In an Aug. 25 called meeting, the Putnam County Board of Commissioners approved a $25.7 million general fund budget for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year, all but officially locking in previously proposed millage-rate increases, both county-wide and in the special service district (unincorporated area).
Formal approval of the millage rates is scheduled for the commission’s routinely scheduled first-Friday-of-the-month meeting, at 10 a.m., Sept. 1. The millage rate increases would be the first in six years, County Manager Paul Van Haute said.
Although the county’s 2023-24 general fund budget will increase only 3.2 percent over the current year, the bulk of the millage rate increases come through the state’s computation of mandatory “rollback rates” to account for “undervaluation” of the county’s properties over the past two years – despite 20-percent increases in the county’s figures for its tax digests.
The millage rate increases reflect the county’s overall collections.
Property and neighborhood characteristics may affect the tax-increase percentages experienced by individual property owners.
Meanwhile, the approved budget includes about $300,000 in additional spending for indigent care at Putnam General Hospital (an additional $100,000, increasing the total expenditure to $750,000); pay and benefits of $119,000 for a Putnam Development Authority director; $75,000 to the Board of Elections for the District 3 election and two possible runoffs in the 2024 election cycle, plus $1,300 for a new copier in the district attorney’s office.
The additions will be funded through a comparable amount taken from the fund balance and will not affect millage rates, which will remain as advertised at 6.4 county-wide and 0.4 in the special service district.
Not quite half of $25.7 million in the general fund budget will go to public safety departments, with $12.1 million earmarked for the county’s sheriff and jail, fire protection, and ambulance services.
While the general fund easily accounts for the largest share of the county’s spending next year, other funds could raise total county spending to well over $32 million.
However, the SPLOST (Special Local Options Sales Tax) for one-time capital items ranging from police cars to reroofing county buildings to copying machines, and T-SPLOST for transportation-related expenses like road resurfacing and one road maintenance crew’s salaries and benefits are dependent on sales tax receipts.