It took two hours and two votes, but during a called meeting Monday night, Habersham County commissioners finally approved the fiscal year 2024 budget.
During the meeting, Habersham County Finance Director Tim Sims again presented the annual budget to commissioners, which remained unchanged from last week’s presentation and public hearing.
After Sims presented the budget, County Attorney Donnie Hunt opened the floor to the public for the second public hearing. The number of people in the audience was average for a commission meeting, with half of the audience made up of department heads and county employees. No members of the public spoke in favor of or in opposition to the budget.
Commissioners’ concerns
Commission Chair Ty Akins gave the opportunity for the commissioners to discuss the proposed $73.7 million spending measure.
Commissioner Dustin Mealor expressed his concerns about a handful of items in the budget that could be cut or reduced. One of those items he felt could wait was the athletic coordinator position since several positions have been hired since December for the Recreation Department. Another item he felt could be reduced was the amount of funding going to the health department due to a large surplus in that department.
Commissioner Bruce Palmer had several items on his list that he had concerns with and felt could be removed or reduced as well. His list included removing certain vehicles from the budget, as well as a couple of positions that had been approved. He also stated that he felt the Board of Education should pay the salaries and benefits of the school resource officers since the county pays for their vehicles and supplies and assumes liability for those officers.
However, Palmer was passionate about one item that was already reduced and, in his opinion, reduced too much.
Back in March, the Habersham County Fire Department requested 21 new firefighter positions. Officials said that would allow each shift at each station to be manned by two firefighters and would staff the ladder truck adequately.
However, in preparing the budget, the county pared down that request, allotting only six new firefighter positions.
Palmer explained his concerns about only having one firefighter per truck.
“I think having [one] person on a fire truck is dangerous. It’s dangerous for the firefighters, and it’s dangerous for our citizens.” He added, “If we’re not going to do that, then I think some of the stations, we need not staff them any longer and move those to another station.”
Palmer said he was not advocating for a decrease in the fire department but stated staffing is a valid safety concern.
County commission chair Ty Akins was not in favor of closing any stations. He felt moving forward with the six new firefighter positions was a start and said the commission could revisit the matter in the future, especially once cuts to the budget were made.
“Government has run away from here to Washington.” – Habersham County Commissioner Bruce Harkness
Commissioner Bruce Harkness voiced his concerns, stating he does not favor bigger government and is against “tax and spend” policies. He explained that he has numerous concerns with the budget and that he had sent those concerns to staff and the county commission.
Harkness expressed his frustration over the budget process. He said he was told two months ago that the county only needed a 5% increase in revenue to achieve a balanced budget. However, when the tax digest came in, the increase was 12%, and all 12% went into the budget instead of just 5%.
“Government has run away from here to Washington,” he said.
Two votes to pass
After discussing their various concerns, a consensus came forward with a reduction of $371,461. However, that decrease did not sit well with three of the commissioners, and the vote failed to pass. Commissioners Palmer, Harkness, and Jimmy Tench cast the dissenting votes.
Akins called for a five-minute recess after the failed vote. When the commissioners returned from the short recess, Palmer made a motion to reconsider the 2023-2024 budget. The vote to reconsider passed 3-2, with Harkness and Tench dissenting.
Sims addressed the commission about the cuts they discussed and stated that the savings would be $196,461 in the general fund budget. Palmer asked how many firefighters that could fund. Sims responded that they could fund three additional firefighters, taking the total of new firefighters from six to nine. With that information, Palmer made the motion to approve the budget. The commission approved the budget on a 3-2 vote, with commissioners Harkness and Tench dissenting.
The total budget was approved for $73,548,644. There were no general fund savings with the additional firefighter positions added back from the original cuts. The only savings was to SPLOST expenditures by $175,000. The commission cut the flooring costs for the 911 department saving $35,000, and cut a dump truck for the road department saving $140,000.
The commission cut from the general fund budget the athletic coordinator for the Recreation Department for a savings of $62,673 in salary and benefits and reduced the funding to the health department by $133,788.
‘Happy to be done with it’
Now Habersham spoke with Commissioner Palmer after the meeting. Despite getting three additional firefighters approved, he said, “It’s still not adequate.”
“We have stations that don’t have any paid staff in them at all. We have stations the engine has only one person on the engine. The three additional firefighters only staffs one more engine with a second person, so we’re still going to be short two engines that will only have one person on them. Firefighting is inherently dangerous, and we make it more dangerous by having it inadequately staffed.”
Akins expressed both his frustration and relief after the meeting.
“It was a setback to have it fail there, but I think with the changes we made there – we still did a lot of good things, and we got a lot of stuff covered, and I am happy about it. Happy to be done with it.” He added, “We didn’t have as much time this year. That was reflected tonight.”
