The Putnam County Budget Committee agreed on a new fiscal year budget Thursday night after reviewing department head cuts and deciding on cost-of-living adjustments.
Department heads asked Monday to cut ten percent of this year’s increased expenditures. County Mayor Randy Porter said that reduced the budget gap to about $3.2 million which can be covered by fund balance.
“I’m not telling you how to vote, I’m just telling you my opinion,” Porter said. “I feel really comfortable about this budget since we’ve made those cuts. I think that we’ll be fine. We may hit fund balance, but if we do, we’ve got a little more than we probably need in fund balance anyways. We’ll be fine.”
The budget committee also approved step raises for county employees, at a countywide cost of some $345,000.
The new budget projects $61.9 million in revenue and $68.2 million in expenditures. The property tax rate remains at $2.66 per $100 of assessed value, which is the same as last year.
At Monday night’s meeting, a proposal assembled by commissioner Vinnie Faccinto called for a $500 bonus added on to this year’s step raise for some 590 eligible employees. In addition, Faccinto proposed a step raise equivalent bonus for 33 employees who have maxed out the pay scale.
Faccinto’s proposal was modified to remove benefits from the bonuses, reducing the cost from upwards of $400,000 to some $345,000. Faccinto said employees are the county’s number one asset, and they needed to be cared for.
“At ten years, those are our most valuable people,” Faccinto said. “They’ve got ten years worth of experience, they’re high paid, they’re the ones you rely on to train your entry people. They’re your most core asset. And to say ‘Hey, you’ve topped the pay scale out, you won’t get ever get another raise again,’ in five to ten years, their pay is going to be so far behind people working for the city, state or somewhere else and we don’t want to lose those guys.”
The cost of living adjustment passed, with Commissioner Chris Cassetty being the only vote against it. Commissioner Jonathan Williams abstained from the vote.
As for the cuts, Porter said many new employees did not enroll in the county’s benefit program, which amounted for a major part of the decreases in the budget.
Porter shared a presentation on the fund balance at Thursday’s meeting. He said the county needs at least $25 million in fund balance to keep it healthy.
Porter said fund balance is used to cover expenses, like payroll, throughout the fiscal year when the county is not bringing in revenue. Porter said property tax revenue typically helps replenish fund balance money used before it is brought in.
At the end of the meeting, Budget Committee Chair Ben Rodgers applauded everyone’s hard work.
“I thank you for your time, your focus on getting a budget recommended for the full commission as professionals,” Rodgers said. “We handle ourselves like we should because our constituents expect that, and you all did that.”
