The Newton County Board of Commissioners moved a step further to a budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year this week.

Twenty-one department heads presented their proposed budgets to the Board of Commissioners Tuesday night at the first of several budgetary meetings preceding the adoption of next year’s budget.

Of those 21 departments, just three—Elections, Clerk of Court, and Planning and Development—proposed a budget decrease. Increases for other departments ranged from approximately $500 to $200,000. Taken together, the proposed budget for these departments is $13,281,789, up $811,637 from last year.

Among the largest proposed increases were for the Finance Department ($113,111); the Superior Court ($186,411); the District Attorney’s Office ($87,372); and the Juvenile Court ($83,721).

According to Newton County Manager Tom Garrett the Geographic Information Systems is proposed to split from Development Services, which will involve a shift of resources.

The BOC, which split into two groups to hear out the proposed budget changes, will meet again in the coming weeks to continue discussions. Check back at The News for announcements of these meetings.