Supervisors adopt $130.1M budget
The Board of Supervisors during a Tuesday meeting adopted Madison County’s $130.1 million Fiscal Year 2022 budget that includes $10.3 million in federal COVID-19 CARES Act relief funds and the county’s general millage rate of 38.18 mills will remain the same.
Madison County Administrator Shelton Vance during the meeting held Tuesday instead of Monday because of the Labor Day holiday, told supervisors the budget is about $2 million less than last year’s fiscal year budget.
“Our budget this year included $10.3 million in federal funds, about $16, almost $17 million worth of state funds primarily for roads,” Vance told supervisors when presenting the budget. “It includes a total, including state and local monies, of $26 million for road activity. That includes everything from digging out ditches to laying asphalt to putting bridges in as well as the major projects down in the Reunion area.”
Also included in the budget, Vance said, is $1.75 million for the library and $3.8 million for Holmes Community College.
“This proposed budget also includes raises for most county employees and that raise would be 4% for those making $35,000 or less and $3,000 for the remaining employees that are subject to your determination of their salary,” Vance said.
Before supervisors voted unanimously to adopt the budget Vance advised them that the county’s general millage rate would remain the same as last year at 38.18 mills.
A mill is $1 per $1,000 assessed property value, or $200 for a $200,000 home.
“For the 2022 fiscal year, the newly incorporated city of Gluckstadt and the newly incorporated areas of Canton, which are out near Kings Ranch, and then over toward off of Fulton Street in the city, those areas of the city that do not normally have our garbage tax collected from them will have the garbage tax, the 3.85 mills of solid waste tax, collected because they will be in our service area for our garbage collection,” Vance said, adding that the City of Canton had filed a letter acknowledging the levy.
Gluckstadt, which was incorporated in June this year, will also have the solid waste garbage mills which they have been paying, Vance said, adding he and board attorney Mike Espy have had a conversation with the city of Gluckstadt officials about the garbage levy “because they have not been able to get a garbage contract in place at this time.”
Vance said he expects Gluckstadt to send a letter stating the city is opting out of the fire coverage from the county but has not yet received the letter.
“For the fiscal year the fire protection tax will by law apply to a city unless the city notifies us that they are taking responsibility for certain fire protection activities,” Vance said. “We do expect based on our conversation with Gluckstadt to have that letter from Gluckstadt by your next meeting, but it is not available today, so until we have that letter in place by statute we have to impose that fire protection tax on everyone including municipalities until we get that letter in hand.”
Vance said he expects to have the letter in hand by the end of the week.
“My recommendation to you is that you levy the tax on the city of Gluckstadt, remember they have already been paying this tax, this is not a new tax to them, that you levy that tax until the city of Gluckstadt provides that letter, and if that letter is provided we will acknowledge that in a future meeting,” Vance said.
No one other than Vance spoke during the public hearing on the county’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget and supervisors unanimously adopted the budget.