Board of Commissioners discuss FY26 proposed budget

NEWTON COUNTY — During the proposed FY26 budget meeting on Tuesday night, the Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) pondered a steady budget increase from FY25.

In a slideshow presented by Finance Director Brittany White, the proposed FY26 budget totals $149,890,041 which is an 11.9% increase from the FY25 budget. 

Approximately, 75.3% ($112.8 million) of the budget is taken up by general funds, followed by the Cornish Creek Water Fund at 8.3%, solid waste at 5.4%, fire districts at 2.9%, multiple grant fund at 2.7%, E-991 at 2.2%, impact fees at 0.9%, American Rescue Plan Fund at 0.7% and workers compensation at 0.5%. 

The top three general fund expenditures include $3,700,00 for a comp and class increase, $1,500,000 for a health insurance increase of 14%, and $1,750,000 to fund new positions added by SPLOST projects and Public Works mowing and litter crews. 

Commissioners discussed the effects of passing the last SPLOST package in 2023. The package designated $1 million solely to paving Brown Bridge Road.

Initially, there was confusion among BOC members regarding whether the $1 million would have to come from the general funds section of the budget. Finance Director Brittany White spoke to clarify.

“…the challenge with the SPLOST this time is we tied it directly to one project. We tied it to the Brown Bridge Road Project,” White said. “Therefore, there’s not the big chunk of generic paving money in the SPLOST like there has been in the past.”

District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards responded to clarify his stance on the allocation of funds dedicated to paving.

“I misspoke, the paving money is there, the SPLOST committee designated that money for the Brown Bridge Road project,” Edwards said. “Most of it is needed there so that’s where it went and unfortunately we have the rest of the county to take care of too.”  

The BOC also discussed the proposed $1.1 million allocated to paying back the ABM Building Solutions county wide facility upgrades. District 5 Commissioner LeAnne Long said the ABM debt service needed to be better explained to the public. 

“That’s a lot of money that we are paying monthly and yearly to that cause, that I would have probably never done years ago,” Long said. 

County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter explained how the county entered into a contract with ABM to perform $14 million worth of upgrades. Currently, the county is about halfway through a 15-year plan to repay the borrowed $14 million, despite questions on the overall satisfaction of the work done.

“There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the quality of the work performed by ABM and a lot of questions about whether ABM earned the money they were paid,” Jaugstetter said.

The total general fund revenue source proposed for FY26 is $112,806,207 which is a 13.4% increase from FY25. 

The estimated millage rate for 2025 is 9.3 which is lower than their initial estimation at 10 mills and higher than the 2024 rate set at 8.24 mills. This change does not go unnoticed causing an estimated increase of $175 on a $300,000 house. 

Under other financing sources $5,648,000 is proposed which is a 98.7% increase from FY25. 

Other revenue sources include:

• Taxes- $94,023,590, 12.4% increase
• Licenses and Permits- $1,419,000, 2.5% decrease
• Intergovernmental Revenues- $1,850,792, 9.3% increase
• Charges for Services- $5,902,576, 3.7% increase
• Fines and Forfeitures- $930,600, 0.1% increase
• Investment Income- $2,500,000, no increase or decrease
• Contributions and Donations- $6,500, 8.3% increase
• Miscellaneous Revenue- $525,149, 25.7% decrease

A public hearing is set for June 10 at 7 p.m., and budget adoption is set for June 17 at 7 p.m.