MoCo Commission Hosts First Budget Hearing

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The Montgomery County Commission held the first of its annual budget public hearings on Thursday, November 30.

At the beginning of the meeting, County Manager Brandon Braddy led the attendees in an overview of the proposed budget, which was provided through a handout. During this overview, several key areas of the budget were pointed out, such as public safety funds, tax revenues, and more.

Expenditures

The Commission is proposing a budget with a projected expenditure of $5,678,925.

Public Safety

According to Braddy, most of the county’s funding is utilized by the Public Safety Department, which consists of the Sheriff’s Office, Jail Operations, Rural Firefighting, EMS Operations, the Coroner’s Office, and Emergency Management. Together, these departments are slated to receive $1,766,785 for their operations, with the funds divided as follows: • Sheri 's O0ce, $1,080,605 • Jail Operations (for housing inmates outside of the county due to not having a county jail), $232,500 • Rural Fire6ghting (for unincorporated areas

of the county), $132,200 • EMS, $253,900 • Coroner, $19,800 • Emergency Manage –

ment, $47,780

General Government

The General Government is expected to receive $1,365,432, which is broken down as follows: • Board of Commis –

sioners, $94,500 • Elections, $160,097 • Financial Adminis –

tration, $445,718 • Law/County AGor –

ney, $9,900 • Tax Commissioner, $236,317 • Tax Assessor, $217,288 • General Govern ment Buildings & Plant, $201,612 Judicial

The Judicial Department is expected to receieve $568,062, divided as follows:

• Superior Court,

$55,579

• Clerk of Superior Court, $174,166 • District AGorney,

$25,500

• Magistrate, $132,941 • Probate Court, $149,776 • Public Defender,

$30,100

Public Works

Public Works, which is split between two departments (Road Department and Solid Waste Disposal) is proposed to receive $1,126,416 of funding, as the Road Department expects to be given $790,737 and the Solid Waste Disposal hopes to receive

$335,679.

Health & Welfare

The Health & Welfare Fund will help to provide financing for the local health center, including the mental health center and resources, as well as aid to dependent children. This fund is expected to total $53,206, as $48,206 is given to the Health Center and $5,000 is given to fund aid for dependent children.

Culture/Recreation

According to Braddy, because of the increased amount of participation and sports offered by the Montgomery County Recreation Department, the Culture/Recreation fund has increased to a total of $122,517 with $91,517 of this amount to be given to the Recreation Department, and $21,000 of which will be given to the Montgomery County Public Library. Housing & Development

Commissioners propose delegating $89,006 to the Housing & Development fund, which will be split as follows: • Agricultural Re –

sources, $62,615 • Forest Resources,

$13,800

• Code Enforcement,

$12,591

Debt Service

A total of $61,000 is proposed to be delegated to the Debt Services Fund to help fund payments for a few vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office which were previously purchased.

Transfers Out

The County is proposing to transfer out a total of $476,501 to other services funded by the government. That money will be divided as follows: • Montgomery Coun ty Development Authority, $105,334 • E911, $353,086 • Senior Fund, $18,081

Expected Revenues

Commissioners anticipate that $5,333,519 will be collected in revenues for the county, with the majority of that funding coming from property taxes. Those expected values are as follows: • General Property Taxes, $3,835,923 • Sales Taxes, $553,600 • Insurance Premium/ Financial Institutions Taxes, $431,000 • Penalties & Inter est on Delinquent Taxes, $46,500 • Licenses and Per mits, $15,900 • Intergovernmental,

$73,246

• Charges for Services, $227,750 • Fines and Forfei –

tures, $70,000 • Investment Income,

$5,000

• Miscellaneous,

$4,600

• Other Financing Sources, $70,000 Overall, these revenues, in addition to a $285,406 contribution of funds stored in the General Fund, will balance the $5,618,925 budget. This balancing will also change the General Fund’s balance from $2,400,000 at the beginning of the year to $2,114,594 at the end of the year. Summary Conclusion

Braddy provided the attendees with two charts explaining a summary of the funding, as he explained that 56% of the budget totaling $3,167,206 was spent on payroll for county employees. The other categories were as follows: Other Agencies, 19%; Technical/Professional ,4%; Insurance, 3%,; General Operations, 3%; Fuel, 3%; Utilities. 3%; Repairs/ Maintenance, 3%; Associations, 2%; and Other (Transfers Out, Debt Service, Rentals), 4 %.

He provided the same percentages of the budget for the various funds within the budget, as he stated that Public Safety utilized 37% of the budget, while the others were as follows: General Government, 24%; Public Works, 20%; Judicial, 10%; Other Financing, 8%; Culture/ Recreation, 2%; Housing & Development, 1.58%; Debt Service, 1.09%; and Health & Welfare – 0.95%.

Public Comments

Only two members of the public spoke at the hearing.

K.C. Seabury thanked the Commissioners for their provided handouts which shared the overview of the budget, but requested an in-depth copy of the document, including all expenses and revenues within each department. “I would like to know where every penny of the money goes within this county,” he told the Commission.

Amie Vassey also spoke to the commissioners, asking for what the funding allotted to Code Enforcement was used. Braddy answered Vassey explaining that the money was used for nuisance complaints investigations and other tasks of the Code Enforcement officer.

Next Meeting

The budget will continue to be a hot topic for the commission meetings, as the commissioners hold their regular monthly work session on Thursday, December 7, at 5:30 p.m., before voting on the budget at the regular monthly meeting scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, December 11.