County Board Approves 2019 Budget; Finally
To say it was a long road getting to approval of the 2019 budget would be an understatement, as the White County Board finally agreed to a budget Tuesday night in an special meeting prior to the December 1st state mandated deadline.
Tuesday’s meeting was held as the board tabled the budget two weeks ago at the regular November meeting of the county board due to protests and complaints from county officers and employees.
The approved budget at nearly five million in the general fund is about $29,000 under expected revenue.
Ron McAnulty of the finance committee explained that revenues have been dropping over the past several years from about 90 percent in 2016 to about 79 percent for this year. He said with that in mind, he figured revenues at 85 percent or about $3.9 million. But even at that, he said there could be a loss of $445,000 as to year to date there has been a loss of $440,000.
‘He went on to say that the county certificates of deposit, about $830,00 worth will be cashed and eventually the special revenue accounts will be done away with.
McAnulty also pointed out the county has $600,000 in cash at this time. He said in about nine months, the county could be in worse shape than expected and there could be some lay-offs at that time, but cautioned time will tell if that will be the case.
Board Chairman David Dozier reiterated that income has dropped across the county, there fore revenue is going down. He hoped the proposed solar farm would help, but explained it would be five or six years before the county saw any revenue from the solar farm. However, he pointed out that is not a done deal and not to county your chickens before they hatch. But if the solar farm is built it could replace the revenue lost when the coal mine closed.
With no questions from the audience, which was about half of the number of people that turned out for the regular November meeting two weeks ago, the board approved the budget. One can find a copy of the complete budget, all 50 pages on the White County website, under county board.
The board also approved levies for 2019 for the county, Egyptian Health Department, Coleman Tri-County Services and the extension council service.
