On August 3, the County Administrator presented his budget to the Board of Supervisors. While there seems to be much discussion about whether copies were available to the public, a copy of the presented budget was included in the minutes.
On September 28, the Board of Supervisors approved the final budget. With Halloween on the way we are used to hearing, “Trick-or-Treat.” With the County budget, it seems to be “Treat-then-Trick.” The August 3 draft budget shows that there will not be a road tax levied. What a treat!
BUT, hold on – here’s the “Trick” - the September 28 budget includes $2,100,000 of road taxes!
Also, in August the County Administrator thought the Road Fund would carry over $1,500,000 into the next fiscal year. By September, the carryover was down to only $865,000. Where did almost $700,000 go in a month?
The September 30, 2011 audit showed the prior Board gave the current Board of Supervisors a Road Fund with a balance of over $5,800,000. The current Board will only carry forward $800,000 or so!
Where has the $5,000,000 gone? An audit sure would be nice to have.
Until the current Board of Supervisors came on board, the Road Fund had no millage and the County was carrying the Road Fund in the General Fund. So, we really didn't know what was in the Road Fund because the money was co-mingled with other funds. The current Board and the County Administrator put mills on the books for the Road Fund and created a separate account for the deposit of these dedicated tax dollars. This is also true of debt service funds.
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