Franklin County commission holds first public budget hearing

Franklin County held its first public budget hearing of the year Wednesday night and heard from a few county residents who feel their local taxes are too high. The county’s budget this year is just over 47.4 million dollars, local taxpayers will fund about 10.2 million dollars of that. Last year local property taxes brought in nearly 12 million dollars, the year before that it was over 14 million. But there were about 25 taxpayers at the hearing who felt the county could cut even more. St. George Island resident Gail Rigelmeyer said she feels the county needs to be a little more creative in how they control costs – she recommended that the county look at having its employees bear more of the costs of their benefits. Allan Feifer of Alligator Point pointed out that the drop in ad valorem taxes in recent years is a bit misleading since the county has enacted a gas tax and a sales tax in that time which are now paying for services the county used to have to pay for through its budget. County commissioners Cheryl Sanders and Pinki Jackel both wanted the commission to cut the budget further. Commissioner Jackel tried to have the board stick with last year’s millage rate but her motion was voted down. Commissioner Sanders said she didn’t know where the county could cut more out of its budget but she supported reviewing the budget again to see if anything could be trimmed from it. In the end, however, the board approved the tentative budget on a 3 to 2 vote; Commission chairman Smokey Parish said that in his three years on the board the county has cut its budget by 5 and a half million dollars and he expects those cuts will continue in the future. The public will get one more chance to voice its opinion on the budget before the issue is final. The second and final public budget hearing is scheduled for September the 28th.