County Commission Presents Requested FY 18 Budget

The Stephens County Commission presented the requested FY 18 budget at last night’s meeting.

According to Finance Director, Pyhllis Ayers, the commission had a week-long work session last week to discuss the budget, however, they couldn’t come to an agreement on what should be included.

Ayers explains the issues that the commission is facing with this budget.

“We have a significant amount of increases that people need to do their jobs, to retain their employees, and we have no new revenues,” said Ayers.

The commissioners expressed the difficulty in deciding where to make cuts due to the significance of each department’s requests.

Commissioner Debbie Whitlock says that the board is in a tough position because they represent the citizens of the county but also have a responsibility to their employees.

“I mean many of you are employers and you want to take care of your employees,” said Whitlock. “And the county wants to take care of their employees but the truth be said, that is not really happening in Stephens County in my opinion.”

She then went on to say that despite the struggles that the county is facing financially, the citizens still want programs that attract people to this community, making the decision on where to make cuts a difficult one.

“We have employees and we have things that we have to take care of to function as a government,” said Whitlock. “And we’re a poor county, but we have people that want programs. They want the safe neighborhoods, they want the rec department, they want the senior center, they want the library, they want the humane shelter. These things cost lots of money and a lot of these programs are desired, they’re not necessary. However, they are important when we’re trying to attract people to our community.”

On Friday, the Chairman and Vice Chairman will meet with Ayers to go back through all the department’s requests and try to make changes to present to the commission again. Ayers says that they hope to have a proposed budget by the first June meeting.

Currently, the requested budget is available for the public to view and is located in the county clerk’s office.