JOHN COFFELT Staff Writer

The Coffee County operating budget for 2023-24 goes before the County Commission for a second time Tuesday, July 11, with the approval of the Budget and Finance Committee and a half-million dollar reduction in the proposed deficit.

The new budget was supposed to have passed by July 1 with the new fiscal year. Left unpassed, the county is currently operating under last year’s budget.

The 11^th-hour approval for the budget by the full commission at the June 27 meeting saw the budget postponed due to concerns by members about a proposed $2.1 million deficit (later stated as $2.2 million), and several salary adjustments to department heads over an across-the-board 4% pay increase for employees.

Over the July 4 weekend and up until hours before the July 5 meeting, Coffee County Mayor Judd Matheny worked with Accounts and Budgets Director Marianna Edinger to whittle down the deficit to a more palatable $1.6 million.

“In the interest of cutting our reoccurring expenses as much as possible, this is what I have,” Matheny told the Budget and Finance committee.

The cuts that amounted to roughly $595,990 in reductions in reoccurring costs, included are a drop in the mayor’s chief of staff’s salary supplement from $13,000 to $5,000, a cut of $5,000 from the Register of Deed’s salary increase, a $46,000 cut in the Codes Department for a compliance officer and $3,000 savings in part-time personnel in county buildings. Animal Control saw a $10,500 in cuts to veterinary and food funding and the mayor’s discretionary cash was cut by just over half to $10,000.    

Some of the increases to the budget that remained untouched was an increase in contributions to the Rescue Squad at $75,000.

Commissioner Tim Morris, in attendance but not sitting on the Budget and Finance, questioned the increase in contribution to “Other Agencies” including Haven of Hope, Children Advocacy and CASA.

“I know everybody needs money. The taxpayers need money but that (increase) is $30,000 dollars that would knock our debt down to one-point-seven-something. I would ask that you would look at that,” Morris said, relaying concerns from his constituents. Morris joined several non-committee members in attendance. Absent from the meeting were non-Budget and Finance members Commissioners Claude Morse and Jackie Duncan, who at the June 27 meeting sought to amend the budget and send several controversial salary adjustments back to B&F for reconsideration.     

Addressing the fund balance, the county’s reserve after the all the expenses are deducted will be just over $8.9 million if the county’s finances come in as forecasted. B&F Chairman Lynn Sebourn has grown the fund balance over the last several budgets despite budgets that include deficits.

The growing fund shows stability in the county’s coffers, yet Sebourn added, cannot allowed to grow out of hand.

“At some point that money can’t keep growing. That money represents taxpayers’ dollars that needs to be put to use, whether that to be spent on a reoccurring fund or a capital improvement of some type,” Sebourn said.

Defending the budget, Matheny said that the Edinger assured him that the revenues will catch up to the projected expenses this fiscal year.

He said that the additional expenses included (including the 4% employee raise which amounts to about $1.6 million) were his answer to calls to address employ wages.

He cautioned the practice of elected department heads giving their end of year leftover monies out as employee bonuses.  

“When we talk about 4% raises, we have to remember some of those departments have bonus-ed out their leftover money. Some of those people got maybe 10 or 12% in addition to this 4%. I would like for all of us to do everything in our power so that we don’t have to be proactive in doing something that is more onerous somehow. Please, don’t do that any longer. You can do whatever you want with your money, but somehow, if this fire spreads, we’re going to have to tamp it down,” Matheny warned.

“Turn in that money at the end of the year and this commission will decide bonuses at the end of the year,” he added, noting imbalance of larger departments turning in their overages, while some smaller departments are giving $1,000-3,000.

Matheny didn’t indicate which departments he was talking about.

The budget proposal was approved unanimously by the committee with Commissioner Missy DeFord absent. The budget went before the Full Commission on July 11, with the decision not known by press time.