Marion County has spent two-thirds of its annual operating budget with four months remaining as its fiscal year ends Sept. 30, putting it right on track.
County CPA Charlie Prince spoke with the board of supervisors Thursday morning on speaker phone and informed it the county has roughly $5.55 million remaining in its general budget. He said with the reserves the county has been able to build up, it should be able to get through whatever comes along.
“With everything going on right now, just as far as the financial situation for the county, we’re in excellent financial shape right now,” he said.
Prince talked to the board about its re-appraisal maintenance fund, which stems from a 1.34-mill tax levied for re-appraisal, and currently is in the hole at negative $14,638.35. As it spends money out of that fund and it reaches zero or goes negative, the county then can pull money out of another re-appraisal fund established in 1983, which is commonly referred to as “special levy” throughout the state, that currently stands at just under $600,000.
While some of the money is being spent on re-appraisals, Prince said it can be spent on anything and could be a “rainy day fund” for the county. It is levied from a 0.89-mill tax, but Prince suggested increasing it to a true 1-mill tax, which it is labeled as, from the aforementioned re-appraisal maintenance fund. It would not increase taxes but instead put more money into the fund. Prince asked Board Attorney Drew Foxworth to look into the matter to see if he’s understanding how it works correctly.
District 5 Supervisor Calvin Newsom said the board has to be careful with how it uses the fund for when maps are updated. Prince added that it will be important to exercise caution with the fund with the amount of natural disasters that have occurred recently, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
The board is currently about $89,000 short in its bridge bond debt, which will be paid out of the general fund, according to Prince. He added the shortage was planned for, and the board is expecting to use its money from internet sales tax on it in the future.
The Marion County Correctional Facility’s current debt is about $480,000, which Prince said is better than what was projected in the past. The women’s facility’s debt is just short of $350,000. Prince commended Sheriff Berkley Hall for the jail budget, especially considering the efforts needed to combat COVID-19.
“I think we could be in a whole lot worse situation than we are today. I think it’s been really good,” Prince said.
Prince said barring something unforeseen with the jail’s expenditures, it will be almost $200,000 better off than it was last year when it was roughly $681,000 in debt. Hall said food costs are down despite having more prisoners, and overtime has been down about 300 hours from its last payroll. Hall added the jail is trying to get money from the CARES Act, which would be a big boost.
Hall said there is also a bill that has passed the State Senate and is waiting to be passed by the House of Representatives that would increase the amount the jail receives per inmate per day up to $36.50, which he said would be “phenomenal.” Currently the jail gets $23.94 per inmate, plus $20 on its extra inmates. The increase would generate several million dollars in revenue and would allow the jail to dig out of its hole quickly, according to Hall.
