The Putnam County Board of Commissioners held its regularly scheduled meeting last Friday morning, with reconciliation of the 2024 budget taking center stage.
Most significantly, the budget was balanced without drawing on the fund balance.
Instead, $810,000 will be added back to the general fund instead of drawing out $650,000 as initially anticipated.
“One of the things that we have to note is that a dollar going into the general fund is very fungible, that if one department comes in under budget, we can move that money into another department which has gone over their budget slightly,” District 1 Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hersey pointed out.
However, Hersey also expressed concern about maintaining a fund balance of $600,000 to $900,000 annually for the county’s special service district, which he said encompasses all of the unincorporated area, representing approximately 70% of Putnam County’s total population.
The discussion included potential solutions such as increased permit revenues and future growth to build the fund back up.
County Manager Paul Van Haute said he anticipated the permit fee from the Len Resort project on Lake Oconee would “help supplement that shortfall in the budget” before adding, “There’s a couple of other big projects on the horizon as well that will also supplement that fund and get it back to where you would like to see it, and I’d like to see it.”
After a little more back-and-forth discussion involving Hersey and members of the county’s financial department, Board Chair Bill Sharp came forward to declare, “The bottom line is we have between two and three months (of funding available), and two is the minimum. So, we’re above the minimum. That’s the bottom line.”
Ultimately, the budget was approved with a 3-1 vote, with Hersey dissenting.
Next, Putnam County Public Works Director Anthony Frazier stepped forward to answer commissioners’ questions about the $159,000 request for a 2021 LeeBoy 8530 asphalt paving machine.
Hersey asked how versatile the paver could be. For instance, could it pave not only roads but also golf cart paths at the county-owned-and-operated Uncle Remus Golf Course south of downtown Eatonton?
“That’s one of the reasons we looked at it,” Frazier answered, explaining that the machine can pave from eight-to-15 feet wide. “So, it is a multipurpose machine … you can pave the parking lot or pave a standard road with it. Now, are you going to pave a highway with it? No, but the discussions that we’ve had in the past for the projects that our department would focus on or those low-speed, low-volume, residential-type streets. This machine is specifically built for those targeted roads."
At this point, Van Haute spoke up, revealing to commissioners that the Putnam Development Authority (PDA) recently “entered a lease with E.R. Snell to move their asphalt plant (alongside Hwy 441 North, near “Peches” fruit stand) to the South Industrial Park.
“And in the near term, while they’re under lease, they plan on closing on that property and owning it outright,” Van Haute stated. “So, that’s one of the reasons we’re looking at doing this. We will have an asphalt plant in downtown Eatonton that we can do minor roads with on a more timely basis.”
Van Haute also pointed out that the county already has a tar truck “in-house,” and Frazier added that the only other required piece of equipment would be a steel drum roller, which is currently rented for county projects.
Hersey appeared skeptical of the need and asked if the county’s long-term plan is to enter the road-paving business as an enterprise fund.
“No, we’re not going to do it for profit,” Van Haute said.
However, he pointed out that the county has a continual demand for paving and that it’s a challenge to get small projects done by outside contractors.
“So, we are looking at doing some small projects in-house. I would say roads less than a mile,” Van Haute predicted. “I would say in early and late fall, I would like to have Public Works knock out some roads. We could work on our schedule, especially with the asphalt facility here. So, it’s not going to be a full-blown… department, but it will be probably five or six of the smaller cul-de-sacs and the one-off roads where it’s just not viable to spend contractor money to go do a half-mile worth of road when we can knock it out internally.”
These paving efforts would currently be paid through Putnam County SPLOST 9 revenues and, if the measure passes in this week’s election, with SPLOST 10 monies in the future.
The decision to purchase passed with the same vote breakdown as the budget approval. The initial purchase of the paving machine will be paid for with SPLOST 9 funds.