New county budget narrowly passes commission vote

Franklin County held its final public budget hearing of the year last night – a meeting very few members of the public actually attended. The Franklin County commission approved a 47.4 million dollars budget that will take effect on October the 1st. Local taxpayers will fund about 10.2 million dollars of that – the rest will come from other sources including state and federal money. Even though the local portion of the budget is lower than in previous years, there are plenty of people who feel the county could cut even more – and that includes two county commissioners. Commissioners Pinki Jackel and Cheryl Sanders voted against the budget this year – they argued that the county should be able to lower its millage to last year’s level which would trim another 1.3 million dollars from the amount that local property owners pay. They argued that money could then be made up by using the county’s reserves which will total about 1.5 million dollars this year. The other commissioners, however, felt that would be cutting things a little too close and would leave very little money available for emergencies and other unforeseen events. In the end the budget and the millage rate was approved on a three to two vote.