Calhoun County Supervisors unanimously voted for a one mil tax increase Tuesday to cover a shortfall in fee and fine revenue and a mandated pay increase for court reporters in chancery and circuit courts.
The board discussed at length the potential for an additional mil(s) to cover requests from local departments including a pay increase for county employees, more deputies at the sheriff’s office, part-time help in justice court, and budget increases for local programs in Soil and Conservation, the library system and the American Red Cross to name a few, but ultimately declined to fulfill any of those requests.
“(Court reporters) are making twice as much as our employees make and we’re not giving county employees a raise,” said Board President Barney Wade in reference to the court order requiring the county to cover a pay increase for court reporters.
Wade said the court reporters are already making more than $50,000 while county employees are making less than $30,000.
“If they want them to have a raise, why can’t the state give it to them?” Wade asked.
“That’s what they do,” Attorney Sonny Clanton replied.
The board continued to voice frustration about the raise for the court reporters, who are not Calhoun County residents, for more than 15 minutes.
“The out of town folks are getting what our folks need,” Supervisor Gwin Longest said.
Tax Assessor Bill Malone said the one mil increase approved by the board will result in a $10 increase on a $100,000 house. The county’s assessed evaluation also increased nearly $1 million this year, which will also result in an additional increase for property owners.
The county’s total budget for this year is just over $11 million, which includes the Calhoun Health Services expansion project, which the county will ultimately be reimbursed for. Just over $5 million of that total budget is generated in the county, the rest comes from state and federal sources.
Debating what they could afford to raise to cover the various requests from county departments, it was determined a 2.5 mil increase would be needed to meet half of the total requests and to cover them all would require 4.1 mils.
A mil of tax generates approximately $70,000 for the county.
“People I talk to say they understand we need the services, but they’re more concerned with the inability to get the roads fixed,” Supervisor Ernest Fox said. “It’s not just county roads, the state highways and everything else are falling apart.”
“Nobody in district two wants their taxes raised, but we have these mandates we have to go by,” said Supervisor Jennifer Rogers.
“There’s also a lot of uncertainty on what the state is going to do to,” Fox said.
“It makes them look good. They say they’re cutting taxes and then put it on us,” Longest said.
During discussion of what to do, Wade asked the board how they wanted to handle the various requests such as the sheriff’s need for more deputies and the additional funds for Soil and Conservation.
“I think all that got knocked in the head because of the court reporters,” Longest said. “That’s one mil more than I wanted to raise them.”
“We could do one more mil and give the sheriff a deputy and meet Soil and Conservation’s need. It’s just a thought,” Wade said.
As the discussion continued, Clanton reviewed the action of the board over the past several years regarding taxes showing that they went up 2.5 mils in 2012 due to the courthouse; held the same in 2013; increased 1.2 mils in 2014; and dropped it 3 mils last year.
“We went down on millage last year but taxes went up because of the increase in assessed evaluation,” Clanton said.
Longest made the motion for only a one mil increase and after another 30 minutes of discussion, Wade seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
The budget hearing for the county to allow citizens to comment on the proposed tax increase and budget will be Wednesday, Sept. 14.
In other news, the board voted to move the voting precinct in Vardaman to the Masonic Lodge. Supervisor Tony Morgan said it had more room and was already handicap accessible so it would not cost the county any additional funds.
The board sold a junk 2004 garbage truck that had been advertised as surplus property to Parker Brothers for $1,500.