Supervisors preparing for $3 million in bridge repairs
The Marion County Board of Supervisors learned recently that the hard work done to bring budgets in line last year has paid off.
CPA Charlie Prince said Jan. 10 that the beginning of the fiscal year in October brought some bright spots for the county.
“We’re back to where we ought to be,” Prince said. “The future looks bright. I just hope we don’t have something in the future in the middle of the year that we can’t see. We’ve got it to where we can do some things.”
Prince told the board that the general fund balance of $1.8 million on Dec. 1 was excellent. In previous years, the county had to borrow as much as $500,000 to close out the year before tax revenue began coming in during January.
Prince began the meeting by talking about individual departments and funds.
“The January cash report shows cash balances with only one negative,” he said. “It is after claims docket but before very many receipts in January. It was in reappraisal maintenance and that was just waiting to transfer and straighten up. It’s not a problem. There are some negatives in road maintenance funds, but they are without Jan. 20 tax collections. January will be good and February and March will be good.”
Prince said the board and officials will also be getting squared away with money from the $3 million bond issue approved for roadwork and state funding that will come in for bridge efforts.
“You will have decisions to make then,” he said. “You need to keep things in mind as we’re going forward. I’m assuming that some of the things in the past that you have had to spend money on during the year is going to be paid out of the bond issue.”
District 5 Supervisor Calvin Newsom said the bond issue and state money were to cover bridges first.
“The only time you can use those funds for roads is when all of the bridges in the county have been replaced or repaired,” he said.
Prince said the board also needed to consider taking the 1.87 mills that it moved from the Marion County School District to the road funds and returning it to the school district.
“In that road fund, you are collecting more money than you have ever collected before,” he said. “Quicker than you think, we’re going to have to make a decision about giving that 1.87 back to the schools. If the school district came to you and had an increase in funding and you did not want to increase taxes, you would have to give that 1.87 back. We really have to be careful there. You may not have a request for an increase from the school district. The timing of this is difficult, and we’ll need to make some decisions.”
Prince said currently the budget is at 21.4 percent spent through 25 percent of the budget year.
“Overall, we’ve stayed in pretty doggone good shape,” he said.
Supervisors thanked Prince and Comptroller Susan Bridges for their efforts to contain costs.
The Marion County Board of Supervisors next meets in regular session on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at its offices on Courthouse Square.
The date is pushed back a day from Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
