Officials adopt smaller budget than last year's

Columbia County officials approved a new budget Tuesday that is less than the current budget.

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The $56.5 million spending plan is about $500,000 less that what initially had been proposed and is $270,000 less than last year's budget.

"That's an extraordinary effort in these times," Commissioner Ron Thigpen said of the county staff's work to trim the budget. "It's been a very, very long time since we adopted a budget less than the year before."

The budget cuts were necessary because of a decrease in state funding, economic uncertainty and lowered expectations for growth in the tax digest.

Initially, officials had proposed a nearly $57 million budget, which would have been a 2.6 percent increase over the current budget. The adopted budget represents 0.6 percent decrease from the current fiscal plan.

To reduce expenses, county officials streamlined and merged many county departments and initiated a hiring freeze this year. Through attrition and department reorganization, officials trimmed 35 positions, which produced savings of more than $800,000.

At Thigpen's suggestion, officials also took $500,000 out of the budget's proposed contingency fund to reduce the general fund even more.

Funds were included in the 2009-10 budget, however, to hire 10 employees -- a school crossing guard for the sheriff's office, two employees for the Water Utility division, four employees to staff the 911 center, and three staffers for the Clerk of Court's office.

Also, four dispatchers for Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue must become county employees to adhere to new state regulations, but their salaries will be paid using a separate 911 budget.

In other meeting news, the commission voted to default a bid from a Miami-based contractor scheduled to install a water pipeline on Hereford Farm Road.

At the recommendation of county Water Utility Director Billy Clayton, the commission chose to back out of a $1.89 million contract offer with Tran Construction Co. after executives ignored numerous communications from Clayton dating back to April.

"I've lost all faith and confidence in this company," Clayton told the commission.

Tran must now forfeit to the county a $189,000 bid bond, Clayton said. The money will nearly cover the excess cost to hire the next-lowest bidder, Tommy L. Griffin Plumbing Co., of Macon, Ga., to install the 16-inch pipeline meant to improve water pressure for some Evans and Grovetown residents. The company bid $2.1 million for the project.

It was the first time in 35 years that Clayton had to recommend to the commission to default a contractor, he said.

One of the issues is that Tran didn't have the necessary state utility licenses to perform the work and would have had to subcontract the entire project. Clayton said that on numerous occasions he tried to question Tran on the contract details and who it intended to hire as a subcontractor. Those questions were never answered, he said.

A Tran executive at the meeting admitted that his company "dropped the ball" in not responding to Clayton.

In the future, only contractors with the proper state licenses will be allowed bid on water projects, Clayton said.