff people do just a phenomenal job and believe me the demand is is significant. So, um, you I didn't read the whole 40 pages of it because, you know, it's, uh, but we, this is something that we're doing every year essentially, and this contract, you know, helps
050us in providing those services. So, all right. Um, >> sister, no, I was just saying I I did go through some of it and the things that they're going to do and provide for our students, it's it's just great. and even the families uh like the first week of school, you know, assessing the students and then having the group sessions. I just think it's it's it's a great move and and a great program and I support it wholeheartedly >> and it and it runs concurrent with our our federal programs where we have uh staff that do outreach to our families and um and those students that that are in need. Yes. Um and that's so that was one of the most important >> fact just received information that um our head of mental health Kim
051Kimberly Simmons and our student services director Diana Drew were invited to go speak again at a conference about some of the mental health services that we're providing. So yeah it's is the words getting out that they're doing a phenomenal job. >> Yes. And one of the things Yes ma'am >> I noticed in the in the program they have a a a screening instrument supplied by the Florida DOE and it's for suicide prevention and we have had that uh suicide in our school district and I just think the whole program it itself is just phenomenal and and something we need to get behind. Thank you. >> Important. Very. >> All right. Um board, uh do you have any individual comments or discussion or report? >> I'd like to thank the motion. >> Your motion then should
052be to approve the M the MHAA plan that has been provided to you. um which would then be your certification that it's consistent with statutory requirements and and that would be what would be that would be the motion to approve the plan that's been presented. >> Okay. You want >> didn't we have >> that was that was just to approve the item. >> What you did was to put the emergency you you brought it up as an emergency item. Now you have to approve it if you wish to. >> Oh, >> I thought we did that >> because it wasn't on your agenda. >> So normally what you do is you you The motion was to uh bring it up as an emergency item and the uh justification was time sensitivity which you approved. So,
053it's on your agenda now and now you're actually debating the plan itself or the >> I'll reiterate my motion that we approve the mental health application uh uh item before the board today which is under C which is emergency item and the explanation was time sensitive. Is there anything else you'd think I should add? Okay. Items of it is a plan that's before you and that's that's what's required that it be certified as you that you you're certifying it as the plan that you approve. Okay. And you you include that mental health plan as part of your motion. >> Matt, the mental health plan as part of the motion. >> All right. The uh motion second. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. I have a second for Miss Gillyard. Uh all in favor signify by
054saying I. >> I. >> Pass unanimously. All right. Now to uh before we adjourn any any report or comments Mr. Superintendent Counselor >> I I wanted to >> good Mr. >> I wanted to mention that there is a traffic safety uh committee meeting today and and uh I just wanted to thank Chairman Liry for being on the board and representing it. It looks like we're seeing some very good uh results and opportunities and efforts going on with that. Uh, and so I I would hope you guys continue to work your magic and do good for the people of Putnham County. This this will be the last meeting today where we'll actually individual committee members will be re making their priority recommendation uh that will go to the county commission and and ultimately come to this
055board too. Um, one of the things my priority is, um, even though the legislature did pass this year a requirement for, uh, driver's education, it's only the the paper part of it. There's no driving component to it. And, and really, um, you can't learn to drive by take, you know, taking a test and sitting in a classroom for for a couple of days and taking classes without that driving component. I I think that you know it puts not just our students but all students in a very you know um significant disadvantage as far as you know getting behind the wheel and getting on these roads. Now I will say that um you know if you look at the the state road 20 which was the impetus of of this whole uh committee and moving forward
056you know we don't I'm sorry 100 we don't have you know very few uh student accidents but the fact of the matter one student loss of life is not worth not having that driving component as part of that driver education uh you course and uh so that that's my priority. Um if you have anything else you'd like me to bring to the uh Mr. Buckers gave me some information about a letter on the that was years ago uh 20134 on the the um traffic light at in Boston on Highway 17 at Pom Pomemetto Bluff Bluff Road. Is there anything else the board would like me to? just that that I I see that they've they've got funding set aside to improve that over in the coming years and I know you'll push to to do
057whatever you can there, Phil. I I appreciate that. And I look at all the CTE stuff we've got going on, too. And we're getting competitive with I mean with what's coming the the workforce with what the college just got in their funding for workforce development. We're sitting in a in a very good posture to have kids go on and and have careers in in the workforce. So I'm I'm just really proud of everybody. I was very glad we got we uh received the weighted funding for CTE and accelerated programs that had been uh was going to be cut in half, you know, right? >> We had a number of people lobby and they did end up passing that. So, that's definitely going to sustain our a lot of those programs >> and the 21st century
058getting that back was >> that's very good for our county. I I do think it it it's probably going to be a struggle as we move forward with the budget cuts that the administration is um federal administration, you know, is proposing and what they want to get to. And then when you pass a bill that adds three trillion more dollars debt to, you know, to the I just I shake my head. But um I do think that we need to be prepared in the next year for whatever's going to happen. >> Yeah. I think it's this year is just a sign of what's probably going to happen next year somewhere. >> Exactly. Yeah. And kudos to the team that's pushing out that uh 21st century. Um >> I receive a text because of a nephew,
059but it's out there. If the parents have not changed cell phone numbers, they should have that information and they can go ahead and actually register the children now. And I saw F re written on it. >> Yes. >> Very vital thing. I did. I saw that too. remember the young ladies that came that time before the board. Uh she was concerned about transportation because she's a student out at QI but she lives in San Mater you know the after school bus getting her home so it it it's great. >> By the way, Mr. Chair, all of our principles and directors uh are in a training as we speak, an all day training. and I just came from there and um you know a lot a lot of stuff on our our student achievement data personnel
060stuff and then we have some breakout sessions on I know AI and some other things. So you know we're we're really trying to you know make sure we start off the school year right and this is the meeting we do to make sure we hit the ground running for our beginning of our school year. >> I I met with Mrs. with Miss Granton on Yes. yesterday, right? And she was talking about in and I had the flashback that first day when the people when the teachers are back there inundated with papers, this that and the other this committee, she said her team had already pushed that out to the teachers. They're going to use their pre-planning to dig in the data and and look at who the students are and what they need to do.
061And I just thought that was that was great. She and Mrs. Jackson shared that with us. Yeah. So, >> so they it's it's Yeah. The teachers and staff moving out to the schools. We need to work out. Oh, just on a side note, these schools are they're taking off on the progress and all. So, uh maybe we can uh and I've said this last time, we need to schedule a time we can maybe walk y'all through there again >> after we advertise it. And >> but anyway, they're making great progress. So, >> thanks. It's fun to watch the talking about the one out here old. >> We have two at Crescent City. >> The high school and elementary school. >> Well, we went to the elementary. We were going to go back cuz some >>
062life gets changed since we were there. >> Since we were there. Wow. Okay. >> Yeah. But I'll get with you about >> They're served again food. No, I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing. the um no >> the the they extended the the closure time for the Horseman's Club road, you know, to repair that. Jonathan, is the only thing we can use that that gas tax money, I guess, is what we get is is for road construction or could can we use it for any other transportation uh funding that would help us offset the budget? >> When I looked up the statue at the time, it was >> So, but roads only. Okay. Well, just so y'all know, >> roads for new construction. Yes. Right. Right. Okay. All right. Nothing else come before the board. We
063will stand adjourned.