SEBRING —Voters in Highlands County are almost certain to see a 2/10ths of one mill bond issue on the November ballot to raise funds for the purchase of conservation lands. If voters approve the measure, the $1 million which the bond issue would raise per year would draw matching dollars from the state's Florida Forever program to buy important conversation land before it can be developed. Highlands County Commissioner Don Bates said he will vote to put the proposed bond issue to bring in matching state conservation funds on the ballot in November. Bates also said it appears very likely that there will be enough votes on the five-member county commission to submit the issue to the voters. ...more

June 14, 2008

SEBRING — The first chop of Highlands County's budget-cutting ax fell Thursday. It fell on the proverbial neck of Highlands County Sports Complex manager Rocky Ellingsworth. He will not have a job with the county effective Oct. 1. That's the day that the county's new fiscal year and new budget begin. Ellingsworth's job is proposed to be eliminated in preliminary planning for the 2008-09 fiscal year. Ellingsworth said he does not want to comment publicly yet about this move, which was announced late Thursday afternoon during the second of three successive daylong county commission budget workshops. ...more

May 30, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County will save $41,000 on the new traffic signal at Memorial Drive and Valerie Boulevard by having county crews do the project in-house. County commissioners approved the county's Road and Bridge Department and traffic department doing the job, with supervision by the county engineer's staff. The total project will cost $140,000, county Engineer Ramon Gavarrete told the commissioners Tuesday. That is more than $41,000 less than the cost of $181,427 to have a private contractor do the job, Gavarrete said. ...more

May 27, 2008

SEBRING – Contract negotiations Friday morning with Michael Wright virtually guaranteed that he will begin work on Monday, June 2, as Highlands County's new chief executive officer. Wright agreed to the major points of the contract offered to him by the county commissioners: a $150,000 per year salary and a $600 per month car allowance. ...more

May 9, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County's public access ramp to popular Lake Denton will be reopened at 8 a.m. Saturday. Public access to this exceptionally clear lake off Memorial Drive has been closed since Sept. 13, when the county commissioners' voted 3-2 to close it due to lakefront homeowners' complaints about traffic and parking congestion and rowdy and offensive behavior. ...more

May 6, 2008

SEBRING — Michael Wright, the heir apparent to retiring Highlands County Administrator Carl Cool, will be offered a salary of $150,000 per year to become the county's new chief executive officer. The five county commissioners unanimously decided on Tuesday to offer Wright that salary, which would be about $14,000 above the salary of Cool, a county employee for more than 30 years, the past 17 as administrator. ...more

May 6, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County Commissioner Don Bates feels confident the county will get the right deal to get Mike Wright. Wright, currently an assistant city manger in Tallahassee, was the unanimous choice of the five county commissioners to replace retiring Carl Cool as the county's top executive. ...more

May 5, 2008

SEBRING — A low-income, senior citizen with a homestead house gets an extra tax break of $36.77 per year on property taxes under the low-income, senior exemption. That's based on Highlands County commissioners granting a $5,000 exemption under the "Save Our Seniors" tax break for low-income people age 65 and older. State law, though, allows counties to set this special exemption anywhere from zero to a maximum exemption of $50,0000 off taxable property value. At the $50,000 exemption level, the tax savings for the low-income, a senior homeowner with a homestead house would jump tenfold, up to $367.77 per year. ...more

February 23, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County commissioners didn't pull the plug on adding four new top administrators at a cost of over $600,000 per year. But they did turn the process for choosing the new division directors upside down. Or, as Commissioner Don Bates put it, they flipped that process right side up. Bottom line: the commissioners will interview the top three candidates themselves and decide who to hire as directors of public safety and public works, the two highest-profile divisions. ...more

February 7, 2008

SEBRING — Eleven people will be appointed to Highlands County's first Impact Fees Review Committee. Patterned after a similar advisory committee in Polk County, this committee will make recommendations to the county commissioners on whether the controversial impact fees should be raised, lowered, or kept the same. Commissioners approved the creation and form of this committee, as proposed by Commissioner Don Bates. The commissioners then agreed on the 11 special interests that will have a representative on this committee. ...more

February 6, 2008