Budget committee forgives $1.18 million ESCO payment, allowing schools to retain funds

The Williamson County Budget Committee voted unanimously June 1 to amend Resolution 6‑26‑13 and forgive a $1,183,842.58 payment tied to an energy‑savings conservation (ESCO) debt, allowing the school system to retain the amount in its fund balance for the current year.

A commissioner moved that the county "forgive that this amount of money for this coming year," and a budget official explained how the county would process the change so the schools could keep the funds without making the payment. The budget director said the county can absorb the payment this year based on its healthy fund balance and that the accounting treatment will be adjusted so the payment is not recorded on the county side: "the 1.8 million then will not be paid over to the county for that debt payment ... they will be able to keep those funds in their fund balance," the budget director said.

Committee members discussed procedural steps — whether to 'not accept' the payment or to defer/forgive it by motion — and agreed that a motion to defer and forgive was the correct mechanism. The committee voted on the resolution as amended and recorded a unanimous approval.

The action lets the school system avoid making a scheduled debt service transfer to the county for this line item in the current fiscal year; staff said the county's revenue projections already accounted for absorbing the payment and that the move will help offset the schools' budget shortfall going into next year. Staff also said they had discussed doing similar administrative treatment for the next fiscal year.

The committee did not record individual vote tallies by name in the transcript; the clerk noted the resolution passed as amended. The committee proceeded to the next agenda items after the vote.