Sheriff’s Week, Dolly Parton and public hearings among Sept. 12 Madison County Board of Supervisors agenda
Jolene Cleaver, contributing writer
In a broad range of agenda items passed at the Sept. 12, 2024, meeting of the Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors passed a host of items ranging from public hearings to literacy programs.
Among actions, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood accepted a proclamation in recognition of Sheriff’s Week, Sept. 15 through 21, at the Thursday meeting.
“…it is fitting to celebrate the historical contributions of the Office of Sheriff and the significant role that the sheriffs play in our modern criminal justice system…,” the proclamation read.
“Thank you for the appreciation,” Hood said.
Dolly Parton Imagination Library
Also during the meeting, Betsy Kennedy, former director of the Cazenovia Library – part of the Mid-York Library System – spoke during a public comment portion of the meeting, saying the library would be asking for $40,000 to help defray costs relating to continued expansion of the library participation in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program.
The money will cover postage and other program expenses, in addition to growing the program to reach more children, library officials confirm.
Kennedy said the local library participation in the program was funded by a large donor; however, that donor funding is no longer available.
According to a program statement, in 1995, Dolly Parton launched Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee. Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. The new program gave each child a specially selected book each month.
Locally, Kennedy said in the last 10 years, the program provided more than 100,000 books to children in Madison County.
Pointing to the many benefits for lifelong education that are spurred by the ability to read at grade level, Kennedy said, adding that this is an investment in the community. She provided supervisors with an information packet, and she was asked to provide the board with more information.
In further meeting actions, the county board passed the following measures:
- County official salaries: A public hearing was set 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, for proposed Local Law No. 5 for the year 2024, fixing the salaries of certain county officials for the year 2025. The hearing will be held in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the Madison County Office Building, 138 N. Court St., Wampsville.
- Mortgage tax:Since 2022, the expenses reimbursed for the County Clerk’s collection and administration of the mortgage tax was set at $126,580.67; however, an assessment of the work revealed that the sum should be raised to $144,348.56 per year and will be certified with the state Department of Taxation and Finance beginning Jan. 1, 2025.
- Tax cap: A public hearing was set for a proposed local law that would override the tax levy limit. The public hearing will be held at 11:15 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in the Board Chambers. According to the resolution, “Limit upon real property tax levies by local governments requires 60 percent approval from the county legislative body in order to increase the county tax levy from the previous year above 2 percent or above the rate of inflation, whichever is less. This year the projection is 2 percent. That number does not include the county’s tax base growth factor which is 1.0081. Due to the cost of state-mandated programs and services, the Madison County Board of Supervisors has been forced to authorize the override of the state imposed tax cap in order to have sufficient funds to protect the wellbeing of the citizens of Madison County and provide essential local public…”
- Community Development Block Grant public hearing: Madison County may submit a Community Development Block Grant application to the state Office of Community Renewal to help fund a farm expansion project at Mosher Farms in the town of Eaton, according to a resolution. The county is required to hold a public hearing to provide information and consider citizen comments regarding the county’s community development needs as part of the application process. The public hearing has been set for 11:25 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in the chamber of the county board of supervisors.
- More: The next regular Madison County Board of Supervisor meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.
For more county board information, visit: https://shorturl.at/myN6T.
Editor’s note: Jolene Cleaver is a 20-plus year veteran journalist and media specialist. She can be reached at Desert.Free.Media@gmail.com.