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Columbia County finance director says property-tax receipts are ahead of pace; flags coding and transparency questions
Summary
Finance Director Amy Hansard told county commissioners that property-tax receipts are arriving earlier than usual and that most departments are under 50% of annual spending; she flagged two mis-coded lines, explained grant indirect-rate rules and said she could not validate a widely circulated $448,000 savings claim without the authors’ methodology.
Amy Hansard, Columbia County finance director, presented the county’s first- and second-quarter budget overview and said property-tax receipts are running ahead of typical pacing. “We traditionally see roughly about 75% to 80% of that in the first of the years,” Hansard said, adding that the general fund is currently a little ahead of expectations.
Hansard walked commissioners through department-level spending and revenues, noting most departments are at or under roughly half their annual expenditures at this point in the fiscal year. She called particular attention to two small line items that were mis-coded and a $10 refund that appeared in the wrong fund and said staff will investigate and correct the entries.
On grants, Hansard said the county now captures a higher indirect rate on most grants — 15% this year instead of the prior 10% — but stressed the county can only take what the federal or state grant rules allow. “The grant total given includes the indirect percentage,” she said, explaining that the allowable indirect rate is determined by the grantor and sometimes set by statute.
Hansard also addressed claims circulating on social media about the county’s audits and a proposal to reduce administration by 5% to save $448,000. She said she could not validate the $448,000 number without seeing the claimants’ methodology and that she has not found the external transparency metric that compared Columbia County to a neighboring county. “Unless I know how they came to that number, I can’t speak to the validity,” she said.
Why it matters: Early tax receipts can improve near-term cash flow and change midyear projections; correcting miscoded transactions and documenting grant indirects matters for audit readiness. Hansard said the county’s audits are performed annually, turned over to the state and that audit reports are available online.
Next steps: Hansard said quarterly reports will continue and invited commissioners to submit specific questions ahead of meetings so she can provide targeted follow-up.
