November 13, 2023
Hi Everyone,
Veteran’s Day – I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Please take a moment to reflect upon the commitment and sacrifice our great servicemen and women made for this great country. Citizen turnout at our commission meetings has been amazing, thank you all for supporting our city. Your participation is essential to its health and well-being and it’s having an impact.
City Charter Review
At Monday’s Commission meeting our city will begin the process of putting together a committee to conduct a review of our city charter and recommend changes. Our current charter was passed on November 2, 2014 and is to be reviewed at least every ten years. The charter review committee must consist of at least five members appointed by the commission. If you’re interested in being a part of this very important committee, please come to Monday’s meeting or contact our City Administrator Jerome Adams at (386) 345-3522 or by email adamsj@oakhillfl.gov.
Mary Dewees Park
At a special meeting held on October 19, 2023, the Oak Hill City Commission voted to award a $222,618.44 contract to JBI contractors to upgrade the baseball field at Mary Dewees Park. Click here to see the agenda and proposals submitted for this job. According to the information that was supplied to the commission on this project, the funding for this project is coming from an ECHO grant that was applied for and approved back in 2021 by the previous city administrator. City staff did not provide the commission with a copy of the ECHO grant but was told that according to provisions dictated in the grant, the city would have to pay 50% ($144,892) of the funds and the grant would cover the rest. Apparently, the commission failed to include the funding for this project in the 2022/2023 or 2024 budgets. Click here to view that exchange. When I asked if we had budgeted for the $144,892, the city would have to pay, Mayor Gibson announced that he was sure it was in there. Click here to view that exchange or click here to view the entire special meeting.
After some prompting, the budgets from the last two years were brought out and they revealed that this ballfield improvement project was not specifically provided for in either of them. When I asked where the funds would be coming from since they were not budgeted for, Mayor Gibson, Commissioner Hyatt, and Commissioner McGee all said “the general fund. My response was to ask if the money budgeted in the general account was earmarked for a specific purpose and was told that it was not. Mayor Gibson asked Assistant City Administrator Erin Anderson how much money we had in the general fund and she answered $450,000.
My concern is that if we use money that is earmarked for other purposes to pay for this baseball field upgrade, it could inhibit or delay other important projects such as storm water control or road paving. Mayor Gibson’s response was that our city stands to receive an additional $950,000 because of the increase in ad-valorem tax revenue for 2024. Click here to review the 2024 Oak Hill final budget detail. Line-8 shows ad-valorem tax collected in 2022 through to the amount projected for the 2024 budget. As you can see in the 2023 final budget column the ad-valorem tax was $978,820 and the projected amount for 2024 is $1,052,000. The difference between the two is $78,180. If you look at line-15, total taxes, 2023 shows 1,279,520 while the projected amount for 2024 is 1,386,200. The difference between the two is $106,680, far short of the $950,000 windfall promised by the Mayor.
Hopefully, I’m missing something here and my concern is misplaced because I asked the commission specifically if this project would prevent or inhibit the completion of other projects. Mayor Gibson and Commissioner Hyatt assured me that that it would not. The source of my concern is that nearly a year ago on November 14, 2022, at my very first meeting as a commissioner, our city approved funding of a work order estimate from Volusia County to replace 340 feet of drainage pipe at the Nancy Cummings Park. The estimate was for $20,339.69 to do the work. Click here to view the estimate and click here to review the approved minutes of that meeting. No specific action that I’m aware of has been taken on this project to date. Several projects have been approved by the commission that have not been brought to fruition. For example, at that same park, the commission approved the construction of a 6-foot chain-link fence along its northern boundary and a temporary fence around a non-functioning drainage ditch. No action that I’m aware of has been taken. One additional example would be the approval of $65,000 for replacement playground equipment, also slated for the Nancy Cummings Park. Again, money approved but no results.
According to an audit report filed with the city of Oak Hill by BCM certified public accountants for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, titled Financial Statements and Independent Auditor’s Reports, “The City is required to budget for all reasonably foreseeable revenues and expenditures for each fiscal year.” Click Here to view section, “MWOl (2022): Budget Deficiencies” in the audit report.
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Our City Commissioner’s meeting is Monday, November 13 2023 at city hall. The time is 6:00 PM. Click here for the agenda pack.
Please come and let your voice be heard. Your presence and participation are how we hold our commission to account.
As always, it’s my pleasure to serve you, I appreciate your support. Please let me know what I can do to help. I’m here to represent you…
Thanks again,
Joe Catigano
Oak Hill City Commissioner
Seat 3
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