The Habersham County Commission heard from the remaining department heads and constitutional officers during the second day of the county’s budget review meetings.
Those department heads and constitutional officers presented their “wish list” of proposed annual and capital budgets as well as personnel requests.
Wednesday’s presentation saw a repeat of the average increase of 7.6% over the 2025 budget. The remaining department budgets for day 2 of the Budget Review Meetings totaled $18,216,657, an increase of $1,285,171 over the prior year’s operating budgets.
Animal control
Animal Care and Control Director Madi Nix was one of the department heads that presented her budgets for the upcoming year. She told the commissioners that two of her line items that will see significant increases in the coming year will be for veterinarian services, up 30%, and veterinary supplies, up 75%.
She explained that the increases are due to veterinarian fees continuing to rise as does the cost of supplies. Also, the number of animals the shelter takes in each year continues to increase significantly.
Public Works
Public Works Director Jerry Baggett presented his budget for the road department to the commissioners. The commissioners questioned Baggett about what was included in the contract services line item that cost more than $250,000.
Interim Finance Director Kiani Holden explained the various contract services were included in the line item. One service that stood out was a $125,000 fee for trash collection on the county right of way.
According to Baggett, the prison used to supply a detail to provide that service, but a few years ago the prison stopped providing a detail to perform that service. At that time, the county bid out the service to a private contractor. The lowest bid was $125,000 per year.
Another question that commissioners asked him was what line item gravel fell into. According to Baggett, some of the gravel cost fell in the Materials line item that was budgeted for $60,000. Also, some of the gravel costs were paid for by SPLOST funds.
Commissioner Dustin Mealor explained to the commission that several years ago nearly all road maintenance costs for gravel and paving were paid for with SPLOST funds. The commission, a few years ago, began pulling some of the road maintenance expenses out of SPLOST and paying for it with the general fund.
However, material costs skyrocketed and the county became unable to budget more each year for material costs as they had originally planned.
Personnel
The only personnel request was for E-911. Director Lynn Smith requested a training coordinator be added. The new position would assist with recruiting, continuing education for dispatchers, and initial training for newly hired personnel. When the individual was not involved with training, they would assist with open records requests. The salary and benefits for the training coordinator is estimated to be $70,842.
Agency requests
The final day of the budget review meetings will begin Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. and will conclude at 12 p.m. All departments have concluded their budget presentations. The presentations set for Thursday morning are requests from various agencies in the county and the development authority.
The meeting will be held on the main floor of the Administration Building in the Commissioners Conference Room at 130 Jacob’s Way in Clarkesville.
All budgets reported for Day 1 and Day 2 of the budget review meetings do not include capital improvement budgets, only operating budgets and personnel requests.
