The county tweaked its 2015-16 fiscal year budget during its meeting last Tuesday.
Rita James, county director of information technologies, and Tiffany Randall, county finance officer, designed the budget and presented it to the commissioners. The new budget includes a 3.4-cent tax increase, which was lowered at the council’s direction from the originally proposed 6.8-cent increase.
Several requests were not funded, including a position for an environmental deputy for the sheriff’s office; $63,000 for 10 new DS200 voting machines for the Board of Elections; $32,500 for a walkway from the courthouse to the sheriff’s office; $6,000 for electrical repairs and bullet-proof glass in the jail office; and $25,000 for the Nurse-Family Partnership Program, requested by the Anson County Partnership for Children.
The council also discussed the voting machines, noting that they will have to be funded soon as the county’s current voting machines are over 10 years old and will be de-certified by the State Board of Elections in January 2018.
The council did vote unanimously to provide a requested $1,000 for the Historical Properties Commission using money from the contingency fund. It also voted to look for office space for the commission in the old EMS center.
The new budget also includes $157,000 for the design of the upcoming Agri-Civic Center.
James said the county plans to bring in $15,833.02 in delinquent taxes owed by county employees through wage garnishment (See related story on this page.) The county plans to extend the process to non-county employees, as well. Including both real property and vehicle taxes, the total amount of county delinquent taxes owed for the 10 years before 2014 is nearly $2.7 million, according to Randall. The amount of total taxes owed for 2014 is $1.1 million.
The budget has seen several changes since it was originally proposed, but James said she is confident it is healthy. “We feel comfortable that the revenues aren’t inflated,” she told the commissioners. “We would never do that.”
The commissioners went into closed session, and will meet again on June 30.