Commission To Set Millage
The Jasper County Commissioners made short work of two public hearings held last Thursday to address the county’s millage rate.
The commission set a “tentative” millage rate of 12.590, the same as last year, earlier this month. They then advertised the proposal and sought public input, as the law requires.
In Thursday morning’s session, Charles Forsythe pointed out that according to the 2005 audit, the county expended some 20 percent less than what is proposed for next year’s budget. He questioned the commissioners about the increase, but got no explanation.
Mr. Forsythe suggested the budget was a wild guess. He asked the commissioners to reduce the millage rate by two mills, because they could not justify a higher rate.
The question of which budget was being contemplated arose, as the handout prepared by the county manager said, “The department estimates that these rates…will generate the funds sufficient to cover the budgeted expenditures approved at the end of 2005 for the county’s 2006 general fund operations.”
When questioned, County Manager Greg Williams and the new Chief Financial Officer Darlow Maxwell assured everyone that accounting procedures require the revenue collected in 2006 to be counted as revenue in 2006.
Further questioning about the expenditures generated similar responses…it’s an accounting situation.
Furthermore, Mr. Williams said that since the budget is not yet set, he had presented it to the commissioners to increase the millage rate for 2007, but the commissioners chose to say with the 2006 rate. So, he said, it is “our obligation to set the millage rate to cover approved expenditures for the current year.”
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When it was suggested that the expenditures in question, the budget for the upcoming year, were for 2007, both men assured those present that the millage rate was being set to cover 2006 expenses.
With continued discussion, Mr. Maxwell finally said, “it shows how you have to play with the numbers.”
The county’s auditor, Mark Hardison, was in the office later, meeting with Mr. Williams and Mr. Maxwell behind closed doors for an extended period. Phone calls to Mr. Hardison from this newspaper to receive clarification were not returned.
In response to concerns that the county is setting a millage rate before setting a budget, both Mr. Williams and Mr. Maxwell assured everyone that the ACCG (the county commission’s professional association) says now is the time to begin the budget process.
Commission Chairman Jack Bernard then said, he sees the difficulty. The county has been doing it one way for 30 years, but that’s not the way they do it everywhere else.
[Jasper County traditionally begins work on the budget in late spring, while the assessors are working on the digest. The goal is for all the numbers to be available to set the millage rate in late summer.]
Mr. Maxwell referred to the “proper procedural way to do it. Millage and budget are totally separate,” he said. He said the earlier you do a budget, the less accurate it will be.
Despite protestations from Commissioner Carl Pennamon and members of the audience, the county administrative staff said the way they were handling the process was correct.
County Commissioner Bob Yarbrough said we’re setting a millage rate that will require departments to stay on budget. He said the commission would send instructions to the department heads, make them cut if necessary. “We dictate taxes,” he said, “and we don’t want a 10 percent increase.”
He said if a department head says there’s nothing in the budget to cut, “that’s bogus.”
All five commissioners were present for the morning session. However, in the evening session, only three commissioners were present, and Mr. Yarbrough was 10 minutes late.
Public comments were limited to three minutes each—a practice that was not announced that morning.
Mrs. Mary Patrick questioned how accurate the “budget” numbers are. She said the budget shows a five percent increase in benefits, for example, when employers across the state are experiencing rate increases six times that much.
She went on to say Jasper County hasn’t been in debt for many years, because the county levies and collects taxes at the end of each year to operate the next year. She questioned why the county would consider having to borrow money then pay it back with interest.
Mrs. Patrick insisted that the millage rate and budget are connected.
Francis Cason said that he didn’t think it looked like the county should set a millage rate before it knows what it’s going to spend. He said probably 75 percent of the expenses are set.
Before closing the 10-minute hearing, Mr. Bernard said that it probably would be better to have a budget done sooner rather than later. He said all five commissioners agreed the budget process should be done sooner, but that Mr. Williams was unable to do that this year.
Mr. Williams had explained earlier that he was unable to work on the budget sooner as he was overwhelmed with other work. He said he was understaffed and could not get a budget out.
The final hearing on the millage rate is set for tomorrow, Aug. 25, at 9 a.m. in the Commissioner’s meeting room. A called meeting of the commissioners is set for 9:30 a.m. to officially set the millage rate.
Last year, the commissioners set the millage rate before setting the budget, then they made budget cuts. They told the agencies that they cut that the money would be in contingency and if they needed it, they could possibly get it back this year when the need is shown if finances allow.
Although the county’s financial status is unclear, when one of the agencies asked about the funds not long ago, Chairman Bernard said that money is gone.
