Bibb County commissioners are now united against their own proposed tax increase, but they differ on which budget cuts should be made and whether Memorial Day should be turned into a furlough day for county workers.
The proposed tax increase seemed to have met the ax Friday when three county commissioners identified $1.66 million in cuts to the current budget. Commissioners originally said the county needed a 1-mill tax increase to cover a budget shortfall.
County Commission Chairman Sam Hart said Friday those budget cuts were identified after Tuesday’s tax hike hearings, when about two dozen speakers blasted commissioners for their proposed tax increase.
“In these tough economic times, it’s just tough for a tax raise, and we heard that as well,” Hart said.
Hart said the proposed cuts likely won’t be felt by the public.
“I don’t see why this would have any adverse effects on services,” Hart said.
Hart and Finance Committee Chairman Elmo Richardson had earlier said the 1-mill increase was necessary to cover a projected $1.8-million shortfall and put money toward a compensation study — largely higher pay — for county workers. But plans for the compensation study in this fiscal year have been dropped.
Instead of raises, employees would face the one-day furlough on Memorial Day, taking a pay cut. Hart said commissioners would also take a proportional cut in their pay as well. The furloughs would save $119,936. Hart, Richardson and Commissioner Bert Bivins say they back that plan.
But Commissioners Lonzy Edwards and Joe Allen, who said they weren’t invited to a news conference Friday to discuss the cuts, said they want to protect the employees from the furloughs. Edwards said he planned to identify more cuts in advance of a called meeting Thursday, but he declined to discuss specifics, saying he wanted other commissioners to hear of them before they were released to the media.
“If that’s Plan A, I’m sure there will be Plan B that will not include furloughs for employees,” he said.
Many of the cuts proposed by Richardson and Hart sweep up unclaimed or unused money originally planned for other purposes. That could make the next budget much harder to balance.
The biggest cut is $750,000 planned to buy properties encroaching on Robins Air Force Base. Hart said he hopes to bring that money back in the next fiscal year — which starts in a few months — and match Bibb County’s money against funds from Houston County.
Other cuts include claiming $273,251 in excess special purpose local option sales tax proceeds; keeping $101,489 left over from book purchases for a new county library; taking $250,000 that was to have gone to repairs to a River Edge house on First Avenue, which Hart said were already done without the county’s help; and cutting about $166,666 from Lake Tobesofkee money that was above the budgeted amount.
The county also will cut out-of-state travel for training and conferences and eliminate take-home car privileges for non-emergency personnel. The coroner and sheriff’s vehicles, such as those for patrol and detectives, may be exempted. Those savings were not itemized, but they should lower fuel and maintenance costs, Richardson said.
Commissioners would give up their car allowances, and Hart said he was leaving a county car at the courthouse so it was used only for official business. That saves $1,680 a year.
In all, the cuts total $1.66 million. Hart said about $165,000 in cuts will still need to be found.
Bivins said he regrets that the county can’t implement the salary study, because the sheriff and other department heads are already struggling to keep good workers despite low pay.
“There’s probably going to be some people unhappy about these cuts,” Bivins said. “We didn’t want to do them. We’re doing the best we can.”
The rollback rate means typical taxpayers won’t pay additional money for county services. However, property owners still face proposed increases from the city of Macon and the Bibb County public school system.
To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.
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