Commissioners comment on budget, cuts, and process

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ELLIJAY, Ga. – Since October, the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners have been through hearings and meetings, discussing and reworking the county’s 2018 budget.

With last week’s publication, a balanced budget is now available for debate. But does that mean the budget is set and beyond change? No. While publishing the budget generally signals the final stages of the process, it does not mean you, as citizens, cannot speak, petition and urge further changes for the county’s budget.

In fact, Gilmer County Post Commissioner Dallas Miller specifically urged citizens to attend one of this week’s coming commissioners meetings. There are several chances to respond as Wednesday hosts their 8 a.m. work session and Thursday hosts both a public comments meeting at 5:30 p.m. and regular session at 6 p.m., . Even then, the final budget approval is not scheduled until next week, Dec. 21.

If no further changes or delays come, the commissioners are set to have their budget before the start of 2018. This means no need for a spending resolution for January. A resolution that the Board has used before, it stands as another sign of the progress Gilmer has made in recent years.

Gilmer County Post Commissioner Travis Crouch noted the M&O Budget (Maintenance and Operations) was and is the challenge in the budgeting process saying, “We’re going to be in a challenged financial situation.” Noting the challenges ahead, Crouch did say he believes the county has majorly improved financially in the last few years.

The county’s budget process stretches limited resources across the county and leads to tough decisions for the commissioners. Gilmer County Commission Chairman Charlie Paris commented on one of the major changes to this year’s budget stating, “Our objective this year is to get those people on the very lowest levels of pay … and we’re trying to concentrate on those folks this year.” Paris was speaking on numerous departments asking for raises for personnel, attempting to keep our county competitive to others. Pay was mentioned several times in the process for attracting quality candidates for positions and keeping those here from leaving for financial reasons.

When questioned about sustaining the financial needs of these raises, Paris noted the county’s successes and increases in tourism and popularity to increase LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) rather than millage rates on property taxes.

Part of the county’s successes are exemplified in achievements like updating the county’s vehicle fleet, from road works machines to emergency vehicles in recent years. Also, maintaining a contingency fund for operating finances for the county is another concern. Growing the contingency funds could address issues like Miller’s concerns for building maintenance in coming years, but issues like that as well as the lower Cartecay Road bridge have yet to be given specific financial sources to address them.

While not specifically noted in the budget, the county is also utilizing its Tax Anticipaton Note (TAN) later into the year. Paris noted that he expects, with the county’s current progress, he could see Gilmer reaching a point in a few years for bidding a TAN but not using it. Though the first year in that situation may still bid the TAN as a back up, not using it would be the exemplification of the achievement.

Despite the positives achieved, the process of budgeting for Gilmer took in all requests for the county budget and saw a need for massive cuts. Much of the county’s offices and departments requesting raises will not see the full request fulfilled. The Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management  personnel already saw raises in the last couple of years. While the number of requests drove home the importance, the county’s finances could not support every increase. Paris tells FYN this is what leads to tough decisions for the county such as focusing on the lowest paid employees this year for raises.

A major concern from Post Commissioner Miller was noted as he stated, “What I am concerned most about this budget … We spend three times as much on public safety as we do on public works. Public safety is almost 50 percent of our budget.” Miller noted public safety as inclusive of departments like the jail, the Sheriff’s Office, Fire and Rescue, 911, animal shelter and others.

Miller’s aforementioned building concerns were also noted saying, “We have aging infrastructure in our county that is unsafe, that is falling down, that is deteriorating and needs to be updated. We don’t spend but about two and a half million dollars a year on the public works … It’s out of sync.”

Noting the infrastructure was among his major concerns, Miller stated he would be pushing harder to address this in the future.

Crouch and Miller both echoed notions that they expect further conversation and discussion on the budget. However, with the already advertised special called meeting next week on Dec. 21, the budget approval looks to be a major item at this month’s regular meetings.

The proposed budget is showing 25 departments increasing and five decreasing in total budget. However, Paris notes that most of the changes are less than five percent in either direction.

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