Commissioners Borrow from Fund Balance to Erase a $1.06 Million Budget Shortfall

News

Commissioner Edwin Nix

CLEVELAND, Ga. – Shocked by a tax digest that produced only slightly more revenue than it did a year ago and faced with a budget shortfall of $1.06 million, the White County Board of Commissioners elected to keep the millage rate at 9.998 mils, essentially kicking the can down the road for another year when another shortfall is likely.

Keeping the millage rate the same will require three public hearings and commissioners voted to hold two hearings on August 3, one at 8 a.m., the other at 6 pm. The third hearing is set for Aug. 14 at 4:30 p.m.

Commissioner Terry Goodger

The vote to leave the millage rate unchanged was 3-2 with Commissioners Lyn Holcomb, Edwin Nix and Craig Bryant in support and Chairman Travis Turner and Commissioner Terry Goodger opposed.

Goodger proposed a one mil increase but that died for the lack of a second. He then proposed a half-mil increase that was seconded by Turner, but failed to attract the three votes necessary for passage.

Surprised by the fact that the current digest produced only $8,700,101, or approximately $65,000 more than last year, Nix asked County Manager Michael Melton, “On the net digest increase, that is a numerical mistake isn’t it?”

Melton assured him the figure was correct.

To erase the shortfall, commissioners will pull about $1.065 out of the county’s fund balance, leaving only enough to operate the county for 2.3 months in case of an emergency. The Association County Commissioners of Georgia recommends that counties keep enough money in the fund balance to operate the county for three months.

“I’m not comfortable with a 2.3 month balance myself,” Goodger said. “That could affect our bond rating in the long term. We are certainly much stronger with a three-month reserve.” If the bond rating is downgraded, it will mean paying a higher interest rate to finance capital projects.

Turner agreed with Goodger. “We’ve always tried to keep a three-month reserve. We need to do our best to get back to that…2.3 months is a little too skinny for my taste.”

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.co

m

 

 

 

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to Top