Fiscal responsibility a hallmark of Houston County
The Robins Regional Chamber schedules an “Eggs and Issues” breakfast regularly to keep its members and others abreast of what’s going on in Houston County. Thursday’s panel consisted of Houston County Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker, District Attorney George Hartwig and Houston County Sheriff's Captain Jon Holland.
Stalnaker’s presentation centered around the various projects, particularly the work — mainly on the transportation front — the county has been able to accomplish and the way it has been able to do the work without accummulating debt. That’s right, the county has zero debt and its reserves are healthy. The county’s 2017 General Fund budget is $54,814,021. Its Operating budget is $54,001,080, which means they are planning to spend $812,941 less than what they expect to take in. For county taxpayers the good news is that the millage rate, 9.95 mills, and the fire tax 1.18 mills, has not changed since 2010, according to the county. And they tout that they have had a tax increase of less than 1 mill over the past 24 years.
When an area grows the way Houston County has grown over the past two decades, the growth in the tax digest can partly explain why the millage rate has remained almost static. But there’s more to the story. In fact over the last five years, the Adjusted M&O Digest has gone down just slightly ($4.5 million). Still, the county has been able to complete a full slate of transportation and infrastructure projects — some big, some small. Some work done by outside contractors others completed by county work crews.
If there is a dark cloud it is that SPLOST collections are running behind expectations. Still, all the planned projects are expected to be completed.
The common theme in Houston County seems to be: Do only what can afford to be done. Commission Chairman Stalnaker explained it best, “I’ve yet to have a taxpayer come up to me and say they’re willing to pay extra taxes for a project.” Living within a county’s means takes good consistent teamwork and leadership, something they have tons of in Houston County and it has worked well for them over the years.
This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Fiscal responsibility a hallmark of Houston County."