Hart BOC to Hear Preliminary FY16 Budget Numbers Tonight

Members of the Hart County Board of Commissioners will also hear the first presentation tonight of their fiscal 2016 budget.

The County’s new fiscal year doesn’t begin until October 1st, but traditionally, work begins on the budget months ahead of time.

“We start really early in the process,” said County Administrator Jon Caime. “Unfortunately, we always end up not getting it done by October because it takes so much time.”

At their meeting on May 26th, Commissioners asked for an update on where County Administrator Jon Caime was in pulling some budget numbers together.  Caime told the board, work on the budget has been slow recently because of the ongoing poultry setback ordinance and its related issues.

“Things have gotten really crazy around here,” he said. “Right now, the poultry ordinance has taken up quite a bit of our time,” he said.

Caime said he has put some preliminary numbers together, however, but he said there are always unexpected variables that must be factored in, which is why the budget process starts so early in the fiscal year.

“Earlier we heard a discussion about contributing to moving the Extension office and 4-H office to the new Ag Center,” Caime said. “That’s going to pull down the money. As you all know, when we get the budget, we’re pulling our hair out trying to get everything in line without having to raise taxes. That’s probably going to be the case again this year.”

Caime plans to present his preliminary budget during their regular meeting this evening.

The regular Board of Commissioners meeting begins at 5:30p at the County Commission offices in Hartwell.