Banks County is facing a $2.2 million deficit in its FY2010 budget, leaving county leaders with three bad choices: Raise taxes, make major spending cuts, or use up all the county’s reserves.
As the Banks County Board of Commissioners continued this week to discuss departmental details for the FY2010 budget, the fiscal reality of less revenue loomed over the discussion.
The proposed budget has no employee pay increases in it.
“No raises, just the cost of operating the county,” commissioner Joe Barefoot said.
Finance director Randy Failyer said the proposed budget is down $1.06 million from the 2008-09 budget.
“Revenues are also down,” Failyer said.
Part of the revenues that are down come from the state doing away with a homeowner tax relief grant that had been in place for the last few years.
The commissioners are faced with a $2.2 million deficit to balance the budget. Failyer said if the $2.2 million is taken from prior year reserves to make the budget balance, “this would leave no reserves.”
Commissioner Ricky Cain said a Banks County citizen asked him about the county doing employee furloughs like other counties in the area. Cain asked Failyer to check and see how this would impact the budget.
If the BOC were to raise the millage rate, it would require a total of four mills to make up the $2.2 million deficit. That would be an additional $160 in taxes on $100,000 in value.
Cain said in the tough economic times as we are seeing now it is not a time to raise the millage rate.
The BOC has not raised the millage rate for Banks County residents in four or five years clerk Jenni Gailey said.
“I think you can say without a shadow of a doubt, over the past four or five years, ya’ll have done a good job with the budget,” she said.
Barefoot asked Failyer to re-crunch the numbers with the changes the commissioners discussed and see where the total 2010 budget stands.
“You folks, where you sit, are between a rock and a hard place because people expect certain services,” Banks County Sheriff Charles Chapman said.
Today I am very much of the same person as I was then ,except today I would take measures to insure the person ,,,,who would pocket my money ,,,would pay...
Its kinda fun to se ,,,,JUST WHAT THE HE#$%^LL HAPPENED TO THE PLACE THAT WRONGED ME ,ESPECIALLY WHEN I WAS DOING EVERYTHING I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO.
THANK YOU ...AS YOU ARE THE ONE THAT PROBABLY LIVES IN THAT PLACE....
I laugh even more.