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Carroll County officials back bill to raise transfer appropriation limit from $1,000 to $10,000
Summary
Senate Bill 495 would raise Carroll County’s transfer appropriation limit to $10,000 to give commissioners more flexibility for urgent county costs; supporters cited audit history and infrastructure needs; the committee closed the public hearing and moved to executive session.
Senator Mark McConkie introduced SB 495, seeking to increase Carroll County’s transfer appropriation limit from $1,000 to $10,000 in order to provide commissioners greater flexibility to respond to unexpected expenses.
McConkie described past audit problems and argued the higher limit is reasonable given current costs: "When I first was elected... we came to find financial audits had not been done... we had a surplus of $4,100,000... we wrote off $1,400,000 to help the taxpayers," he said, describing the local history that prompted the original statutory cap.
Charles McGee, chairman of the Carroll County Commission, told senators the county operates a 103‑bed nursing home, a correctional facility, and its own water and wastewater systems and said small emergencies can easily exceed a $1,000 line‑item limit. "When things go bad, it's usually lots of thousands of dollars," McGee said, urging senators to increase the cap to $10,000 for practical county operations.
Senators asked about effective dates and whether a percentage‑based approach tied to county budgets might be preferable long term; McConkie and others agreed to consult county delegations and statute comparisons in other counties. The committee closed the public hearing and took a motion to enter executive session for further discussion; no final legislative action was taken that day.
