Franklin County getting early start on next year's budget

Franklin county Commissioners held an early budget workshop this week.

The budget process won’t actually begin until this summer, but commissioners wanted to meet with department head early this year to see what major capitol projects like equipment purchases that might come up for the next budget year.

While almost every department said they would like to see employee raises this year because most county workers haven’t seen a pay raise since 2006, there were very few requests for major purchases.

The sheriff’s department said will likely need to buy 2 new vehicles, and the solid waste department said that it will need a new compactor soon, though maybe not next year.

The road department said it will definitely need a new inmate truck and a grass cutting tractor, and mosquito control said it would require some additional funding to pay for increases in the cost of its gps tracking software.

The Parks and Recreation department said it would like to see some additional funding for more playground equipment.

The county health department said it might need some additional funding for STD and teen pregnancy services as well as additional funding to increase its family planning services to 5 days a week.

The county hospital said it may also need additional funds this year for renovations to the building and possibly for new equipment including digital mammography.

Employee raises were a big part of the conversation and while commissioners could not give specifics because they don’t yet know how much money they will have next year, Commission chairman Cheryl Sanders said she would like to see at least a 2 to 3 percent cost of living increase this year.

She would also like to see the cost of living increase automatically plugged into future budgets to save the commissioners the fight they have over employee pay every year.

The board said it will continue its budget discussions over the next few months before getting in to the real budget negotiations this summer.

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