Supervisors study FY 2023 expenses

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors spent the better part of three hours on Wednesday, Aug. 17 digesting proposed general fund expenses to operate county government during the fiscal year 2023 budget that begins on Saturday, Oct. 1.

“A lot of work goes into balancing what the county receives in terms of income from taxes and fees in comparison to what it spends,” Chancery Clerk Jill Jordan Gilbert said in regards to the budget process.

“This is where there is a lot of give and take in regards to coming up with a plan that will allow us to meet public needs while living within our financial means — the reality is this is a guessing game ... period.”

During the panel’s first budget meeting, supervisors scoured hundreds of pages of print outs for the county’s general fund — addressing dollars set aside for everything from emergency management to fire protection as well as road and bridge upkeep, law enforcement and public education.

“One of the most important jobs we have is making sure funds are set aside for services,” District 5 Supervisor Jimmie “Bodi” Bass, who serves as president of the board, said.

Expense requests, as submitted by county-affiliated agencies and departments, for FY 2023 are expected to climb — due to rising costs for things like liability insurance, employee compensation and fuel.

“A lot of this is a shot in the dark because we’re dealing with projections — especially on the revenue side,” Bass went on to say.

“We have to live within our means, which sometimes requires tough decisions to trim areas we know that need support, but the resources are just not there.”

To that end, supervisors learned general fund receipts for the new fiscal year were estimated at $3,041,590 while requested spending stands at $3,487,649 — a projected shortfall of $446,059.

The general fund is largely supported through ad valorem taxes, which includes assessments on real property — land, buildings and other permanent improvements — along with personal property, public utilities and motor vehicles.

The panel was scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, Aug. 23 to start whittling down the difference between income and out-go, but details of that meeting were not available at press time.

District 4 Supervisor Pat Larkin said the budgeting process, at times, can be painful for everyone involved because — like the typical family’s household finances — difficult decisions have to be made on what can or can’t be done.

“You’ve got to know where you’re going,” Larkin said. “That said, there are a lot of moving parts in the budget and how we can make it work. Everybody is not going to get everything they might want, but we’ll do what we can based on what we’ve got coming in.”

Sheriff Tom Tindle, who attended the meeting, said his agency deals with a myriad of costs affiliated with public safety concerns and is notably seeking an increase in compensation for the county’s 9-1-1 dispatchers in the new budget.

“The cost of everything is going up — we’re having to spend money to be competitive for the jobs that we have, whether that be dispatchers or deputies, and with what we spend on juveniles and adults being held,” Tindle continued. “It’s really hard to predict what we’re going to have to spend to serve the public.”

In one example, the sheriff cited the recent increase of $10 per day per inmate Franklin County has to pay for those being held under a cooperative agreement with Amite County.
Another example that was shared during the session cited the price for holding juveniles in custody — a service that costs, on average, $170 per day — at the closest facility, which is in Natchez.

Gilbert said the county’s budget work sessions, typically held during August and open to the public, allow officials to iron out their revenue and spending aims in advance of a required hearing in September that allows residents and taxpayers an opportunity to air their views on the proposal.

These budget sessions are also instrumental for county leaders in setting the ad valorem millage rate — instrumental in establishing the income to support governmental operations in Franklin County.

Bass said two local municipal entities — Bude and Meadville — were floating the idea of increasing millage in their jurisdictions for the new fiscal year to boost revenues in light of rising expenses.

He said it was a little early in the budgeting process for the county to predict or address its millage rate with a large part of that consideration being a determination as to what could be trimmed from proposed expenses in light of revenue projections.