Houston County budget committee approves motion, discusses property-tax projections and capital funding options

The Houston County Budget Committee voted to approve a motion by voice vote and spent its meeting focused on preliminary budget projections, funding choices for planned capital projects and a request for staff to prepare projection scenarios.

Unknown staff member, County staff, said, "We don't have these salaries worked out, but we have the property tax completed. So, the totals at the bottom that are projected are just turned over exactly as last year." She added, "I'm hoping to get you all a large worksheet with all the things that have been approved and kinda see where we land and see if these pennies need to be adjusted."

The committee discussed two funding approaches for capital projects: using fund balance transfers or increasing property taxes. Unknown staff member said, "we can either use our fund balance and move some from 101 to 172 or do our property taxes." The staff member noted a figure mentioned in the meeting: "Like I said, $1.72 is not down there. That's something I think we would need to consider, because of all the projects that are going in there."

During discussion, an unidentified committee member asked whether staff had completed calculations of overall expenditures. The staff member replied she had not finished those calculations yet and said ongoing work—specifically CDBG-related items—had taken time: "The the Doctor, the CDBG Doctor, we've had some back and forth that was…that was the work. Do this just before, typically."

The staff member outlined baseline valuation figures used in the projections: "So prior projections from last year, our value of opinion was $25,410. And this year, it's 25,000 flat." She also provided the totals used in the comparison: "The total difference last year, our total, was $4,522,002.41. And then this year, we're looking at 4,449,229."

Committee members flagged new residential growth when considering the tax base. An unidentified committee member said he had spoken with "Miss Cooper" and reported that "we've got 38 new houses or more homes built within the county," adding that several more were pending.

The committee directed staff to prepare more detailed worksheets and run multiple projection scenarios for the committee to review at its next working budget meeting; staff said she aims to have materials ready for Tuesday. After discussion, a motion to approve (motion text not specified in the transcript) was made, seconded and approved by voice vote. The meeting concluded with the committee expecting to review the proposed scenarios and any adjustments to fund transfers or property-tax estimates at the next meeting.

The transcript did not specify the exact motion language, individual names of the motion mover or seconder, or a roll-call vote count; approval was recorded via voice vote with ayes from the committee.