County Fails to Pass Budget—Process and Planning Problems Prevent Passage

by K. G. Beavers, Messenger Staff Writer

The 2013–14 Franklin County budget did not pass at the full commissioners meeting on July 15.

“This was not directly about the special resource officer program (SRO) or the proposed 5-cent tax increase,” said county commissioner Johnny Hughes. “The concern I have is the way the budget process was handled this year.” 

“In the past, we have had budget workshops where we could talk with department heads before the budget was sent to the full county commission for a vote. This year, all the department heads took their budgets to the Finance Committee in June. Then the budget was presented to the full county commission with little discussion,” said Hughes. County commissioners received the full budget on July 3. 

“The county commission has either been doing the budget process wrong for the past several years, or we did it wrong this year,” said Hughes.

One of the main points of concern is how to pay the estimated $400,000 yearly for the SROs. On January 25, the county commission approved a budget amendment to fund the SROs. At that time, Finance Director Andrea Smith pointed out that if this budget amendment passed, the county commission would need to raise taxes, as there were no cuts to be made to pay for the program. 

The county has a maintenance of effort to meet because of this vote. “We voted for this program, and we have to pay for it,” said Hughes.

In the proposed 2013–14 county budget, funding for the SROs was to come from a 5 cent property tax increase. Many county commissioners were against a tax increase. Some county commissioners wanted to pay for the SROs through the county general-purpose fund balance. Other county commissioners think the Franklin County school board should pay for the SRO program with basic education funds.

“Each commissioner had their sticking point on this budget. My sticking points are that the highway department is being forgiven approximately $400,000 for their debt obligation, and the dead-stock removal agreement failed in a June 17 commissioners meeting for lack of a motion. But when we got the budget, the $55,000 was back,” said Hughes.

“We cannot expect the $232,000 BEP money coming to the schools to be used to pay for the SROs either. The money can be used for school safety, but the money was not specifically earmarked to pay for security.

“One option is to raise the property tax. The second option is to take the entire amount out of the fund balance. I think a third option is needed where we cut the highway department debt forgiveness down to $200,000 and take the rest out of the fund balance. 

“We will still be facing the possibility of raising taxes. The county commission has a lot to discuss.” 

Franklin County Director of Schools Rebecca Sharber has called a special school board meeting at 6:30 p.m., Monday, July 22, to discuss the possible ramifications of the delay in having a finalized 2013–14 budget. 

The county commissioners will have a budget workshop at 6 p.m., July 29, in the conference room of the Annex Building. That budget will then go to the Finance Committee in a specially called meeting on Tuesday, July 30. The full county commission will meet to vote on the budget on Thursday, August 1.