First Public Hearing for Franklin County FY14 Budget Passes Quietly
Few people turned out Monday for the first public hearing of Franklin County’s FY14 budget.
The FY14 General Fund budget proposes $11.8 million in expenses and $11.7 million in anticipated revenue. Under the General Fund, the county has approved an increase to the Probate Judge’s budget of almost $25,000. That money could to be used to pay for a certified interpreter and a public defender.
At a recent budget work session, Probate Judge Ken Eavenson said told the board of commissioners there is an increasing need for more public defenders and more interpreters in municipal court.
Despite the apparent increase in his budget, Eavenson said due to a miscalculation last fiscal year by his predecessor, his budget for FY14 will be off by some $5,000.
The Northeast Georgia Animal Shelter will not be getting as much of an increase as they had requested for FY14. The shelter board had requested to be funded at $70,000 in fiscal 2014 for animal intake services. Instead, the county budgeted $56,000. That is up from $30,000 budgeted for FY13.
Shelter director Sheri Lockhart told the board last month the increase is needed to cover the rising cost of utilities and insurance.
One area where the county will likely be saving money next fiscal year is in employee health insurance.
A special research committee, headed by county commissioner David Strickland, resulted in several lower cost options for funding medical insurance. The board of commissioners reviewed those options at their work session last week.
County manager Billy Morse said the board voted Monday to go with a partially self-funded plan.
“We (the county) will save a considerable amount of money over last year,” Morse said. “We’re estimating we will save $164,000 over the course of a year.”
Morse said under the new plan, the county will pay 100% of the employee’s insurance and the employee will pay 100% of their family coverage.
Also at their work session last week, it was noted the new deductable for employees would be reduced with the new plan from $6,000 a year to $1,250.
A second public hearing on the budget is set for the June 25th work session. At that time, the board is expected to also vote to pass the new budget, which goes into effect on July 1st.