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Long County reviews proposed FY2022-23 budget with 5% employee raises and added school resource officer costs
Summary
At public budget hearings on June 7 and June 21, Long County officials outlined a proposed FY2022-23 budget that raises spending from $11.32 million to $14.29 million, includes a 5% staff pay increase, retirement changes and an added $309,000 for two school resource officers; the hearings drew questions about pensions and expenditures.
The Long County Board of Commissioners held two public budget hearings in June as officials outlined a proposed FY2022-23 spending plan that would grow the county’s budget from $11,316,683 to $14,290,991.
Chairman Robert D. Parker told the board and members of the public at the June 7 hearing that the draft budget includes about $1.3 million more in revenue, a 5% salary increase for all county employees except elected officials, a retirement modification and an increased fuel allocation. Patricia Johnson asked which staff prepared the budget; Parker said the finance staff prepared it.
At a second hearing on June 21 Parker reported two substantive changes since the first hearing: the Long County Board of Education requested funding for two additional school resource officers, increasing that line from $168,000 to $477,000 (the change was moved into the sheriff deputies budget line), and a previously omitted $10,000 request from the Long County Library will be added to the Building Fund line item.
Commissioner Jeremy Hall asked about the county’s current retirement arrangement and a proposed pension plan; a member of the public, Randy Simmons, raised questions about overtime, building and maintenance expenses and coroner salaries. The hearings provided a public forum for those clarifications but did not record a formal adoption of the budget in the minutes supplied.
The board closed the June 7 hearing at 9:05 a.m. and the June 21 hearing at 9:17 a.m. The minutes do not show a final vote adopting the FY2022-23 budget during these sessions, only the two hearings and the reported revisions.
