COVINGTON, Ga. — The Newton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, June 28, to approve a 2023 General Fund budget of $82.9 million that represents about 6.8% more spending than 2022.

A property tax rate significantly lower than last year was the basis for the budget Newton commissioners approved during a meeting at the Historic Courthouse.

The budget the Board approved is for Fiscal Year 2023, which begins July 1.

Largest increases in individual departments were in the Sheriff's Office and Fire Services, which each received over $1.2 million more than in 2022.

Tuesday’s approval followed Interim County Manager Jarvis Sims' May 31 submission of a larger General Fund to commissioners that used the current tax rate for calculation.

After some commissioners said they wanted to use a lower tax rate, Sims revised the spending plan to provide a smaller General Fund but the same total budget of $133.3 million.

Finance Director Brittany White said the revised General Fund included an increase in estimated revenues from vehicle tag ad valorem tax (TAVT) and the 1% Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to offset the revenue decrease from a lower property tax rate.

Commissioner Alana Sanders asked why federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds of $2 million were included on the revenues side of the budget. 

She said she believed any direct expenditures from ARPA money will have to be approved separately based on the Board's policy of approving all ARPA expenditures.

White said ARPA funds are accounted for in a budget line item called Deferred Revenue where money received from other governments is placed until being approved for spending. Sims said the money can be used to balance the budget and "nothing improper" was done.

The budget approval meeting was only scheduled for 30 minutes and was sandwiched between a 6 p.m. public hearing and a 7 p.m. county planning commission meeting Tuesday night at the Historic Courthouse.

A last-minute effort to rescind votes on the 2023 budget failed on a 3-2 vote after some commissioners said they wanted to ask more questions. 

Chairman Marcello Banes then immediately called for a motion to adjourn to make way for the planning commission meeting and it passed 3-2.

Banes said he needed to end the meeting because the county had advertised 7 p.m. public hearings during the planning commission meeting.  

BUDGET SEEKS TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES

In preparing the budget, Sims said he concentrated on employee retention strategies in preparing the budget plans after the county government had been unable to retain a number of employees who left for higher-paying positions with neighboring governments or the private sector. 

The county also has been unable to fill some key positions, such as grant writer, for the comparatively lower pay the county is offering, Sims said. 

The 2023 budget approved Tuesday night: 

• Gives step increases to employees totaling $1.4 million.

• Institutes a minimum wage of $15 an hour that costs an additional $300,000.

• Gives a 4% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) to all employees totaling $1.13 million.

• Increases funding for employee insurance by 12%, or $720,000.

• Provides funding of $336,967 for 12 new positions, including six firefighters for Fire Services; a fiduciary compliance clerk for Probate Court; a special projects coordinator for Parks & Recreation; an elections technician for Elections & Registration; an administrative tech for the District Attorney's office; a senior kennel maintenance worker for Animal Services and an intern for Geographic Information Services (GIS).

However, White said the funding for the new workers is for half a year and none wil be hired until Jan. 1, 2023.

The General Fund of $82,935,327 was calculated by assuming a property tax rate of 9.454 mills and an anticipated $4.2 billion tax digest that represents a 22% increase in assessments from last year.

A 9.454-mill rate is 15% lower than the current rate of 11.145 mills and is the full rollback property tax rate that state law requires local governments calculate to produce the same amount of revenue as last year using last year's assessments. 

However, the Board cannot approve a 2023 property tax rate until after the tax assessor's office issues a final digest of assessed value of all taxable personal and real property in Newton County. 

Officials used an estimated Newton County tax digest of $4.22 billion that is 22% higher than last year's $3.47 billion and almost double the 2016 digest amount of $2.16 billion.

If the 9.454-mill rate is approved, the Board will be able to avoid a requirement for conducting public hearings that state law mandates if a government imposes a property tax rate higher than the full rollback.

Also, approval of the proposed tax rate it will represent the third consecutive year the county government's tax rate had been decreased, White said.