Gilmer Budget Session Falls Short

With the Board of Commissioners devoting the majority of their day to balancing their budget, it seems they still have not made it to the goal of crossing the gap.

That budget gap began the day at $872,000. As the Commissioners once again combed through the details line by line, progress was made to trim off a large portion. However, ending the day at $723,756, the budget has a long way to go for balance.

During the course of the meeting, the Commissioners commented that they could balance the budget immediately if they wanted. Rather, they said they wanted “realistic” numbers for this years budget. This is why they have gone through several meetings with department heads trying to find what is available for cut backs.

They did find several points throughout the meeting including maintenance to $130,00 and overtime to $400,000 in the Sheriff’s Department. Cuts in training to $5,000, food to $166,000, supplies to $80,000, utilities to $88,000, and overtime to $125,00 were made in the Detention Center.

The Tax Assessors had cuts to salary, $363,717, and Contract Services, $65,600. This included delaying Flyovers and Tectometry studies as well as a reduced offer for a new Deputy Director promotion, though the Commissioners were agreeable to revisiting this position’s salary in future budgets.

Parks and Recreation cut salaries to $160,00 and electricity to $38,000 while the Road Department took overtime to $15,000 and pipe and tile to $10,000.

While these cuts are just a small sum of the total cuts the Board has made over the course of this budget, it was still not enough to bridge the gap. Post Commissioner Dallas Miller offered up a long term solution being a closer look at outside services, contract services, in attempt to save money on services that could be performed in house at a cheaper cost.

For now, however, the Commissioners believe they have exhausted the line-by-line search through their budget for cuts. While many might think the detailed searches and long meetings were the hardest part of the budget process, the Commissioners indicated the hardest part is yet to come.

Staring down a $723,756 gap in budget brings up tough choices like furlough days or department level cuts. Meanwhile, citizens of Gilmer County will likely be looking at a resolution to extend the budget spending into January of 2016 as the Board of Commissioners weigh the options on how to move forward with this situation.

Check out the Budget as it currently stands after its cuts here (Pg 1 / Pg 2) and the video of the Budget Work Session here.