The Habersham County Commission finally passed the FY 2025 budget and approved the 2024 millage rate during Monday night’s special called meeting. The county has been operating on a spending resolution for almost a month after last month’s failed attempt for the commission to reach a consensus on the budget.
The new fiscal year started on July 1 with no budget in place. That forced the spending resolution so the county could continue providing services. The spending resolution froze all new purchases and new hires until the commission passed the FY 2025 budget.
Budget barely passes
Though the budget passed, it did so barely. It was a 3-2 vote with Commissioner Jimmy Tench and Commissioner Bruce Harkness dissenting. Tench told the commissioners during the earlier work session that he had requested some information last week that he had not received. The information he was seeking was how many vehicles had been purchased over the last couple of years. Without that information, he would not vote for the budget.
Harkness did not give a reason for his dissenting vote during the meeting.
What was approved
The approved general fund budget is $39,171,485 for FY 2025. The budget includes 12 full-time positions and two part-time positions. There will be six new firefighters, three new facilities maintenance techs, one parks maintenance worker, 1 IT audio/visual technician, one network administrator, and two part-time animal control technicians.
Also in the new budget is employee increases. The way the increases were to be distributed was one factor that the commissioners could not agree on during last month’s meeting. They could not reach a consensus on whether it should be a merit increase or a cost of living increase, or a variable of the two. Commissioner’s came to a consensus on that topic. County employees will see a 4% cost of living raise that will go into effect in the first pay period in September but be retroactive to July 1.
Even with those additions, the budget saw some cuts. The full-time public information officer position that was initially proposed was removed. In a surprising turn of events, the commission cut funding to Partnership Habersham from $35,000 to $1,000 for FY 2025.
They agreed to only make the required payment to the pension plan instead of the recommended amount. Over the years, the county paid the recommended amount and built up credits. This year, it will use those credits to assist in balancing the budget.
Other cost-saving measures were also implemented. Beginning this year, school resource officer salaries will be 100% fully funded through the school board. Departments will be on a holding pattern for new hires until October 1.
Millage rate
Some county property owners may see some tax relief, meaning their property taxes may not increase. The commission voted 3-2 to do a full millage rate rollback. The rollback rate will be 11.771 mills for 2024 property taxes.
However, some property owners may still see a property tax increase even with a millage rate rollback. That increase will depend on their property assessment.
The millage rate applied to the hospital debt fund (hospital bonds) will also see a slight decrease. The millage rate for Emergency Services came in a bit higher. The overall millage rate reduction for the county’s 2024 taxes will be .845 mills overall. This does not include the school board millage rate. However, that millage rate remained unchanged for 2024.
After the meeting, Harkness said that inflation had consumed people’s income. “Ultimately, inflation has eaten away at everyone’s income. Nobody’s income has kept up with inflation and taxes. Everyone’s taxes have gone up drastically over the last few years.”
He adds, ”I wanted to talk about drastically cutting the budget and cutting taxes, but that was never an option.”
Harkness feels that because tax money is coming in, doesn’t mean the government should spend it.
“We have to stop that mindset and start looking at how we can save the taxpayers money so they can afford to live here in this wonderful county,” he said.
