09/05/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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food to Indian River County residents, a value of $479,485.00 in meals. Ms. Alexander spoke about the dire necessity of the Food Bank, relating that about 10% or 13,000 citizens in the County are living in poverty. Ms. Alexander beseeched the Board to consider reinstating all or some of the funding for which the Food Bank, through the County's assistance program to non-profit organizations, would have qualified this year. Spencer Simmons, 118 43rd Avenue, expressed his thoughts and presented historical quotes regarding taxes and democracy. He admonished the Board to use taxes only for the County's needs, not for the "wants of everybody out there." Mr. Spencer opined that this practice would result in surplus funds being returned to the citizens, who could provide assistance to those in need. John Romano, CEO of New Horizons, informed the Board that last fiscal year, his organization had delivered almost $3.4 million worth of services. He said that investing in the mental health system was a very smart policy, since it could save lives and prevent individuals from requiring costly services. Mr. Romano thanked the Board for the $20,000.00 that had been returned to New Horizon's budget at the last meeting, and appealed to them to minimize or bring the budget cut back to zero. Bob Johnson, Coral Winds Subdivision, asked for clarification on the Children's Services fund. He also noted that the budget reports displayed an end date of March 2007, rather than displaying the end of the fiscal year. Administrator Baird explained the annotation of the Children's Services fund, and pointed out that the budget is always locked down in mid -year (March), for purposes of accuracy. Mr. Johnson asked how the Board distinguishes between the Emergency Services division that is part of the County Commission, and the Emergency Services Taxing District. He wanted to know if the funds between the two divisions were interchangeable. September 5, 2007 4 Preliminary Budget