The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors approved the Fiscal Year 2016 budget and millage rate Tuesday following an hour-long public hearing on the budget.
Supervisors voted to approve the budget and hold the combined city/schools millage rate at 86.72, even though it will mean the new budget will have shortfall of roughly $767,000. The value of a mill in the county will be $508,000, according to county tax assessor Greg Andrews. The county millage is set at 40.01 while the school district millage is 46.71. Taxes for county residents will not rise.
Of the shortfall, $600,000 is tied to the completion of the new E911 Center. While that money will be drawn from the county’s roughly $7 million in reserve funds, County Administrator Ralph Billingsley said the additional costs will be eventually covered from the interest earned from the county’s $30-million-plus hospital trust fund.
“We might be able to return that money as soon as the end of December,” Billingsley said. “It depends on how the market performs between then and now. If not then, at some point, we believe the trust fund interest will cover that cost.”
The county’s budget includes $40,935,403 in expenses against $39,864,050 in revenues.
Last minute needs addressed
Supervisors approved the proposed budget after considering two proposed amendments.
They approved an amendment that will help fund a $6,000 pay raise for each of the six court reporters in chancery and circuit court. The cost of the raises are shared by the counties served by the courts. Lowndes County will pay $17,000 for the raises.
Supervisors rejected an amendment to provide $21,000 for cost overruns at the community park in the Plum Grove Community.
The amendment, offered by District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith, was voted down without discussion. Smith and District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks voted for the budget amendment with Sanders, Holliman and District 2 Supervisor Bill Brigham voting against.
“That’s what was frustrating to me,” Smith said. “This is a project that we’ve worked on for seven years now and to be this close to finishing it and not get the funding we need to do that is disappointing. I would have at least liked to have had some discussion on this.”
Smith said the additional costs came from new requirements from the state health department that govern sewage from the new restroom facilities located near the new pavilion and providing electricity to park’s baseball field.
“In both cases, these were costs we couldn’t have anticipated,” Smith said. “Our original plans didn’t call for electricity at the baseball field, but when Weyerhaeuser donated the scoreboard, it needs electricity, so the plan changed.”
After the meeting, Brigham said he voted against the budget amendment because of the continuing costs overruns at the park.
“This is the second or third time we’ve been approached for more money for that project,” Brigham said. “Every time, we’ve been told ‘this will finish the job.’ Now, it’s back again. It’s already run unbelievably over budget. I just think it’s something we should put on hold for a while, especially when we’re approving a budget with a $750,000 shortfall.”
Smith said he still hopes to secure the funds to complete the project, hopefully by the spring.
“I know there have been costs overruns, and I appreciate that we have a budget that we need to hold to, but just about every project has some overruns. We’ve built two community centers in the last year that came in more expensive than what we expected them to be originally.”
Supervisors consider helping with ‘Field of Dreams’
During the budget hearing, supervisors also heard from Mike Smith, president of Golden Triangle Outdoors, a group that works to provide outdoors and sports activities for the disabled and special needs citizens. Smith urged the county to provide funds for an effort to build a multi-purpose, handicap-accessible sports field at Propst Park called “Field of Dreams.”
The group, which has already received private and charitable donations, including in-kind services of roughly $150,000, had originally hoped to secure $100,000 from both the county and city of Columbus to fully fund the project.
“The response has been great in the community,” Smith told the supervisors. “But I think it’s important, going forward, that we have the city and the county’s support not just in words, but on the dotted line, no matter what that amount is.”
Supervisors said they support the facility, but said budget constraints did not allow them to make a financial commitment in the upcoming budget.
District 5 supervisor Leroy Brooks said he felt that, in the absence of committing to funding, the county could show its support for the project by forming a committee comprised of supervisors, city and Parks officials to work together to keep the project going until funds are available.
Brooks and District 3 Supervisor John Holliman volunteered to serve on that committee.
Board President Harry Sanders said he supported the idea of the facility, but said he wanted further study on the project.
“I’m not going to vote on something when all the answers aren’t there,” said Sanders, who suggested that organizers approach the county schools to see if a partnership with the schools could open avenues of funding through federal education grants.
Organizers hope to build the facility as part of an upgrade planned by the Columbus-Lowndes Parks and Recreation Authority at Propst Park.
No budget amendment to provide funding for the project was presented when the supervisors voted on the budget.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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