Commission Sets Rollback Millage Rate, Adopts Budget

The Jasper County Commissioners last week set the tentative millage rate, and agreed to the rollback rate of 15.904 mills, meaning the commissioners are not taking advantage of increases in the digest, lowering the rate from what it was last year, 16.446.

Using the rollback rate, the commissioners have an anticipated budget revenue figure of $10,168,254. With anticipated expenditures of $10,429,900, the county will use fund balance to make up the difference and create a balanced budget. Fund balance is currently at about $4.5 million, and was anticipated to increase by some $300,000 this year. The increase will be negated by using fund balance to balance the budget.

Fund balance reflects the county’s assets above the budget. It is necessary to have fund balance, as it is used to pay bills before taxes start coming in, and is needed in the case of emergencies.

The budget includes a three percent payroll contingency amount based on a list of employees that does not include Constitutional Officers or the County Manager.

The method of giving the raise will be determined at the August BOC meeting. The pay raise may be across the board or not. It may be a variable raise based on pay ranges, such as a lower pay range receives a higher percentage or it could be a flat amount across the board.

However, with health insurance increasing nearly 50 percent, employees are going to have to pay a larger portion of their insurance. When the commissioners voted on the budget Monday, Commissioner Bruce Henry did not vote for it, as he said the increase in insurance is basically taking away the raise. The other commissioners signified they understood.

Commissioners have long lamented that taxpayers want a break. So, it’s hard to fund all that is needed in the budget, including raises, without putting more of a burden on taxpayers. Commissioners have met numerous times trying to cut anything they could from the budget while maintaining services.

The budget is printed on page 10 of today’s newspaper. At the bottom, the staff has outlined the items , in addition to health insurance that have caused the budget to increase.