The Marion County Board of Supervisors held a work session Thursday to discuss the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and expenses at the jail remained the No. 1 topic.
The county also faces a decrease in property values. Board CPA Charlie Prince said the amount generated per mill from property taxes has gone down about $1,000 for general county purposes and about $500 a mill for the schools.
“If we fully fund the Marion County Schools’ request it would take an increase of 0.58 of mil. If we do not do a tax increase it would be only about a $20,000 difference,” Prince said.
The topic during the morning part of the work session was the jail, which houses both state and county inmates.
Prince said he has spoken with the State Auditor’s Office, which confirmed the county can pay the jail a guaranteed amount.
Comptroller Susan Bridges said the past couple of years $1.25 million has been budgeted out of the general fund for the jail. According to projections by the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, the amount spent will be $958,000.
Board President Terry Broome asked if the jail has ever exceeded the budgeted amount. Bridges responded no, that the closest has been $1.1 million.
“In years past we have had more inmates than we do now and we still have not exceeded the set amount?” Broome asked.
“That is correct,” Bridges answered.
“The end result, in my opinion, is we are subsidizing the state,” Prince said.
“The state is subsidizing the county,” Sheriff Berkley Hall replied.
Prince said the total budget for the jail is $4.6 million, and the state sends down $2.6 million. The county only budgeted for $1.25 million so the question arose where is the remaining $775,000 is coming from.
Prince said the only way to make the jail completely work is to add another $1 million into the jail’s budget. Discussion was held with no answer as of Thursday morning as to where that amount would come from.
The budget presented to the board showed county employees’ pay (excluding any fringe benefits) to be $1.9 million. However, the amount spent this year is $2,071,000.
“If you are already under budgeted to start with and shows where you are going to go over budget this year, you are automatically going into the new year under budgeted in payroll. You are messing up to start with,” Broome said.
Warden Derek Mingo said he has cut expenses as much as he can. Mingo said money is being lost because the jail cannot retain staff but has to keep hiring new employees, which requires training. The pay is low; a part-time staff member was recently hired for $9.30 per hour.
No decision was made Thursday morning regarding the jail.
A hearing will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 20 to determine the amount of the budget and the millage rate, which will be published in the newspaper. That notice will include the date and time of a public hearing before a vote is taken on the budget.
The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
