Gilmer County Board of Commissioners (BOC) met on Monday August 10 for an intensive five hour meeting to scrutinize and make proposals to amend the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, line by line. This $16 Million budget was passed by the previous administration.

The Commissioners decided to hold off on all employee group insurance adjustments until December because of climbing costs.

Several departments had items that were over budget due to training and travel such as the Probate Office, who incurred some unexpected training. Therefore, the commissioners increased the Probate Office budget by $1,760 for travel and training. Voter Registration also requested an extra $800 for education, training, and travel, which the commissioners granted. The Fire Department was over budget by $1,000 for their $500 travel budget.

Fire Chief Tony Pritchett asked for a “more realistic number,” so the Commissioners granted a $1,000 increase for travel.

Parks and Recreation was also $775 over their $500 budget for education and training, which is anticipated to climb even more as many training sessions are in the last part of the year. The commissioners decided to add an extra $1,500 to the education budget to accommodate for more training and pay for $775 already over budget.

There were many departments under budget or on track, such as the Probate Office which had only used 47% of its budget, the Magistrate, and the Clerk of Court.

Several other departments had increases in expenses. Animal Control only had $100 in the current budget for veterinarian visits, so the Commissioners increased this amount to $1,600. Chairman Charlie Paris also commented that the euthanasia rate was down due to a higher adoption rate.

Maintenance Director D.J. Spagnola also noted “the control box for the incinerator caught on fire and melted everything in it.”

Spagnola estimates the incinerator will need a new box. In addition, a control board and parts will cost $2,000 to $3,000.

He also commented the incinerator would have to be re-located so it won’t happen again and “it’s not the first time it happened. The first time it didn’t catch the whole box on fire, but it melted some of the components in it. We had to kind of re-build it.”

The Commissioners doubled the Road Department’s current stone budget as the department has already spent their stone budget of $30,000. Jim Smith, Public Works Department manager, requested to use extra money from other parts of the department’s budget for a salt shed. He would also eventually like an equipment shed and would like to be able to hire more staff. Smith noted that the Road Department staff has been cut in half since 2008.

The Solid Waste Department has seven gas methane wells that are required to be built by the end of 2015 by order of the Georgia Environmental Protection Department. These wells, which cost about $5,000, were unfunded by the current budget. The Commissioners decided to create a new Capital Budget line item for $35,000 for the seven new wells. Smith also explained that he was a compactor short if there was to be recycling at Whitepath. Right now only three convenience centers have recycling: Tower Road, Cartecay, and Coosawattee. The Commissioners decided to stick with the current plan of 3 convenience centers.

The Courtrooms’ touchscreen monitors are currently not functioning, so the Courthouse was granted an increase in the maintenance budget to help pay for two touchscreen monitors at $550 each. These monitors are necessary for the courts’ operation.

The Civic Center’s budget was increased to reflect major repairs to a gas leak and a sewage leak. The test alone to find the leak cost $2,000, $500 over the budget. Commissioner Dallas Miller also suggested that the pool have a separate budget, but it was decided that this item could wait until next year.

Postage for the zoning department exceeded its $1,000 budget by $179. The Commissioners decided to increase the $1,000 to $1,200 to make up for the over budget costs. The Zoning Department is expecting a decrease in postage and advertisement, both now currently over budget, due to zoning applicants now being required to pay for postage and advertising incurred with the rezoning application. However, the professional services item on the Zoning Department budget is expected to be over budget due to pending lawsuits. The Commissioners decided to let the lawsuits run their course and adjust for them at a later date.

The Tax Assessors Office was also granted an increase for expenses for extra maintenance on vehicles. One Vehicle repair cost $600 and the budget was $650 so the commissioners adjusted this item to $1,200 to account for routine maintenance. Fire Chief Pritchett requested to use around $20,000 in capital funds to buy a Ford Escape to replace a 2004 Dodge Durango, used as a quick response vehicle. Chairman Paris agreed to let Pritchett begin the process of replacing the Durango.

Several New Hires also incurred some extra expenses including a new Human Resources Director, whose salary will boost this year’s budget by $35,000. The county will also incur construction costs of about $9,500 as they build two new offices to accommodate the new director.

One of the themes from the day is trying to make the budget clearer for everyone to read. Early on Chairman Paris suggested the capital budget be a separate budget, to keep capital leases from inflating the overall figure. All Commissioners were in agreement that it was a good Idea. Also Post 2 Commissioner Travis Crouch suggested that footnotes be added as a way to denote reimbursement. This will help to quell confusion over what the taxpayers are actually paying for.

The Commissioners also discussed changing their workshop to a different day to avoid long afternoons and promote more public participation.

Thanks to a long day of work by the commissioners and county officers, the budget can now accurately reflect the budget needs of county departments for the next six months. However, the work is not over. The budget must be adjusted by the Finance officer who will allocate money from over budget revenues to accommodate the increases. The budget amendments will then be voted on in September.