June 9, 2018
The proposed county budget for FY 2019 will be presented at the June 12 BCC workshop at 6:00PM.
Usually, the powerpoint presentation for the meeting is available along with the budget package a week before the meeting, but this year it is not, so we will have to wait for additional details.
Links:
It is a budget not unlike the last few years, with flat millage (with rising valuations), 3% COLA increases across the board and a tax increase over the previous year just shy of 6%.
Some items of interest:
Two fairly unusual things jumped out at us from the department level detail, that are not explained in the meeting package or anywhere on the county website. A call to the Budget Office cleared them up:
The supervisor of elections, which has had a flat budget in the $10M range over the last 5 years is jumping up to $22M – a $142% increase. There is not any noticeable increase is staff, so we assumed it must be for equipment or other needs. Robyn Lawrence, Assistant Budget Director explained that the $12M is for scanners, modems and other equipment upgrades.
Likewise, an unexplained change is occurring in the Tax Collector’s budget – a $5.5M decrease from $14.5M down to $9M. This reflects money allocated for a facility being recast as capital spending.