Water Rates To Increase Slightly, Sewer Rates Not AtAll

Oconee County Water rates will increase only by pennies and sewer rates not at all as part of the $52.3 million Fiscal Year 2020 budget released to the public last week at the front of the usual Board of Commissioners meeting.

The occasion was the first formal public hearing on the budget, and only one citizen spoke in response.

The presentation by county Finance Director Wes Geddings listed $9 million in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Spending for the upcoming fiscal year, with the largest single expenditure being $2.5 million for the Courthouse security renovation and expansion.

Geddings also said the county will spend up to $1 million from its reserves for the proposed Bishop Farms Parkway extension. Total construction cost for that project is expected to be between $1.2 and $1.6 million, with another $200,000 for design.

The county spent $2.6 million from its reserves in Fiscal Year 2018 for Dove Creek Elementary School right of way and road improvements, Geddings said, and ended that fiscal year with $13.8 million in the fund balance.

Fund balance for the current fiscal year is projected to be $10.3 million, Geddings said.

The Fiscal Year 2020 budget assumes no change in the county millage rate of 6.686 in the unincorporated parts of the county and 7.646 in the county’s four cities, but it is based on expected growth in the county’s revenue, largely from property tax and sales tax, of 4.5 percent.

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