By a 3-2 margin, the Macon County Board of Commissioners voted against the proposed 2023-24 fiscal year budget during their meeting on Tuesday, June 13, necessitating a continuation of the meeting on Monday, June 19, for a new vote.
The vote for the $64 million budget had Vice Chair Josh Young and Gary Shields in favor, while Board Chair Paul Higdon, John Shearl and Danny Antoine were against.
The budget motion, made by Young, took out $873,658 for the Highlands soccer field because the ongoing geologic survey will not be complete until April 2024, moved $373,658 into contingency and subtracted the other $500,000 from the budget altogether.
The proposed budget included a 4.5% pay raise for county employees, of which 3.5% was a cost of living adjustment and 1% was a retention pay bump.
Higdon said he would be OK with a 2% or 3% pay bump, but not 4.5%.
County Manager Derek Roland defended the budget, saying Jackson County is doing the same 4.5% pay raise and cited local studies on how the public sector needs to up its pay to compete with the private sector.
“COVID really wrecked everywhere, it tore the private sector apart. As I understand it, not one county employee lost any income during COVID, right?” Higdon asked Roland. “Even if you were in quarantine, that’s sick leave...what I’m saying is, yes, I agree, we got to have high-quality employees, but when you say ‘Hey, COVID’s created all these issues,’ it created issues in the private sector too…I mean there are sad cases out there. County employees didn’t lose anything. Government employees didn’t lose anything during COVID. Maybe some family members. I mean, throw in here, we’re having an adult discussion.”
Mike Decker, the retiring clerk to the board and human resources director, said the county employees were all doing their jobs during COVID and asked Higdon to not lose sight of that.
After the vote, Shearl criticized what he said was the inflation of government.
"We're growing salaries and growing the government, and the private sector is shrinking,” Shearl said.
Shearl requested that the $4.5 million being put into the fund balance be dropped and the proposed property tax rate drop from 27 to 24 cents per $100 valuation. The current rate is 40 cents per $100 valuation. Roland said that would not be financially wise.
Higdon also expressed displeasure with the 1.62% growth factor figured into the property tax, which is scheduled to bring in $550,000 of the revenue, calling it a tool to extract funds from the citizens.
Higdon said he wasn’t happy with the budget going up $5.5 million from last year’s approved budget, which is the single largest increase in county history. Higdon said as a conservative Republican, he was against that increase on political grounds.
Antoine said there’s “hardly” anything in the budget for kids, specifically talking about capital improvements.
Roland then listed items in the budget that will benefit children such as the Molar Roller, funds for school nurses, school resource officers, the education appropriation, Department of Social Service, the Public Health Department, plus $2.1 million in capital improvements for Macon County Schools.
Shearl said he disagreed with the proposed solid waste fee increases, saying it burdens the Highlands taxpayers even more and he feels like the landfill is doing well.
Shearl expressed surprise that there would be a budget vote that night, saying he was not prepared. The published agenda stated the board may take action on the budget following the public hearing.
Continuation of meeting
Commissioners recessed Tuesday’s meeting and will reconvene on Monday, June 19, starting at 6 p.m. for the purpose of discussing the proposed budget. Finance Director Lori Hall said she would like the budget to be approved by June 20. The county must approve its budget by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.