Balanced budget to be considered
Columbia County's plan to spend and make money for the next fiscal year will be up for approval at the Board of Commissioners' meeting Tuesday night.
Columbia County's Commission Chairman Ron Cross said the 2005-06 budget will be discussed and voted on Tuesday night.
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Ron Cross, the commission chairman, said he's proud of the 2005-06 fiscal year budget that has been worked up, adding that it comes with no millage increase and sets a goal of no more than a 7 percent increase for departments, with the exception of only a few that had new expenses, such as the new library in Evans.
"I'm very happy,'' Cross said of the proposed budget. "I think the constitutional officers and department heads responded really good.''
The proposed budget will be discussed before the commission's 6:30 p.m. meeting and then voted on, Cross said.
The budget includes $43.8 million in revenues in the general fund and the same in expenditures. Included in the proposal is $9.4 million for the sheriff's office, $5.9 million for the county jail, $2.4 million for roads and bridges and $1.6 million for recreation.
Cross said being able to have a proposed budget that is balanced without a millage increase says something about Columbia County.
"One thing is we are very financially sound,'' he said, adding that during the budget process planners didn't include the expected positive effects of a new Target shopping center.
"Since it's not going to open until the end of the year at best, we didn't really factor in the anticipated revenue there, because their tax status probably won't change until next year," he said.