Highland Board of Supervisors October Work Session

The Highland County Board of Supervisors held a very short monthly work session Wednesday night, with just two items on the agenda.

First, the Board considered a request from the Commissioner of the Revenue seeking to exempt the $15 annual county vehicle licensing fee for disabled veterans.    County Administrator Roberta Lambert explained that as of January 1, 2021 there was an exemption granted by the state legislature for the personal property tax of motor vehicles of disabled veterans.   The state law gives an exemption for one vehicle owned and used primarily for or by a disabled veteran.   The Commissioner of the Revenue asked if the Board could adopt a local ordinance to exempt qualifying disabled veterans from the local county licensing fee.  County Attorney Melissa Dowd said she was not sure the county could legally do that.  She said the county can only exempt what the statute allows and she will need to check on it.   Dowd and Supervisor David Blanchard both said this was a good idea, but it needs to be reviewed further.

County Administrator Roberta Lambert reported on the CARES Act funding received by the county last year.  She presented a list showing the amount of funding received, the expenditures to date and the balance remaining.   The remaining money has to be spent by December 31 of this year and any amount remaining after that has to be returned.   Lambert asked the Board to review where the funding has been spent and provide recommendations on how to spend the remaining balance.  The county received $382,138 and has spent $328,418, which leaves a balance of $53,728.   Lambert said large expenditures were items such as personal protective equipment, disinfecting supplies, renovations to the courthouse for safety, which were required by the Judge, tech support, allocations to volunteer rescue squads and $168,000 in business grants.

The next meeting of the Highland County Board of Supervisors is Tuesday, November 2, at 7:30 pm in the Highland Modular Conference Center.