Moving the occupational tax fund underneath the general fund umbrella will prevent issues with that again, she said.
“To them (Standard & Poor’s), everything is general fund,” she said.
Padgett said the proposed budget opts not to give cost-of-living raises to any county employees.
“We did initially put it at 2 percent,” she said. “But after looking at the budget, we felt like it was best to leave it out this year.”
Judge-Executive Jim Adams said Property Valuation Administrator David Gambrel recently let Padgett know the value of all property owned by the county has decreased by $4 million. While only a small percentage of the total value of the county’s land, when combined with other increasing expenses like health insurance, the court members seemed to agree it was not a good year for growing other expenses.
Padgett said the cost of health insurance is expected to go up 7 percent.
“I think it’s a good budget,” Magistrate David Faulkner said before making the motion to pass the first reading.
Magistrate Joe Stanley seconded the motion.
“I think we’ve done the very best we can,” he said.
The reading passed unanimously.
The proposed budget includes $2.69 million in general fund expenses, $2.33 million for the road fund, $1.43 million for the jail fund, $945,906 in federal grants, $519,070 for parks and recreation, $183,262 for the local government economic assistance fund, $54,895 for the insurance fund and $11,304 for building supplies and materials in the capital projects fund.
Adams said he anticipates a $300,000 carryover from the current fiscal year.
In other business, the court:
• approved the first payment of $35,000 to Beachy Construction for work on the animal shelter; and
• approved a transfer of $50,000 to the jail fund to cover upcoming payroll and bills.
