Anderson County budget process moving along

Information from WYSH Radio

As WYSH reported last week, the Anderson County Commission’s Budget Committee has approved County Mayor Terry Frank’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The proposed $25 million general fund budget keeps the property tax rate at current levels but does not include pay raises for county workers.

Previously, the budget committee had recommended keeping the funding for all county general fund offices at their current levels, and officials said that the budget does include provisions for a projected half-percent increase in the cost of health insurance and state-mandated salary increases for certain county officeholders.

When the various county departments submitted their initial budget requests, the total was about $2 million out of balance but “with understanding and help, we whittled that down,” according to Frank’s summary of the budget process released late last week.

The budget committee has also recommended that the county’s minimum fund balance be increased from $3.5 million to $4 million. That measure would require a supermajority of the County Commission—or 11 of the 16 commissioners—to approve any expenditure that would take the so-called rainy-day fund under the $4 million mark.

Meanwhile, the Anderson County school system’s proposed budget is all but balanced, with a $902,000 shortfall due to proposed 2 percent pay raises for school employees. To fully fund the school budget with no further cuts, the equivalent of a 5.7-cent tax increase would be needed, but there is no indication that any county officials are willing to vote for a property tax hike.

Budget discussions will continue during the next few weeks, and there will be a public budget hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, June 2, in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. The budget will be presented to the full County Commission on June 16.

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