COVINGTON, Ga. – For the second time in two years, Newton County will start its new fiscal year using the previous year’s budget after commissioners voted unanimously June 19 to approve a consent agenda item temporarily continuing the county’s 2018 fiscal budget.

Commissioners will hold a work session Tuesday, June 26, at 6 p.m. in the commissioner’s boardroom at the Historic Courthouse to talk about the FY 2019 budget.

The last proposed budget, presented at a May 22 work session by Finance Director Nicole Cross, called for a millage increase. The plan included staffing increases for public safety and market pay increases for some county employees.

“Based on the estimates that we have received from our digest and what in this budget our departments have said what they need to operate, we would need to have a millage rate increase. So the 2018 millage was 13.441. To fully fund this budget, the millage rate would need to increase to 14.441,” she said at the time.

While commissioners and county leaders have continued to work through various budget scenarios since then, no consensus on how to best finance county operations for the coming year has been reached.

Cross told commissioners last Tuesday that the new budget schedule calls for a vote on the adoption of the county’s FY 2019 millage rate and budget at 7 p.m. July 30 following a 6 p.m. public hearing. Another public hearing is scheduled for July 23.