Habersham County commissioners have some tough choices to make as they begin working in earnest on next year’s budget. County department heads have requested a total of 47 new positions, which could further strain an already increased salary line if approved.
Paying for payroll
Last year, Habersham County commissioners voted to implement a pay study by Evergreen Solutions of Florida, which significantly increased payroll. A careful analysis by Now Habersham of county salaries before and after the pay study reveals that employee pay raises last year amounted to $1.428 million.
Commissioners Ty Akins, Bruce Palmer, and Dustin Mealor took a lot of heat last year when they approved a millage rate increase to pay for those raises. Now the question being asked is, will they raise taxes again?
Based on figures obtained from the county finance department, Habersham County would need another $1.8 million to cover salaries for all of the new positions requested by department heads during recent budget hearings. Benefits would add approximately $506,000 more per year.
47 new jobs
The largest proposed staffing increase would be in Habersham County Emergency Services, which has asked for 21 new full-time firefighters/EMTs. The department has complained about being short-staffed for years. The goal with this year’s staffing request is to be able to place two firefighters on every truck.
Emergency Services’ request accounts for more than half of the proposed payroll increase for FYI 2023-24. The Habersham County Roads and Bridges Department is asking for the next highest increase with eight new positions at a cost of around $556,000. The remaining approximate $344,000 would be spread out among the other county departments, including two additional full-time positions at the county recreation department, costing around $141,000.
Increasing the bottom line by $2.3 million for all 47 positions would require an approximate 2-mil increase for property owners.
Commissioner Mealor has already signaled he’s unlikely to approve another tax increase, and it’s likely the commissioners who voted against last year’s tax hike – Bruce Harkness and Jimmy Tench – would do the same again this year.
Absent a tax increase, commissioners will be hard-pressed to pay for additional personnel and could even struggle to pay for the raises they approved last year. That leaves commissioners with two options: cut spending or increase revenue.
Raising revenue
The county has proposed spending $1.2 million this year to conduct a county-wide reappraisal in an effort to generate more property tax revenue. One other way they might look to raise revenue is through increased user fees.
Commissioners nearly doubled the minimum charge at the county landfill this fiscal year – from $8 to $15 for household garbage. They also raised airport user fees, as well as adoption fees and owner surrender rates at the county animal shelter. Most recently, commissioners adopted a new fee schedule at the county recreation department to offset the cost of taking ownership of Total Fitness. Whether they’ll consider more user fee hikes to offset county spending has yet to be seen.
One revenue-raising idea that’s been floated is to charge developers impact fees. And Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn has also floated, unsuccessfully so far, the idea of establishing or reactivating an authority that could secure bonds to pay for projects without raising property taxes. Still, any bonds secured by such an authority would ultimately have to be paid back by county taxpayers.
Commissioners have until June 30 to finalize a budget. They’re expected to discuss crafting that budget during their next regularly scheduled county commission meeting in May.
