Proposed County FY 21 Budget Anticipates Short-Term Revenue Drop

Oconee County Finance Director Wes Geddings last week presented the Board of Commissioners with a $53.3 million Proposed Fiscal Year 2021 Budget that anticipates a 10.4 percent drop in sales tax revenue but includes no increase in the property tax rate.

The budget includes no new positions and a modification of health care options that holds the increase of costs to 5 percent, Geddings told the Board at the first hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2021 Budget.

Geddings’ proposed budget, compared with the approved budget for the current fiscal year, shows a 0.5 percent increase in revenues to the county, carried by a projected growth in property tax revenue of 1.6 percent.

Some of the growth in property tax revenue is the result of conversion of property to a different use, and some of it results simply from increased market value.

The increased market value, an inflationary increase, represents a tax increase for those whose property value goes up unless the Board of Commissioners overrules Gedding’s recommendation and rolls back the property millage rate accordingly.

The budget proposes increases in residential, commercial and industrial water and sewer rates yet anticipates a decrease in revenue from the county’s Water Resources Department of 1.4 percent.

For more on this story, with a video of the budget hearing, please go to Oconee County Observations.