Hart BOC to Get First Look at FY14 Budget Tonight

In Hart County, the board of commissioners will get their first look at a preliminary fiscal 2014 budget when they meet for their second regular session of the month.

According to County Administrator Jon Caime, the County is facing about a half-million dollar shortfall for FY 2014.

The tentative expenses for FY2014 come to $9.7 million, but Caime said it’s too soon to know what revenues for the next fiscal year will be because the 2013 tax digest is not yet complete.

However, he said whatever the revenue, it likely will not be as much as needed.

“The numbers that I was given  indicate that our net digest is going to be about where it was in 2004,” Caime said. “So, we’re talking about rolling back the value of our digest back about a decade. It’s not looking like the digest is going to be our big salvation. There’s  no growth in the digest which we could rely on, but it’s looking even worse, like the digest is going to be losing value.”

Caime said the county’s reserves are also dangerously low and sales tax revenue is flat.

That, while the county must also try to come up with an additional $200,000 to provide extra funding for the county EMS and the Road department.

Tonight, the Board is also expected to vote for a continuing resolution so the county can continue to operate past the October 1^st start of the new fiscal year without a budget in place.