Monroe County approves multiple budget amendments, transfers $4.67 million in interest funds and sets tax levy unchanged

Monroe County commissioners on June 24 approved a series of budget amendments and internal fund transfers that move money among county departments, cover invoices from prior fiscal years and allocate federal ARPA dollars, and they set the county tax levy for fiscal year 2025–26 at the same rate as the current year.

Commissioners adopted multiple line-item amendments to the fiscal-year 2024–25 budgets that included: $20,453 to bring sponsorship and gate receipts into the county’s general fund for the Monroe County Rodeo (resolution O624-6); $900 into the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) donations line (O624-6A); $20,500 moved within the Solid Waste Department for year-end corrections (O624-6C); $11,000 moved within the Election Commission for Sweetwater’s election (O624-6D); $735.52 for hourly payroll in the county building budget (maintenance) (O624-6E); $9,000 in the accounting budget for an employee payout of accrued comp time and vacation (O624-6F); and $49,300 moved from fund balance to cover gasoline line overages related to switching to county fuel cards (O624-6H).

The commission also approved transfers to cover personnel and contract overages: $51,502.11 moved within the sheriff’s budget for part‑time and overtime overages (O624-6I) and $99,609.27 moved within the jail budget to cover inmate medical charges after invoices from the previous fiscal year were received (O624-6J). County staff said the jail invoices dated to February 2023 and were verified as legitimate, although they were received late and required closing out prior-year obligations.

Separately, the county approved an amendment to its ARPA account restricted to other government purposes totaling $121,341.71 (O624-6L). The commission approved a grant purchase using matching funds — $5,000 with a required $12,500 match — to buy solid-waste equipment for the Teleco Convenience Center.

Commissioners moved a large set of interest-fund transfers on paper totaling $4,670,913.41 (O624-6M). During discussion the transfers were broken out in subsequent resolutions: $670,913.41 to the General Purpose School (GPS) fund (O624-6N), $1,000,000 to the Solid Waste fund (O624-6O) and $2,000,000 into the General Fund from the debt fund (O624-6Q), with other smaller reallocations included in the $4.67 million total. A roll-call vote on the $2,000,000 transfer recorded both aye and no votes from commissioners during that item.

On tax policy, the commission adopted a resolution setting the tax levy for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026. County staff stated the total tax rate “has not changed” from the current year and commissioners moved to adopt the levy at that unchanged level (resolution O624-08).

The commission also approved the county’s overall appropriations resolution for fiscal year 2025–26 and a separate resolution allocating $1,816,457.92 in appropriations to local nonprofit charitable organizations for the coming fiscal year (resolutions O624-09 and O624-10). Several budget amendments were described as year‑end corrections or late invoices; staff repeatedly told commissioners that some charges (notably jail medical invoices) were for services rendered in a prior fiscal year but billed late.

Commission discussion focused on clarifying what had caused overages. For gasoline, staff said switching to fuel cards changed usage patterns and made prior estimates inaccurate; for the jail medical line, staff said invoices arrived late from providers and had to be paid to close out the prior year’s accounts. Commissioners asked whether moving money from restricted accounts (for example, the opioid settlement reserve) would obligate future budgets; staff responded that annual spending decisions would return to the commission for approval and that the opioid litigation funds referenced were restricted to opioid‑related uses.

Less-critical amendments in the same sequence included routine transfers within the circuit court, public safety and other departmental budgets to correct year‑end balances.

The commission’s actions were introduced across several recorded resolutions (O624-4 and the O624-6 series through O624-6Q) during the June 24 meeting; most amendments were presented as motions, seconded and advanced for roll‑call votes or chair approval.

Looking ahead, county staff said some of the line-item pressures (fuel costs and late invoices) could persist and that future budget adjustments might be required pending actual fuel-price and billing patterns.