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He emphasized that privatization is becoming a trend around the country, but he just could not stomach this quality course being taken over by an outside firm. The only savings he could see would come from cutting out employee benefits, but the benefits and job security are the main reasons people work in low paying jobs at the County. Mr. Scott believed that privatization would be unfair, and cautioned that if it is going to happen at Sandridge, then it is going to happen in other County departments. Brian Heady of 5th Court noted that there are a couple of figures he has not heard today. He asked the amount of the total revenues at Sandridge because the bottom line is the deduction of real expenses from revenues. Whenever he hears that jobs are being taken away and given to private firms, it raises a red flag for him. From the figures given to him by the County, $589,000 of the $960,000 budget is for 21 employees, which averages out to $28,000. He was told the lowest paid employee is paid $5.93 an hour which is $11,860 for a 2000 hour year which comes out to $11,860. He was told the highest salary was $7.10, which is only $14,200 a year. He was not sure how those 21 salaries average $28,000 a year. As he got deeper into this he found that we have a manager at $66,773. If you look at the list of what the workers are making, it shows $13,600, $13,200, $13,800, which is not a lot of money. Now, we are going to have private industry come in and offer $6 an hour . which amounts to only $12,000 a year. This is supposed to save the taxpayers money, but when you take away benefits from employees, the savings to the taxpayers is zero. In fact, it is going to cost the taxpayers more. A worker making only $12,000 a year is going to need indigent care at the hospital and will have to use the Emergency Room at the hospital as their doctor's office. That medical care will have to be paid for by increasing the Indian River Hospital District taxes. Mr. Heady emphasized that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that someone making $12,000 a year cannot afford to own a house in this county. That means we are going to have to put up a low cost housing project like the one on Indian River Boulevard which will be paid for by county taxpayers one way or another. Mr. Heady noted that one gentleman here wondered why private industry can do the same job for less money. Maybe the answer to that lies in the management staff at Sandridge. Maybe that is the root problem. Mr. Heady believed that the total revenues from Sandridge are exceeding the total expenses, which means that the County is adding to its general fund. 30 APRIL 16, 1996 800 97. FADE 8.38