By Ginger JarvisGreene Publishing, Inc.
The Madison City Commissioners have completed the loop of entities to approve $250,000 of surtax funds to Madison County Memorial Hospital for indigent care. The plan approved by the Madison County Commissioners and Greenville Town Council was approved in Madison at the regular meeting of the board on August 9. The Lee Town Council has not voted on the matter yet.
Madison County Clerk of Court Tim Sanders explained the idea to the commissioners. The money will come from the one-cent surtax voted into existence in 1989, primarily to raise funds to remodel the old jail on Pinckney Street, or to build a new one. Since then, it has funded the extension of water and sewer lines from Lee, Madison, and Greenville, to the I-10 interchanges and about $288,000 annually to EMS. According to Sanders, a final loan payment in 2012 will free up money for another purpose.
Local residents spoke about the need for indigent funding, and smiled approvingly when the board voted unanimously on a motion by Commissioners Myra Valentine and Jim Stanley to allow the funds to be used for that purpose.
In other business, the commissioners approved on its second reading an ordinance to apply for a Housing Rehabilitation grant. They dismissed the possibility of applying for a Commercial Revitalization grant after Stanley reported, “The merchants do not want it.”
The board also unanimously approved the sale of property just north of the old metal processing plant on Hwy. 14 for $10,000 per acre. The site was previously the city dump, and will become a salvage yard.
The buyers will agree to install screening so that the yard is not visible from the highway. The city will pay for a survey of a small strip across the north end of the property where utilities run. The buyer has already paid for a survey of the entire site. City Attorney Clay Schnitker should have the required documents prepared within two weeks.
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