During the Worth County Commissioner’s meeting on August 5, 2014; several items of business were disposed of, one of which pertained to the changing of the Worth County Tax Collector as Ex-Officio Sheriff of the county. Earlier it had been announced that Sheriff Jeff Hobby would assume the duties of collecting delinquent taxes owed to the County.
Ms. Tabitha DuPriest addressed the board in reference to this matter. She stated that for the past 12 or so years, she has served in this capacity and if the sheriff wanted to take back the responsibility, she was happy with that decision. She stated that this is a letter of contract between the tax commissioner and the sheriff each year as to who would serve in this capacity
Sheriff Hobby was asked by one of the commissioners, “Why do you want this job?” He stated that he had checked with the Probate Judge and that Ms. DuPriest had never been sworn in. Numerous comments from the commissioners were expressed and it was determined that the deadline for implementation of the change over be extended to September 1st.
It was then determined that a workshop would be held August 12, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. to make the decision as to how the transition would take place and all matters pertaining to the change over would be implemented. With all this being said Billy McDonald commented “What voice does the Commission have in this matter since both the Sheriff and Tax Commissioner are constitutional officers? This Should be worked out between them.”
The next item up for discussion was concerning the fire coverage in the county. It was reported that the county had paid Skip Starling, a fire service officer, $30,000 approximately five years ago for his services to get the ISO rating in Worth County lowered.
Ray Salter, a Captain with Worth County Fire Rescue, stated that currently the ISO rating in the county is 5/8B, however the insurance companies list parts of the county with an ISO rating of 10. He stated that the ISO Office would evaluate the fire department in the county and it would not cost anything for their services.
Commissioner Billy McDonald stated that he believed that the county ISO rating was partially due to the lack of volunteers needed.
