Toccoa’s preliminary budget available to public by end of week

The preliminary Toccoa City Budget for fiscal 2020 will be ready for public review later this week.

That’s according to City Manager Billy Morse.  On Monday, Toccoa City Commissioners heard from department heads, but according to Morse there were no surprises in any department budget.  

Morse said he and the City Finance Director had met earlier in February with department heads individually to go over their needs for the next fiscal year.

In an interview Tuesday, Morse said this year’s proposed fiscal 2020 budget will see an increase of just over 4%.  

“The proposed budget is at $34,524,996. That is an increase of 4.2% over the current fiscal year,” Morse said. “There are special projects and special needs that are included in that. Overall, it is a pretty stable budget from what we have currently.”

Morse also emphasized that there is no planned increase in the millage or in utility rates to cover the increase.

One reason, though for the increase, according to Morse is the purchase of some new equipment.

“We have some purchases that are included in next year’s budget. Probably the biggest is the purchase of a fire truck,” Morse explained. “Those are expensive and we’ve budgeted $750,000 for the purchase of a fire truck. That’s probably the biggest item in this budget. Then we also included some SPLOST funds for a variety of utility and public works projects.”

A copy of the preliminary fiscal 2020 budget will be available at City Hall for the public to review later this week.

Next month, Morse said the public will have an opportunity to comment on the budget or to ask questions.

“At the two city commission meetings in May we will have two public hearings. We would love to hear from the public concerning our budget and their thoughts on it,” he said.

Toccoa’s fiscal year begins July 1.  Accordinig to Georgia law, City Commissioners must vote to approve the new fiscal budget by June 30.