u/HaveYouThankedYourKO

*Commission

Something to think about as the Mayor and Commission as they discuss pay raises and the FY27 budget proposal:

Part time employees of Athens-Clarke County do NOT receive any benefits like group health insurance.

Except...

The Mayor and Commisioners who are currently classified as part time employees. Yet they get full access to all full-time employee benefits, except for vacation and sick time, as shown at https://www.accgov.com/434/Benefits#docaccess-2d56c386411df1504609aab18aaa80c8e851c4bb941a58b883f00f260e8a036a

In addition, they can get the insurance for themselves AND thier dependents if they choose, not just on themselves. As we all know, once you add spouse and children, rates can and do go up sharply.

On average, the County (i.e., we the taxpayers) contribute 65% of the total monthly health care insurance premiums. This will vary depending on what level of insurance they get. It may be more or may be less.

More importantly, the ACC sponsored health insurance plans are SELF-FUNDED. THis means that in addition to the premium contributions, the county pays all of the medical costs on the insurance from the pool of money paid in. If costs exceed the pool, we pick up the costs. Note that this is typical of most employer-provide health insurance.

I confirmed this information with the County Human Resources office this afternoon.

Does anyone know why this sweetheart deal is available for the part-time Mayor and Commission when it is not available to any other part-time employees of the ACC government?

Some thoughts/questions:

1. How much is the county currently paying for benefits for the part-time mayor and commission?
2. In each of the past 5 years, have the costs of providing medical care exceeded the pooled premiums and government contributions? If so, by how much?
3. If the mayor or any commission member is on or is eligible for Medicare, should they be ineligible for county provided health insurance?
4. If the mayor or any commission member has employer provided health insurance from employment outide of the commision, should they be ineligible for county provided health insurance?
5. If the mayor or any commission member has a spouse with employer provided health insurance, shopld they be ineligible for addition to the county provided health insurance? Note that many private companies have this restriction.

Welcome any thoughtful thoughts or discussion. No personal attacks on the mayor/chair or commision members please.

Good day all!

My question is geared to putting together information for our local delegation in the General Assembly, the Mayor and Commission, and the School Board on the impact of rising property taxes on disabled homeowners who are relying on social security disability payments to live.

Background: Earlier this year I submitted a proposal to Rep Gaines to address property tax relief for low income and disabled homeowners in Athens-Clarke County.

There were three asks in the proposal:

1. Fix the 2022 law that enabled the low-income homestead exemption so that the qualifying income levels would not be fixed at 2022 levels as published by the federal government.

This was fixed in HB 1595 -Clarke County; school district ad valorem tax; revise how income cap is calculated, with bi-partisan sponsorship from our local delegation. It passed both chambers of the general assembly unanimously (as most local legislation does) and has been sent to the Governor for signature. See https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74327

2. Extend the low-income homestead exemption to school taxes as well.

This did not go anywhere.

3. Create a Homestead exemption for disabled homeowners who are on SSI/SSDI to at least treat them as same as those retired at age 65, and get the same floating exemption they get on school taxes.

Nothing happened on this.

If you feel comfortable, would you please send me a DM with more details on your situation like u/WholeConfidence8947 posted in another thread so that I can include it (see https://www.reddit.com/r/Athens/comments/1t50hc0/how_much_do_u_pay_for_rent_and_what_do_you_do_for/ .

You can rename anonymous. I am just trying to gather information that can show what the impact on property tax collections might be if such an exemption was enacted.

If you have concerns whether I am a legitimate human being that is just not harvesting data, my main web site is at https://koconfessional.substack.com/ and here are some of the changes I have gotten for disabled students at UGA and in the University System of Georgia after being told it would be near impossible to do so:

1. Got UGA to change the credit hour requirement for Presidential Scholars/Dean's List Recognition so that disabled students with a reduced courseload accommodation would qualify.

2. Got the statute governing the HOPE/Zell Miller Scholarships changed so that disabled students who needed longer than the statutory limitation to use the scholarship for seven years after high school graduation date that was set in 2012/2013, later changed to 10 years, could apply for extensions to comply with the Higher Education Act to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.

And no, I am not saying this to "toot my own horn," but to make clear that the worst thing a bureaucracy can tell me is "No" because I will fight as long as it takes to get positive change.

Thanks all!