Putnam County officials proposing the smallest budget request increase since COVID.
County Mayor Randy Porter said the $2.28 million increase in expenses comes with revenues slightly ahead compared to this time last year. Porter said the majority of the new spending is driven by mandatory costs rather than significant staffing expenses.
“You need one of these years every now to be conservative and to take care of the county,” Porter said. “I tell my departments, if you need some thing bad, ask for it. But if you don’t, don’t. I mean, that’s my advice to them always.”
Porter said over half of the $2.3 million increase is tied to step raises for existing employees. The budget includes the addition of only two new positions across the entire county government.
Porter said an additional $480,000 is required to cover rising health insurance costs, while a two percent increase in the state retirement system will cost the county about $70,000.
The two new positions include a part-time employee for the County Clerk and a new School Resource Officer for the pre-K program at Parkview. Sheriff Eddie Farris said the county is currently ineligible for state grant funding for the Parkview school resource officer because the state’s grant criteria does not include standalone pre-K facilities.
“The way they listed that, we’re not eligible for the grant money the state gives us,” Farris said. “(Director of Schools) Corby (King) and I are trying to work through that. We may not be able to do that this year. We may have to pick the cost up.”
Porter said the county is in good shape regarding equipment and vehicles for the position, meaning the budget request only covers the officer’s salary.
“The Mayor and I have talked whether it comes out of schools or it comes out of General Fund, I don’t know that it matters, but we do need an SRO there,” Farris said. “And maybe next year we can work on some of the grades and some of the way they categorize that school to where we are eligible for the grant money.”
Porter said they still have plenty of capital projects to budget out, including the bus garage, an HVAC replacement in the Justice Center and roof repairs for multiple buildings. Porter said these new facilities require expensive maintenance contracts for large equipment and have led to higher costs for vehicle parts as the county fleet expands.
“County maintenance is the only one that we’ve got a pretty good sized increase in that because of the new jail addition, the new convention center, these new buildings,” Porter said. “And especially with the new jail and the Justice Center, maintenance contracts. There is a lot of big equipment in that building.”
Other budget adjustments include a $200,000 increase for Solid Waste due to higher trash hauling fees and a growing population. Conversely, the Economic Development budget decreased by nearly $120,000 following the conclusion of the Arrive Putnam grant and the removal of a vacant salary position.
“It’s business as usual, pretty much, with step raises and a couple of asks,” Chairman Ben Rodgers said. “This is a calm budget year, in my opinion, compared to what we had to, you know… what we’ve worked with before.”
Porter also said the operation budgets are still susceptible to inflation, with heightened fuel prices still having one of the biggest impacts.
Porter said the county’s revenue is currently slightly ahead of last year’s pace, aided by the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates, which has bolstered interest income on county reserves. Porter said he intends to present a more detailed revenue projection at the next meeting once April’s data is finalized.